Javier Tebas on the European Super League: "Creating a new competition is no guarantee of success"

LaLiga has again made its presence felt at Sportel Monaco, one of the world's leading global sports marketing and media events. On Tuesday afternoon, LaLiga president Javier Tebas took to the stage at the convention to highlight the dangers that the possible creation of a European Super League would pose to Europe's domestic football leagues.

"LaLiga is a very established brand in terms of audiovisual rights and has a strategic plan to gain ground on the Premier League. Nobody doubts that the Premier League is the leading brand. However, LaLiga is the best league in the world because it wins every title going," said Tebas. Spain's domestic competition is not only firmly rooted in Spain, but also in other areas of the world. He added that this gives "LaLiga an advantage over the Italian and French leagues as it is an established brand in several parts of the world like Latin America. This is something to consider when launching a new product."

The LaLiga president said that "the hold" that domestic clubs and football have in each country is undeniable and overseas leagues and international competitions cannot compete. "Domestic leagues are deeply rooted and their hold is very difficult to break with projects like European leagues."

TV viewing figures would also show up this European Super League, something which Javier Tebas explained with recent examples. "Liverpool recently played Manchester United at the same time as SD Eibar v CA Osasuna. Viewing figures in Spain were higher for the latter. In another example, 11 times more people watched the recent Sevilla FC v Atletico Madrid game than Chelsea v Manchester United. The opposite also happens in England, where Tottenham Hotspur v Southampton has better viewing figures than El Clasico. This shows how history and national idiosyncrasies, often so important in sport, give domestic competitions a hold that is very difficult to break."

"Creating a new competition does not guarantee success," said Tebas. "FIFA created the Club World Cup and the Confederations Cup which have both failed despite a lack of competition. Euroleague basketball hasn't taken off either." Meanwhile, the president also highlighted that the creation of this European Super League could also be a setback for fans, because "it would be made up of teams who are used to winning. Somebody would have to lose in this competition, which would make it less exciting".

To conclude, Tebas underlined that "these concepts are being bandied about, but a European Super League would not bring in any more income. It takes a long time to implement and consolidate a brand. We've been working on that at LaLiga over the past few years, but we still have a lot to do. We'll have to work in those parts of the world where the brand has not yet been implemented."