Javier Tebas to newly promoted sides: “You have to uphold our values on and off the pitch”

LaLiga headquarters hosted a welcome event on Tuesday morning for the clubs and SADs (public limited sports companies) that recently secured promotion ahead of the 2016/17 campaign. Javier Tebas, the LaLiga president, gave the seven footballing institutions a warm welcome to their new respective leagues. 

Javier Tebas started out by explaining to the newly promoted sides the keys behind LaLiga’s success and reputation as the best league in the world. “I want to remind you all, especially those that are going up to LaLiga2, that you have to uphold the values of this competition on and off the pitch. It is about fair play and knowing that you have to win matches amid the uncertainty generated by sport, without cheating to win. These are the values that we stand for at LaLiga and we always keep an eye on this matter. We’ve had financial regulations in place for some years now to boost the competition’s integrity off the pitch and we have to comply with them. We remind you of this because these are the values that we respect here and that make it the best league in the world,” stated the president.

The newly promoted sides to LaLiga2 – UCAM Murcia CF, CF Reus, Sevilla Atletico and Cadiz CF – were the first to place their flags in the room where all clubs in Spanish professional football are represented. UCAM sporting director Pablo Rosique started off by saying that, “after a very intense year, we’ve been able to enjoy our football and the excitement that have allowed us to bring LaLiga back to Murcia.” 

CF Reus president Xavier Llastarri explained that, "after the club’s 107-year history, I’ve been able to reap the fruits of all the presidents' hard work," underlining how big a feat it is for the club and city of Reus to have clinched promotion to LaLiga2 for the very first time. 

Sevilla Atletico, the only youth team out of the 42 clubs in the top two tiers of Spanish football, were praised by Javier Tebas, who pointed out that "having two clubs in LaLiga shows the hard work that a club like Sevilla have been putting in." The club’s president, Jose Castro, noted that "it’s been a fantastic year, and the promotion is a reflection of the great work done by our academy."

The president of Cadiz, Manuel Vizcaino, pointed out the changes the club faces on its return to LaLiga2. "It’s taken a lot of effort to get back to where we belong, and we find ourselves in a more organised and balanced league, a league where we are able to balance our budget," he claimed. 

When it came to the turn of LaLiga’s newly promoted clubs – CD Leganes, At. Osasuna and D. Alaves  – the Alaves president, Alfonso Fernandez, pointed out that "after 10 tough years for the club, we’ve managed to put the fans and the team where they belong. The current values of LaLiga are key for the future and are the reason why we are here today." 

Victoria Pavon, president of Leganes, proclaimed that "clubs don’t survive based on reputation, but rather on hard work and good decisions, and these two things are the reason that we have achieved our objective for this season. What’s happened this season in our city had never happened before, and at last we’ve managed to attain our goal." Her Osasuna counterpart also commented that "we all felt that we would do something special in the playoffs." The club from Pamplona qualified for the playoffs after finishing in sixth place, and managed to win all four games on their way to promotion, an unprecedented feat. 

The clubs' excitement was there for all to see while their flags were added to the most symbolic room at the LaLiga headquarters. On the back of much hard work to gain promotion to LaLiga and LaLiga2, respectively, they are all eagerly looking forward to contributing to what promises to be an enthralling spectacle for all concerned again this coming campaign.