Real Madrid Calls for New La Liga President as Tebas Row Escalates

Real Madrid has called for a change at the top of La Liga after another public clash with league president Javier Tebas, this time over refereeing and the club’s complaints following its 2-1 defeat to Atletico Madrid.

The Spanish club issued a strongly worded statement on Tuesday after Tebas criticised Madrid’s reaction to refereeing decisions in Sunday’s derby. Madrid said Spanish football “urgently needs a leader capable of managing it and developing its full potential with the fundamental duty of neutrality.”

“It needs someone who understands the nature of their role, as the president of La Liga is not the owner of the competition but a manager serving the clubs that comprise it and entrust him with its direction,” Real Madrid said. “The clubs need someone who serves this mission with honesty.”

The latest dispute follows previous disagreements between Madrid and Tebas over issues involving Spanish and European football. Madrid said it would not accept Tebas using “his institutional position to continue discrediting and attacking Real Madrid.”

“It is also very concerning that someone who is responsible for representing and protecting the interests of all La Liga clubs is repeatedly obsessed with targeting Real Madrid, turning our club into a constant subject of his public attacks,” the club said.

Tebas had responded on X to an article discussing an alleged conspiracy against Madrid, arguing that the club regularly searches for excuses following disappointing results.

“To claim that referees are targeting Real Madrid is to live in another galaxy,” Tebas said. “That narrative serves as a smokescreen to mask other shortcomings that are glaringly obvious in these opening matches of the season.”

Madrid described those comments as “particularly serious and incomprehensible, unbecoming of a responsible manager.”

“It is utterly surprising that the president of La Liga dedicates his time and personal platforms to constantly trying to publicly discredit Real Madrid, instead of contributing, from the responsibility of his position, to fostering trust in the institutions that must ensure the impartiality of the competition,” Madrid said. “By doing so, he continues to damage the image of our competition and Spanish soccer worldwide.”

The controversy began after coach José Mourinho brought photos to his post-match news conference and claimed Atletico players should have received “two clear red cards.” He also spent several minutes discussing what he described as “strange” incidents involving Madrid.

Atletico responded on Monday by calling for an end to “refereeing harassment.”

The derby defeat left Real Madrid fourth after seven league matches, six points behind leader Barcelona.