By Jake Gable
August 15 – La Liga president Javier Tebas (pictured) has blasted the Spanish FA for what he believes is a failure to take the current revelations of match-fixing seriously enough. In an attack on FA President Angel Maria Villar, Tebas said: “I believe they should be getting more involved in what is being done. It is not enough to let the public investigators act. The Federation, as much as the league, have the ability to take decisions with the information we have.”
If conclusive proof of match-fixing is found, Tebas said the LFP can take immediate and drastic action, even relegating a club mid-season for wrong-doing carried out by its executives or players.
“The implicated club, whether through its directors or its players, could be expelled from the competition,” he said. “And if decisions have to be taken midway through a season, teams will be relegated. I want to fight and battle against this and to eradicate this problem that we have. We are fighting to work alongside the Federation on these issues, but if they do not agree with our speed in the battle against corruption in football, or in the form of doing so – well, each one must take their own path.”
On August 5, Tebas and Spanish sports minister Miguel Cardenal announced that three Primera Division and six Segunda Division games from the 2012-13 season were being investigated for match-fixing, with suspicions of both illegal betting practices and of ‘third-party incentive’ payments being made to affect results.
Tebas, who has clashed with Villar over a range of issues in the past, told Sphera Sports that he would like to see the Royal Federacion Espanola de Futbol and its long-serving chief play a bigger role in combatting corruption in the Spanish game, adding “Maybe what is a surprise is that the bull has now been taken by the horns, and we have left off speculating to go forward with actual information. There is a lot of money involved in football, so there being some crimes around it is not that strange, similar to there being crimes in politics or with the banks. The strange thing was before, when it was said that football was marvellous and there was nothing wrong.”
Villar responded by adding that he felt Spanish football is in a “marvellous” condition.
Contact the writer of this story at moc.l1734843671labto1734843671ofdlr1734843671owedi1734843671sni@e1734843671lbag.1734843671ekaj1734843671. Jake Gable is a columnist for www.laliganews.tv