Tebas, LaLiga president, demands the elimination of the Club World Cup

Javier Tebas seeks to eliminate the FIFA Club World Cup

The president of LaLiga, Javier Tebas, has reiterated his critical stance against the expansion of the FIFA Club World Cup, stating that his objective is to “eliminate” the competition from the football calendar. Tebas has expressed his discontent with the tournament, calling it “completely absurd.” After watching 25 minutes of the match between Chelsea and LAFC, he compared it to a preseason friendly.

“My goal is for there to be no more Club World Cups, I am very clear about that. There is no space for it. There is no need for another competition that moves money towards the same clubs and players. The model affects the entire ecosystem of national leagues, especially in Europe, and there is no more money in the world of audiovisual rights.”

Javier Tebas

Tebas emphasized the need to maintain the current ecosystem and eliminate competition, suggesting that it be kept as before, when it was played on a specific weekend. “There are no available dates,” he added. The Club World Cup, which is taking place in the United States, began on June 14 with the goalless draw between Inter Miami and Al Ahly and will end on July 13, the date of the final. In this expanded edition, 32 teams participate, including two from Spain: Real Madrid and Atlético de Madrid. It is scheduled to be held every four years.

Meanwhile, Barcelona, which is not participating in the competition, continues with its plans to strengthen its squad this summer. The club activated the 25 million euro release clause of Espanyol goalkeeper Joan García, and has been linked with Athletic Club winger and Spanish national team player Nico Williams. Tebas pointed out that Barça still cannot register players freely and remains subject to LaLiga rules, which only allow them to spend a fraction of what they save or raise in the transfer market for new signings.

“One thing is to make [García’s signing] official, another is to be able to register players. We’ll see. Barça still has to do some things to be able to register signings. Not much in this case, but they will have to make room, for sure. Barça already knows what it has to do”.

Javier Tebas

“The only thing I hear is Nico Williams, someone else and then another… I don’t know. First, what is reported has to be true, which I don’t know if it is or not. But they are still not in the 1:1 rule. There still have to be movements.”