During the big general meeting, Florentino Perez took out the sulphate and that’s an understatement to say. Indeed, the president of the Merengues took advantage of his introductory speech to draw up a usual financial and sporting assessment of the Madrid club, looking back on several events of the year, ranging from the new Santiago Bernabeu to the departures of certain legends and the arrivals of new figures. But what struck us most was the belligerent tone of the Spanish leader on the state of Spanish football: “I heard that Real Madrid are against everything, and that’s not true. It’s just that we tend to react more than we’d like. It is abnormal and illegal to prevent clubs from organizing their own tournaments. It is abnormal that UEFA is trying to dictate our fate and impose competition formats that penalize supporters. But let’s not forget that its leaders are responsible to the voters. This is why we are forced to play matches in Asia, near China. It is not normal that in the 21st century watching football on television becomes more and more expensive, when technology even allows free formats“.
Spanish referees and media take a high price
Following his speech, Florentino Pérez wanted to recall the position of Real Madrid in each fight for world football: “I will first explain why Real Madrid should take this fight. Real Madrid are arguably the only club in Europe with the strength to meet this challenge. There are more Real Madrid fans in the world than people in the European Union. We are the most successful and financially prestigious club. And our strength lies in the fact that we form a big family united by values, anchored in the history of Real Madrid. There is nothing to fear. We respect all the rules. You cannot pressure us with refused registrations. Unfortunately, this is not the case for most clubs. Many struggle to survive. We all know, especially in the league, that life is simpler when you follow the president’s decisions. We are not alone. Many clubs are privately asking us to continue the fight. And that’s normal“.
The 78-year-old leader did not forget to attack FC Barcelona and thus recall the Negreira affair, but also all the Spanish referees and certain media that Pérez accuses of being against Real Madrid: “The level of refereeing in Spain is also unacceptable. It is scandalous that FIFA did not select any Spanish referees for the recent Club World Cup. And of course, it is unacceptable that Barcelona paid more than 8 million euros to the vice-president of referees for at least 17 years, whatever the reason. This vice president held important positions. A period which, moreover, coincides with Barcelona’s best results in Spain. It is not normal for the president of the League to mortgage the future of our clubs for 50 years by an investment fund (CVC). It is not normal that La Liga charges six times more than the Premier League. It is also abnormal that LaLiga allocates a budget to the media. Some media were created with the sole aim of harming Real Madrid, as was the case with Relevo. And the fact that they act in an opaque manner is even more worrying. Their president refused to provide us with this information. It is also not normal that LaLiga continues to lose millions of euros of our money with the failure of the Legends Museum, which is supposed to justify investments in the media. Ultimately, it is abnormal that football is governed by those who only seek to preserve their privileges“.
Javier Tebas also takes his grade
Public enemy of Florentino Pérez for several years, Javier Tebas, president of La Liga, was not put aside in the pamphlet of the president of Casa Blanca: “It is unusual for the La Liga president to promote a match outside Spain. Even the captain (of FC Barcelona, editor’s note), Frenkie de Jong, finds this abnormal. Likewise, it is unusual for La Liga to grant additional bonuses to two teams, Barcelona and Villarreal, to play in Miami. And yet we have to endure Mr. Tebas’s attempts to compare this to an NFL game. The NFL event went off without a hitch and in compliance with the law. The comparison is absurd because he enjoys the support of all the clubs in the competition. This is not the case for the Miami match, which also does not benefit from UEFA support. This is simply another attempt by the president of the league to impose his will“.
“The agreement with CVC made many clubs realize that losing part of their income for 50 years compromises their future. We are convinced that this agreement will be invalidated by the courts. Real Madrid, FC Barcelona and Atlético de Madrid have already filed a complaint. I’m sorry, but I have to mention that Barcelona also objected to this, but, coincidentally, they dropped this legal action when LaLiga allowed the players to be registered. Apart from Spain, CVC has only been able to establish itself in France, and the French championship is bankrupt. All clubs are losers in this operation. This is what they call Project Impulse. I want to emphasize an important point. It turns out that Tebas increased his salary tenfold, to the detriment of the funds necessary for the survival of his clubs. It is now up to you to determine each person’s responsibilities. The LaLiga president acted on his own initiative and at his own risk. He compromised the integrity of the League and will have to take responsibility for it. We must also talk about a shame“, he continued.
Before the various approvals of the accounts and reports, Florentino Pérez concluded his long presentation with a new attack against Tebas: “See how the LaLiga players’ protest was handled. We have all witnessed the shameful censorship of LaLiga. I don’t know what was more embarrassing: the 30-second connection delay or the hiding behind a so-called “commitment to peace.” They take us, the supporters, for fools. They have lost their minds. This kind of behavior would have no place in a European championship and would lead to the dismissal of the president. It is also not normal for the president of LaLiga to be vice-president of the RFEF. And I’m going to tell you something: the president asked me to join the Federation. And I had to say, “You don’t know me.” Whatever the conflict this entails, it is undeniable that these positions must be supervised by people without prejudices or phobias“.
UEFA also singled out
“And I will finish with the Super League. This is essential. We dismantled a 60-year-old monopolistic regime in record time. In 2021, UEFA threatened clubs with exclusion. And they opened disciplinary proceedings against us to exclude us from the Champions League. Today, faced with overwhelming decisions, the situation is radically different. And faced with these decisions, La Liga and UEFA minimize them. They only think about easing tensions. They take us for fools. They ruled in our favor on 21 out of 23 points and paid the price… No one can punish us for working for our future. Our solid case allows us to claim damages from UEFA for the damage suffered. We took legal action against UEFA, seeking compensation and the right to stage the competition in the future. Our goal is not to win our case, but to achieve our demands. I would like to thank the organizing teams for their efforts. We tried to reach an agreement, but it proved impossible. UEFA encouraged us to contact the ECA. However, the ECA demands that we waive any legal recourse against UEFA. This could cause us to lose billions of euros that we intend to claim“.
In any case, Florentino Pérez was determined to dot the i’s with all the players in world football: “In my opinion, what we want is transparency. No competition behind closed doors. And above all, the establishment of free television for football. We did it at the Club World Cup. Thanks to FIFA, a poor child in Africa was able to watch the matches. We have Unify, which would allow us to stream the matches for free. At least FIFA has understood that this is the way to go, and I would like to thank them for that. I can only see one reason why UEFA would refuse: postponing the decision for a year would mean another year of staggering salaries for them. This is the case, for example, of the president of LaLiga, whose salary is higher than that of his Premier League counterpart, even though he generates much less income. We won the legal battle and we will win the next ones. Because it is the best project for everyone. And they all admitted it to us in private“. This is a very eventful Sunday in Spanish football.
