Real Madrid demand LaLiga chief Tebas resign over Goebbels propaganda comparison

Centre · 2Real Madrid demanded on Friday 16 October that LaLiga president Javier Tebas resign immediately, after he compared the club's management's rhetoric to the propaganda methods of Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels. 1 2 Centre · 2In a post on X, Tebas wrote that "Real Madrid's management directs an orchestra of mouthpieces and Real Madrid TV leads the singing", and said the club's method recalled Goebbels' propaganda: "systematic repetition, construction of an enemy, and subordination of facts to the narrative". 2 1 Centre · 1He was responding to articles by two journalists in the newspaper El Debate, which he said were amplifying a message for Real's management; he also criticised Real Madrid TV's coverage of officiating. Reuters, quoted by CNA, said it had asked El Debate for comment. 1

Centre · 2Tebas then added a clarification: "The comparison is with those propaganda techniques, not with an ideology or, of course, with the Madridista fanbase." 1 2 Centre · 2Real Madrid's statement called it "intolerable and extraordinarily serious" that Tebas used a comparison with the propaganda methods of the Nazi regime to discredit the club, its management and its television, and said his conduct showed "a lack of neutrality, respect and impartiality incompatible with his institutional responsibilities". It demanded he leave both the LaLiga presidency and his vice-presidency of the Spanish football federation (RFEF). 1 2 Centre · 1The club said the clarification that he was not referring to Nazi ideology did not lessen the "deeply offensive, morally repugnant, and institutionally unworthy nature" of his statements, and called his constant attacks "a real scourge for Spanish football". 2

Centre · 1Real also said it was "especially concerning" that Tebas referred to the Negreira case, on which the club has given UEFA a dossier; the case concerns payments from Barcelona to José María Enríquez Negreira, a former vice-president of the referees' technical committee, which Barcelona say were for scouting and technical reports, though it has been alleged they were used to bribe referees. 2 Centre · 1The demand deepens a feud: in September Real called for a new LaLiga president after Tebas described its complaints about refereeing as a "smokescreen" for shortcomings on the pitch. Tebas, 64, has led LaLiga since 2013 and was re-elected unopposed in 2023 until 2027, and Real's statement came hours after LaLiga confirmed the club is one of six on its Executive Committee this season. 1