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Javier Tebas, the 'bad guy' and the background fight that caused Messi to leave Barcelona

2021-08-06T18:30:11.616Z


He has been the president of LaLiga since 2013. His confrontation with Real Madrid and Barcelona and a showcase that has already lost Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar and Sergio Ramos.


08/06/2021 2:13 PM

  • Clarín.com

  • sports

Updated 08/06/2021 2:37 PM

On the card, the main image is that of Lionel Messi and the central news is his uncomfortable goodbye to the club of his entire life, the end of a perfect pairing with Barcelona that gave away 34 titles and was about to sign the continuity for five more years.

But the bottom fight is different and does not include the Argentine.

Javier Tebas, president of the Spanish Professional Football League is the scapegoat chosen by Barcelona and the figure that both Joan Laporta, president of the Catalan club, and Florentino Pérez, Real Madrid boss, stepped into the ring to fight for what else They are interested in: the economy of their clubs and getting, in the distribution of money, a larger piece of cake than they argue, according to what they generate.

The stage remains empty: Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar, Sergio Ramos have already left and now it is Messi,

the goose that lays the golden eggs

, who is also leaving an increasingly devalued Spanish contest.

That is why they put on the gloves again and the fight rages on.

A banner against Thebes at the Camp Nou gate.

AFP photo

In April, in the midst of the pandemic and with European clubs bleeding from the economic losses it entailed, Thebes came out with an inflated chest when they saw that in 24 hours the irruption of the European Super League was deactivated, a project that sought to change the established order and put together a new organization pushed by the most powerful teams on the continent, outside the current entities.

Barcelona and Real Madrid, along with Juventus, did not abandon that ship, they continue to think about the Super League.

Unlike what happened, for example, with English clubs, the position that the current financial situation is unfeasible and that they should receive much more money (especially for television rights) according to what they generate, is held in both Spanish giants and is a central part of the pull that Messi is wearing.

The Spanish league was confident that it could once again have Real Madrid and Barcelona under its wing after announcing a multi-million dollar investment made by the British CVC Fund.

They are 2,700,000,000 euros that, they say, are aimed at "keeping intact the sports competitions and the organization and management of the commercialization of audiovisual rights to promote the global growth of Spanish football and its clubs."

It is worth clarifying that the contract indicates that of the percentage that is allocated to each club, only 15% can be used for the salary mass of the schools and 70% must be used to improve the infrastructure.

In this sense, the expenditure is of little use for the central problem of a Barcelona that spends twice what corresponds to the assembly of a squad, even now with Messi out.

Both Real Madrid and Barcelona have already come out to publicly express their opposition to the agreement with CVC and consider it unacceptable.

It is clear that for the Investment Fund a business with the two most powerful clubs within the agreement is not the same as outside it.

Will he still stand or will he fall before this move that Messi is wearing?

"The retention of stars gives value to a tournament, and not that it has more parity," Tebas told

Clarín

in May 2016. On that occasion, he spoke of Argentine soccer and local talents who quickly leave these lands for necessities economic.

Now he suffers it in his own flesh

.

"In Spain, the better Real Madrid and Barcelona do, the more Messis and Cristiano Ronaldos have, the more Rayo Vallecano and Levante win," he said.

An old acquaintance

Tebas, a lawyer who was born in San José, Costa Rica but raised from the age of 4 in Huesca with his military father and his psychologist mother, visited Argentina four times between mid-2016 and the end of 2017. He was a central advisor to Mauricio Macri in soccer issues and the foundational piece for the creation of the Argentine Super League led by Mariano Elizondo and the return of private capital to soccer television.

Some time ago it had been Tebas who advised Marcelo Tinelli in the purchase of majority shares of Badajoz, in what would be the first unhappy experience of the Argentine entertainer and businessman in football.

During those trips to our country, Luis Miguel Chocarro Altamira, partner of Tebas, prepared together with Fernando de Andreis, then Secretary General of the Presidency, the draft of the project to enable the entry of Sports Public Limited Companies into Argentine soccer.

Javier Tebas with Mariano Elizondo, who was the CEO of the Argentine Super League.

Photo: Martín Boneto

It was a postponed dream of Macri.

The anecdote is known when, being the priest of a winning Boca, he knocked on the door of Julio Grondona's office to offer him the benefits of the SAD.

