European Football Correspondent
The battle at the top of Spanish football is a personal one. A Spanish national court could on Wednesday decide whether the proposed strike for the last two weekends of the season is legal, but the rivalry between the two most important officials in Spain will continue.
Spanish football has been threatened by the spectre of strikes several times before. The latest threat is from the players’ union protesting against a new TV rights law. The Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) is also unhappy and has backed the strike, but the league (LFP), which represents the 42 clubs in the top two divisions, declared it illegal and has urged the players and officials to abandon their strike, warning of “serious harm” if the end of season matches are scrapped as planned. That will be for a judge to decide.
Spain will introduce new TV rights which will result in a collective system similar to that used in England. That is fairer to clubs who have seen Barcelona and Real Madrid earn EU€104 million (Dh429.2m) per season from domestic TV while the average for the rest of the league was EU€23 million.
The new law, passed by the government, will take effect for the 2016/17 season, but the players’ union want a bigger cut and not, they claim, for the rich stars, but the majority of players who are not wealthy.
Players at the majority of clubs in Spain’s second division earn EU€90,000 per year. That’s three times the average salary in Spain, but footballers have short careers.
The players often receive their wages late and the union wants the money for pension payments when they have retired. They are getting support from the biggest names in their union, including Barcelona stars Xavi and Gerard Pique, who travelled to Madrid to show their support.
Fifa could intervene and impose their own bans on Spanish clubs and the national team. The parties met on Monday in an attempt to find a resolution. Another meeting was held Tuesday with the players involved.
One problem is that the league and the Football Association are led by powerful men who despise each other.
Javier Tebas, an ex-lawyer and right-wing ideologue in his youth, is in charge of the league. He says the strike must be called off and warns it will costs EU€50m per match day in lost revenues. The strike would involve 30,000 matches at every level of Spanish football.
Tebas hopes that the league can hold mediation talks with the players’ union on Wednesday, without the Spanish Federation.
Tebas’s nemesis is Angel Maria Villar, the former Spain and Athletic Bilbao midfielder and then lawyer who rules over the Spanish Federation, which governs the national team, lower leagues and amateur football.
Villar, who is also a vice president at Fifa and Uefa, has run the federation with an iron fist for 27 years. Power is at stake; both sides want more control.
Tebas launched a personal attack on Villar, claiming that the government should not give in “to irresponsible blackmail”.
“This is a crazy, outrageous and irresponsible act from the body led by Angel Maria Villar, who has no idea about the direction professional football and amateur football need to take,” Tebas said. “It’s a challenge to La Liga undertaken only out of personal interest.”
Everyone in Spanish football will be damaged if the players strike. If a resolution cannot be found Spanish football will be weaker for it.
Those who love it, from fans to global sponsors, can always choose to find football elsewhere in leagues which don’t threaten to strike every three years. But other leagues offer neither the same quality or glamour, which is what the strikers, who have a just cause, will be banking on.
sports@thenational.ae
Follow us on Twitter @NatSportUAE
