Real Madrid have demanded the immediate resignation of LaLiga president Javier Tebas over comments in which he compared the club’s communication strategy to propaganda techniques used during Nazi Germany.
In an official statement published on its X account on Friday, the Spanish giants described Tebas’s remarks as “absolutely intolerable and extraordinarily serious.”
“Real Madrid CF considers it absolutely intolerable and extraordinarily serious that someone holding two positions of utmost responsibility in Spanish football resorts to a comparison with the propaganda methods of the Nazi regime to discredit our club, its management, and its television,” the statement read.
“The clarification that he is not referring to Nazi ideology does not mitigate the deeply offensive, morally repugnant, and institutionally unworthy nature of his statements,” the club added.
Tebas had criticised Real Madrid’s communication strategy on social media, claiming the club’s management “directs an orchestra of spokespersons and Real Madrid TV leads the singing.”
He accused the club of repeatedly highlighting favourable incidents, reinforcing grievances, fuelling suspicion and identifying enemies.
The LaLiga chief said the approach “recalls propaganda mechanisms that Goebbels, Minister of Propaganda of Nazi Germany, exploited: systematic repetition, construction of an enemy, and subordination of facts to the narrative.”
However, Tebas stressed that his comparison concerned those communication techniques and not Nazi ideology or Real Madrid supporters.
Real Madrid rejected the distinction, describing the comments as another example of what it called repeated attacks by Tebas against the club, its president and its media outlets.
The dispute also brought renewed attention to the Negreira case, which concerns payments made by Barcelona over several years to José María Enríquez Negreira, a former vice-president of Spain’s Technical Committee of Referees.
Real Madrid said it had approached UEFA directly to seek a full investigation into the payments, criticising what it described as the lack of an adequate response from the institutions in which Tebas holds senior positions.
“It is especially concerning that Tebas uses these statements to question the legitimate actions of Real Madrid and Real Madrid TV in relation to the Negreira case,” the club said.
“In light of the lack of response to the extraordinary seriousness of the Negreira case by the two institutions where Javier Tebas holds positions of utmost relevance, our club has had to approach UEFA directly to demand a full clarification of the payments made over the years by FC Barcelona.”
The club also called for a comprehensive overhaul of the refereeing system and relevant federation structures.
Real Madrid concluded that Tebas’s conduct demonstrated “a lack of neutrality, respect, and impartiality incompatible with his institutional responsibilities” and “disqualify him institutionally from continuing to hold the positions he occupies.”
“Consequently, Real Madrid demands his immediate resignation as president of LaLiga and vice-president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation,” the statement ended.
