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Real Madrid demands Tebas's departure after Goebbels comparison

The LaLiga president accuses the club of intimidation in his response.

Real Madrid on Friday demanded Javier Tebas's immediate departure as president of LaLiga and vice-president of the Spanish football federation. The demand follows his comparison of the club's communication methods with Joseph Goebbels's propaganda techniques.

The club published the demand on 16 October in an official statement. Real Madrid believes Tebas's words discredit the club's leadership and its own television channel. According to the club, such a comparison is incompatible with the responsibility someone holds in his executive roles. This is a call for resignation; the sources consulted do not indicate that Tebas has stepped down from his posts.

Tebas had taken to X to criticise the way Real Madrid TV reports on controversial incidents. According to the Spanish sports outlet AS's account of his post, he accuses the channel of selectively focusing on incidents during play, repeating grievances and singling out opponents. In doing so, he drew a comparison with the methods of Goebbels, Nazi Germany's propaganda minister. That is Tebas's accusation, not a finding by this newsroom.

According to the same reporting, the executive explicitly distinguished between propaganda techniques and ideology. He said the comparison was not directed at the club's ideology or its supporters. Real Madrid rejects that explanation in its statement: according to the club, this distinction does not make the comparison any less offensive. The two parties therefore also disagree about the meaning and scope of the words used.

Later on Friday, Tebas responded to the demand for his resignation. Cadena SER reported on this at 17:38. He described Real Madrid's conduct as intimidation and accused the club of wanting to damage the domestic league. ElDesmarque also reported his response. The executive thus opted for a counterattack in the public debate; the reporting consulted contains no announcement of his departure.

The conflict concerns more than an offensive turn of phrase. The statements reveal a clash between two views of a club's position in relation to football's governing authorities. Real Madrid says its actions defend its rights and express its desire for transparency. Tebas, by contrast, presents the club's communications as pressure on the league. These are the positions of the parties involved, not independently established descriptions of their intentions.

Real Madrid links its demand for Tebas's removal to both his roles: his presidency of LaLiga and his vice-presidency of the RFEF, the Spanish football federation. The statement thus makes clear that the club is challenging his institutional position. However, the public demand is not in itself a decision by a governing body. The sources used do not describe any completed procedure ending his terms of office.

For now, the concrete development is an escalation in statements: Tebas's comparison, Real Madrid's formal call and then his accusation of intimidation. The reporting provides no basis for concluding that other clubs or competent bodies support the demand for his removal. Whether these words will have consequences for his position therefore remains an open question. The remarks and responses did, however, become public on the same day.

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