Real Madrid call for Javier Tebas to resign after Nazi propaganda comparison

Real Madrid have demanded that LaLiga president Javier Tebas resign after he compared the club’s management and media coverage with propaganda methods used by Nazi Germany.

Tebas made the comments on social media on Friday while criticising the way Real Madrid TV reports on refereeing decisions involving the club.

“Real Madrid’s management directs an orchestra of mouthpieces and Real Madrid TV leads the singing,” Tebas wrote.

His remarks came in response to articles by two journalists who claimed that Tebas and LaLiga were acting against Real Madrid’s interests. Tebas said the writers, whose articles appeared in El Debate, were amplifying a message on behalf of the club’s management. Reuters has asked El Debate for comment.

Tebas then accused Real Madrid TV of repeatedly highlighting incidents that supported the club’s complaints about officiating.

“Their score is always the same: select the plays that suit them, repeat the grievance, feed the suspicion, and point fingers at the enemies,” he wrote.

“That method recalls propaganda mechanisms used by Goebbels, Nazi Germany's Minister of Propaganda.

“The comparison is with those propaganda techniques, not with an ideology or, of course, with the Madridista fanbase,” added LaLiga's president.

The exchange has intensified an ongoing dispute between Tebas and Real Madrid.

In September, Real Madrid called for a change of LaLiga president after Tebas described the club’s complaints about refereeing decisions as “a smokescreen” for shortcomings on the pitch.

The club has now issued a statement calling on Tebas to leave both his role as LaLiga president and his position as vice-president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation.

“It is intolerable and extraordinarily serious that the president of LaLiga has used a comparison with the propaganda methods of the Nazi regime to discredit our club, its management and its television,” Real Madrid said.

“Tebas' repeated conduct demonstrates a lack of neutrality, respect and impartiality incompatible with his institutional responsibilities,” the statement added.

“It is unacceptable that he even takes advantage of questions, information or opinions from journalists unrelated to the club to direct his accusations at us, attributing to us actions of third parties for which we bear no responsibility.”

Tebas, 64, has been president of LaLiga since 2013. He is elected by the 42 professional clubs in Spain’s top two divisions and was re-elected unopposed in 2023, with his current term running until 2027.

Real Madrid’s statement was released hours after LaLiga confirmed that the club is one of six teams who will sit on the league’s Executive Committee this season.