Liga chief risks sanction after comparing Real Madrid to Goebbels

BARCELONA, Spain (AFP)—La Liga president Javier Tebas could face disciplinary action for comparing Real Madrid's communication methods with those of Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels, after Spain's national sports council (CSD) asked the country's sports tribunal on Thursday to assess whether he had committed an offence. The CSD said in a statement it had referred the matter to the country's Administrative Court for Sport (TAD) after Tebas made the comparison in a post on social media platform X on October 16. The TAD must determine whether Tebas's comments could constitute a serious offence under Spain's 1990 Sports Law, which includes "notorious and public acts that harm sporting dignity or decorum". The CSD said "it is essential to preserve the values that make sport a space of respect, coexistence, and fair play". Spanish giants Real Madrid called for Tebas, 64, to resign after he criticised their efforts to discredit refereeing in Spain. Tebas had said Real Madrid's in-house TV channel often suggested that referees attempt to prevent the club from winning. The outspoken Spanish league chief said these tactics "recall propaganda mechanisms exploited by Goebbels". Tebas later attempted to clarify that he was drawing comparisons with "those propaganda techniques" and not with the ideology of the Nazis. The La Liga chief reiterated on Thursday with another X post that his comment had "distinguished between propaganda techniques and ideology". Tebas also questioned why Madrid "accusing the refereeing system of corruption" did "not affect sporting dignity and decorum". "Does it not harm clubs, referees, and millions of fans?" wrote Tebas. "Or do those values only deserve a public defence when someone responds to such attacks?" Real Madrid criticise referees most weeks on their television channel and last year accused officiating in Spain of being "rigged" and "totally discredited".