'Unhinged' Tebas could cost Real Madrid and Barcelona millions

FT Desk

• Updated: 23 May 2023 08:55 CDT
• 4 min read

Qatar-based broadcaster beIN SPORTS could pull the plug on its La Liga coverage after the Spanish league initiated court proceedings over unpaid TV rights money.

The tension is set against a backdrop of an increasingly public personal feud between beIN group chairman Nasser Al-Khelaifi and La Liga president Javier Tebas.

Al-Khelaifi is also the president of Paris Saint-Germain, whom Tebas, an avid Real Madrid supporter, has repeatedly taken aim at in recent months.

READ: Barcelona and Real Madrid attacked by PSG president

What has Tebas said?

Tebas has effectively accused the Qatar-backed PSG of financial doping, with perhaps his most pertinent remark in relation to Neymar's world record €222 million move from Barcelona to Paris in 2017.

"I think the buy-out clauses of these players are higher but if Nasser wants them, he can just open the gas and buy them," he said at that year's SoccerEx. "This is not the market price, it's the gas market price.

"I don't know if it is rude, but a Spanish journalist defined it quite well: what we have done is caught them peeing in the swimming pool. Neymar has peed from the diving board. And we can't accept this. At least we need to open up a file, this needs to be investigated."

READ: Barcelona's banter era: 2017 until… today?

What have beIN SPORT said?

beIN estimate that they have spent around €1.5bn on La Liga rights across 35 countries to date, and their current deal in MENA - the Middle East and North Africa region - is worth around €150 million. The broadcaster claim to have paid up.

"It is unfortunate that the President of La Liga, week-on-week, pursues unhinged personal feuds and public attacks on partners and stakeholders, ahead of the best interests of Spanish clubs and Spanish football," they said.

What happens next?

beIN have also started a counter-claim against Tebas for breaching professional norms and will consider their La Liga renewal.

Real Madrid and Barcelona continue to argue in favour of the Super League, alongside record Italian champions Juventus, with those giants of the European game looking to recover some financial, and political, power back from the Premier League.

PSG never joined the Super League first time around, and their ownership model is akin to what can be found in England.

The European Super League backers are awaiting a judgement from the European Courts of Justice early next year.