Tebas: The RFEF's leaders have a prehistoric view of football LaLiga Dispute over kick-off times continues

LaLiga Santander restarted over the weekend, yet there continues to be a battle between the league's president, Javier Tebas, and the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) over a number of matters, and Tebas has accused the RFEF of having a prehistoric view of football.

Ever since being appointed as the president of LaLiga, the 57-year-old has sought to try and modernise the marketing of the division in order to close the gap between LaLiga Santander and the Premier League in commercial terms.

He has butted heads with the RFEF's president, Luis Rubiales, ever since, with the first major disagreement coming with the proposed plan for one domestic league match to be played in the United States.

"The RFEF's leaders have a prehistoric view of our sport," Tebas admitted in an interview with France Football.

"They don't understand how the current industry works.

"They also need to realise the needs of investors who demand growth and want to see their assets generate value."

Another matter for debate in the coming years is the proposal for a European Super League, a project than a number of elite European clubs have already admitted their interest in, yet Tebas feels this must be stopped by any means possible.

"This project will affect everyone, including Ligue 1, hence why President [Emmanuel] Macron has also expressed concern," he explained.

"It was a decision taken without thought or consultation; those who conjured up the idea didn't think about how it would impact the European football industry.

"Of course there are things to improve with the domestic championships, but in general the system doesn't work badly, and changing the formats of the Champions League and Europa League will not solve these problems."

As LaLiga Santander clubs have enjoyed their summer breaks and focused on working in the transfer market to improve their squads, some clubs have been rocked by accusations of betting scandals and match fixing, something which Tebas is desperate to eradicate.

"The minor problem we had was with illegal bets and players being 'bought,'" he declared.

"Yet this is very marginal and only comes to light in Spain because we are struggling to detect and punish these irregularities far more than in other European countries.

"We have former police officers aided by innovative technologies, and we're working to identify oscillations in betting patters thanks to intelligence agents amongst the punters."

Cristiano Ronaldo's departure was predicted by some as a huge blow to the marketability of LaLiga Santander, and whilst he has proven to be a huge hit in Turin, Tebas believes Spain's top flight hasn't missed his presence a jot, with it far more important to look at the consequence of Italy's new tax laws.

"I thought it would have a big impact, but none of our clients told us that we're missing Cristiano," he added.

"The Premier League is our main rival. But also the Bundesliga and Serie A, with the latter benefitting hugely from tax reform.

"Italy has the intelligence to use that to reinforce and revitalise their league, with the reform generating more revenue and thus, more revenue for the state in tax; here in Spain, football is the most taxed in Europe."

Spain has traditionally had the two behemoth clubs in Real Madrid and Barcelona, and you could argue that since Diego Simeone's arrival, Atletico Madrid have moved into that sphere as well.

Yet the presence of those two clubs was for years detrimental to the rest of the division, mainly due to how television rights were sold and packaged.

Whilst a lot has been done of late to improve the balance and fairness of television revenue within Spain, it hasn't always been easy to get Barcelona and Los Blancos to see things from the point of view of others.

"I would say that Barcelona understood the matter far better than Real Madrid," Tebas stated.

"The big clubs always complain about the distribution, and I think that it's thanks to this distribution that a league works.

"Those clubs are beginning to adapt, both are essential in our industry, but they aren't the only clubs involved."

On that point, Tebas takes great credit in the reform that has taken place with LaLiga Santander's television rights in the years since he came to power.

"Previously, LaLiga's television rights were worth 800 million euros. Now it's 2.3 billion euros.

"Everyone wins, especially the LaLiga brand.

"This increases the attractiveness of our championship, and therefore the investments grow too."