Rubiales vs Tebas: Power struggle intensifies in Spanish football

According to El Espanol, Rubiales accuses Tebas of a flagrant abuse of authority in breach of legal norms. He has requested that the TAD initiate disciplinary proceedings against Tebas and impose a precautionary suspension on the grounds of alleged "very serious" violations.

CSD sources told EFE that the complaint is currently under legal review. The Council, following its standard protocol, is assessing whether the allegations meet the necessary requirements for escalation to the TAD.

The events in question date back to May 2022, when Tebas reportedly held a meeting with Gerardo Gonzalez Otero and Miguel Garcia Caba — the latter then serving as deputy secretary general of the RFEF.

During this meeting, according to leaked audio recordings, Tebas allegedly offered Garcia Caba a pre-contract with an annual salary of around €150,000 and urged him to access the Federation's servers to extract confidential information related to both the RFEF and Real Madrid.

Rubiales' complaint claims that such actions were not only unlawful but also constituted a clear attempt at bribery and a serious misuse of authority, in violation of Spain's Sports Law.

The complaint further suggests that Tebas' motivations extended beyond mere information gathering, aiming instead to damage Rubiales' public image and weaken his position both institutionally and commercially.

This, it argues, must be viewed in the context of the long-standing power struggle between La Liga and the RFEF over the control of football's broadcasting rights in Spain.

Separately, on the 10th of this month, the TAD opened disciplinary proceedings against Tebas following a complaint from Real Madrid. The club accused the La Liga president of breaching confidentiality by revealing their vote in a secret arbitration survey, thereby potentially violating Article 19 of La Liga's statutes.

The TAD has a period of three months to resolve that case. Preliminary findings indicated reasonable grounds to believe Tebas may have committed a serious breach by failing to preserve the secrecy of deliberations.