By Andrew Warshaw
May 12 – The power struggle over who runs Spanish football is heading for the courtroom on Wednesday with an expected ruling over whether the proposed strike in protest at the new TV rights law is legal.
The National Court said it was summoning the Spanish league (LFP) and the Spanish players’ union (AFE) to “hear arguments” before ruling on the league’s request that the strike be temporarily suspended.
Last week the Spanish football federation (RFEF), headed by FIFA vice-president Angel Maria Villar, ordered the suspension of all domestic football over the new legislation that will give the go-ahead for the centralised sale of TV rights. The federation has the support of the players union (AFE) which claims the new deal favours top-division players over those lower down the pyramid.
Both organisations have ordered an “indefinite” strike on Saturday that would wreck the last two weekends of the La Liga season as well as the Copa del Rey final on May 30. Barcelona need one win to clinch the league title and are set to play Athletic Bilbao in the Copa del Rey final.
LFP president Javier Tebas said it was unlikely that the various factions would be able to come to an agreement on Wednesday and derided the strike plans, branding them a joke.
“We urge the RFEF to stop behaving the way it is,” he told a press conference. “We’re willing to sit down with the AFE to discuss any issues, but only while taking into account our agreement for this meeting and on this subject. We condemn the RFEF.”
“The strike is illegal and we have passed this on to a judge. We have presented the demand and we believe this strike may cause a lot of damage.”
Tebas has already described Villar’s move as “insane, audacious, and irresponsible” and he again pulled no punches in his denunciation of the long-time Spanish federation boss whose organisation is not due to attend Wednesday’s hearing.
“It doesn’t surprise me that the RFEF won’t be there. The President of the RFEF thinks he’s a feudal lord who treats [La Liga] as his farm and only talks to who he wants. [The RFEF] have this medieval way of thinking that it’s for some economic benefit and there are players who don’t even understand the strike.
“In other countries, people are living in amazement. I’ve received calls from people abroad and they’re stunned [by the situation]. They don’t understand why they’d want to strike and are perplexed. This strike is a joke. It’s a strike that’s been deliberately formed to hurt the league.”
Representatives from the 42 first and second division held an emergency meeting on Monday and club presidents stood firm in their support of switching to a collective bargaining agreement to increase the competitiveness of the league.
Currently, each team arranges its own individual TV deal. The new law, similar to the arrangement in counties like England and Italy, is designed to bring about a more equitable split of revenues, thus helping clubs other than Real Madrid and Barcelona to accrue more money.
The players’ union says it supports the general spirit of the law but is striking because it wants more money to go to lower divisions. The proposed law would reportedly give 90 percent of revenues to the Primera Division.
However, Tebas insists the deal is fair. “It’s not true that the players will miss out on any rights,” he said. “They are misinformed.”
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