October 19 – Real Madrid have demanded the “immediate resignation” of LaLiga president Javier Tebas, after he compared the club’s communication strategy to that of Nazi Germany’s propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels.
In a post on X on Friday, Tebas (pictured left of RM president Florentino Pérez) wrote: “The management of Real Madrid leads an orchestra of goats and Real Madrid TV leads the singing. Their score is always the same: select the works that suit them, repeat the grievance, feed the suspicion and point the finger at the enemies.
“This method is reminiscent of the propaganda mechanisms exploited by Goebbels, the propaganda minister of Nazi Germany: systematic repetition, construction of an enemy and subordination of facts to narrative.”
He said he was comparing “these propaganda techniques” and “not to an ideology.”
Real Madrid have described the remarks as “deeply offensive” and “morally repugnant”, saying they disqualified him as LaLiga president and vice-president of the Spanish FA. “The repeated conduct of Javier Tebas demonstrates a lack of neutrality, respect and impartiality incompatible with his institutional responsibilities,” the club said.
Tebas hit back, accusing the club of trying to “destroy” LaLiga with their refereeing complaints. “What they have failed to achieve so far with the (aborted European) Super League, they are attempting with a distorted narrative from their media and their fake dogs,” he wrote. “I have lost count of the number of times that, in thirteen years, the leaders of Real Madrid have demanded my resignation or tried to disqualify me… All this has a name: intimidation.”
On Saturday, José Manuel Rodríguez Uribes, president of the National Sports Council, said Tebas should apologize.
“It’s unacceptable,” he said. “You can’t use the Nazis or the Goebbels as a point of comparison, especially when you’re the president of the League and you’re referring to a club that competes in the League. I think that goes beyond the bounds of free speech.”
He added that whether there were grounds for disciplinary action “was not for me to decide”.
Last month, Tebas accused Real Madrid of fostering a “permanent conspiracy” over refereeing decisions.
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