The AFA boss listened to him attentively and, with his classic stamp, proposed to bring the issue to the Executive Committee for all the leaders to decide.

The end of the story indicates that Macri's initiative, which supposedly already had the patronage of Don Julio, was put to a vote and lost 38 to 1. “We lost, Mauri”, closed with a hint of helplessness.

The boss

Tebas jumped into the armchair of the Spanish Professional Football League in 2013. He arrived with the endorsement of having advised 23 Spanish clubs that were bankrupt and used the lifeguards of the Public Limited Companies with his law firm.

"It is public and well known that the vast majority of fans in Spain have spoken out against the management of Tebas," said Alex Aranzábal, former president of Eibar, in 2016, who could not present himself as an opposition candidate for Tebas to manage LaLiga because he they contested the guarantees.

“The League cannot live with its back to the fans and we consider that a deep reflection on the programming policy of the match calendar and schedules is urgent.

Spanish football needs to be managed looking to the future in an inclusive way, with real participation of the clubs, "added the leader.

At that time, in Argentina the first criticisms of the local Super League began and the arguments pointed to not resembling Spain.

“If this continues like this, there will be an abysmal difference between Boca and River and the others.

Many of us are going to ask to return to the AFA ”, launched Nicolás Russo, president of Lanús.

“The Super League has to socialize, begin to negotiate the static as a whole, the clothing, the merchandising, the different income.

And that Boca and River charge more than what they charge now, but that the proportions with the other clubs are not abysmal. "

The fight in the background, between the president of LaLiga, Javier Tebas, and the president of FC Barcelona, ​​Joan Laporta.

Photo DPA

The fear that Argentine football was turning towards a sports monopoly like the one that Real Madrid and Barcelona maintain in Spain, has recently been projected in Europe on a larger scale and on a continental level with the failed test balloon of the European Super League.

It was the fans who defused the bomb.

And the fight of bad guys against worse started.

It is measured which businessman has the least scruples and how big is the portion of the economic cake that they want for their plate.

It is the background fight that Florentino Pérez and Joan Laporta play against Tebas.

In the ring

This Friday, while the news from the window was the surprise departure of Messi, indoors the dispute between the president of LaLiga and that of Barcelona continued for the millionaire agreement that the organization has with the CVC investment fund and its impact on the television rights of long-term clubs.

"Hello Joan Laporta, you know that the CVC operation does not mortgage the television rights of FC Barcelona 50 years, what it does is that they have more value for all the clubs and so you can mortgage them to your banks and solve the great debt. That's how you understood it hours ago, "Thebes wrote on his Twitter account.

Laporta, who at that time was giving the press conference to explain the reasons for Messi's departure, after it was impossible to enforce the agreement between both parties for its renewal, responded live to Tebas.

"Hello, Javier. I will tell you that we do not interpret this that way. There were some conversations yesterday between our senior executives and those who direct that operation and they did not give us the satisfactory answers to be in favor of this operation that entails, as you know and we have spoken , certain risks that I do not want to assume as president for the good of Barça, "he argued.

"I can understand the legal forms that you articulate, because they are ingenious and witty, but it is about assigning or making available or mortgaging audiovisual rights, some and not all, for half a century. And those operations with a horizon of half a century, we should not do them. I would tell you, dear Javier, that the amount set by CVC is much lower than what the 10 percent of LaLiga should value for us. With all my love, I have already answered you, "concluded Laporta.

The Blaugrana president had assured that the only possible way to comply with the Financial Fair Play that LaLiga asks for and to be able to register Messi was to accept the LaLiga operation with an investment fund that, according to the president, "mortgage" for 50 years is part of the club audiovisual rights.

Lionel Messi was left in the middle of the pull between Tebas and the two most powerful clubs in Spain.

Photo EFE

"Without having a salary margin, because the previous Board with its talented action exceeded the salary limit, the only way to have a salary mass to register Messi was to accept an operation (that of LaLiga with the CVC fund) that we do not see in any way interesting for Barça, for the amount and for making part of Barça's audiovisual rights available to this operation for 50 years, "Laporta said.

The consequence is goodbye to the best player in the club's history.

The causes, it is clear, exceed sports.

Source: clarin

All news articles on 2021-08-06

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