Real Madrid demands Tebas’ resignation over Goebbels comparison
Real Madrid
Abdullateef Fowewe
Real Madrid has demanded the immediate resignation of LaLiga president Javier Tebas after he compared the club’s media and management methods to the propaganda tactics of Nazi Germany’s Joseph Goebbels.
The club described the remarks as “absolutely intolerable and extremely serious.”
Tebas, who is also vice-president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), had accused Real Madrid of using Real Madrid TV and allied media voices to shape narratives against referees.
He wrote that the club’s approach “reminds one of the propaganda techniques that Goebbels used.”
In an official statement on Friday, Real Madrid said it was unacceptable for someone holding two senior positions in Spanish football to invoke Nazi-era propaganda to discredit the club, its leadership and its television channel.
“Real Madrid CF considers it absolutely intolerable and extremely serious that someone holding two top positions of responsibility in Spanish football would resort to comparing the club’s propaganda methods to those of the Nazi regime in order to discredit it, its management, and its television channel,” the statement said.
The club added that Tebas’s clarification that he was not referring to Nazi ideology “does not diminish the deeply offensive, morally repugnant, and institutionally undignified nature of his statements.”
Negreira case at centre
Real Madrid linked the row to its push for a full UEFA investigation into Barcelona’s payments to José María Enríquez Negreira, former vice-president of Spain’s referees’ technical committee.
The club said it had appealed directly to UEFA because of what it called a lack of response from Spanish football institutions.
“It is particularly serious that Tebas is using these statements to question the legitimate actions of Real Madrid and Real Madrid Television in relation to the Negreira case,” the club said.
Real Madrid also repeated its call for a “complete overhaul” of the refereeing system and the RFEF’s governance, management, supervisory and disciplinary structures.
The club accused Tebas of repeated attacks, arguing that his conduct showed “a lack of neutrality, respect, and impartiality incompatible with his institutional responsibilities.”
“Therefore, Real Madrid CF demands his immediate resignation as president of LaLiga and vice-president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation,” the statement concluded.
Real Madrid said it would continue to defend its institutional prestige, seek full clarification of the Negreira case, and push for the “necessary regeneration of Spanish football.”
