Sportsupdated 1h ago2 min read
Real Madrid Demands Javier Tebas Resign After Goebbels Nazi Propaganda Comparison
This article is an automated aggregation of coverage from news outlets. Our editorials offer in-depth analysis curated by the NewsCord team.
Tebas compared Real Madrid’s in-house TV methods to Goebbels propaganda. Real Madrid demanded Tebas's immediate resignation.
18 outlets told this the same way.
Tebas Goebbels row
Real Madrid demanded the immediate resignation of La Liga president Javier Tebas after he compared the club’s management and Real Madrid TV to propaganda methods used by Joseph Goebbels in Nazi Germany. Tebas wrote on X that “Real Madrid's management directs an orchestra of mouthpieces and Real Madrid TV leads the singing,” and he said the approach “recalls propaganda mechanisms exploited by Goebbels, Nazi Germany's minister of propaganda.”
Real Madrid’s statement called the comparison “intolerable and extraordinarily serious” and said Tebas used “a comparison with the propaganda methods of the Nazi regime to discredit our club, its management and its television.” Tebas later attempted to clarify that he was drawing comparisons with “those propaganda techniques” and “not with an ideology,” but Real Madrid rejected that clarification and said it did not mitigate the “institutionally unworthy nature of his statements.”
Club and league feud
Real Madrid said Tebas’s “repeated conduct demonstrates a lack of neutrality, respect and impartiality incompatible with his institutional responsibilities,” and the club demanded he step down as head of the Spanish top flight and vice-president of the Spanish Football Association (RFEF). Tebas responded to articles by two journalists saying he and LaLiga were acting against Real’s interests, and he added that the authors in El Debate were amplifying a message on behalf of Real’s management.
Tebas also criticized Real Madrid TV’s coverage of officiating at their matches, and he wrote that “Their score is always the same: select the plays that suit them, repeat the grievance, feed the suspicion and point fingers at the enemies.” Real Madrid’s demand for Tebas’s resignation deepened a feud that began when Real called for a new LaLiga president after Tebas called their complaints about refereeing decisions “a smokescreen” for their shortcomings on the pitch.
Negreira and next steps
Real Madrid linked the Tebas dispute to the Negreira case, and the club said it was “particularly serious that Tebas is using these comments to question Real Madrid’s legitimate actions, as well as those of Real Madrid Television, in relation to the Negreira case.” Real Madrid said it had been forced to go directly to UEFA to demand “a full investigation into the payments made over a period of years by FC Barcelona to the vice president of the Technical Committee of Referees.”
Real Madrid also demanded “a comprehensive overhaul of the refereeing system and the federation’s governing, management, oversight and disciplinary structures,” and it called for “replacing those who held positions of responsibility at the time.” LaLiga president Tebas, who the BBC said was elected by the 42 professional clubs in Spain’s top two tiers and has been president since 2013, faced Real Madrid’s demand as LaLiga confirmed it was one of the six clubs that will sit on the league’s Executive Committee this season.