La Liga president Javier Tebas gave an interview to the ‘EFE’ agency from Beijing to analyse the introduction of Spanish football on Chinese television. He also commented on some statements made by Vinicius Junior that went viral because he suggested that perhaps the 2030 World Cup should not be held in Spain because he understands that there is a problem of racism.
La Liga president Javier Tebas said in an interview with ‘EFE’ in Beijing that one of the main objectives in China is to revalue the competition’s audiovisual rights after ten years of consolidation in the country. The Spaniard highlighted the need to increase La Liga’s presence in Chinese national media to recover the value that has diminished in foreign competitions, as part of his visit to celebrate a decade of collaboration between the football organisation and the Chinese market.
“It is publicly known that in China, all non-national sports competitions have suffered a drop in price. We want to try to recover that value and, to do so, we must have much more presence,” he explained, underlining the importance of increasing its visibility on national channels such as the China Media Group (CMG). Regarding the collaboration agreement with CMG, Tebas stressed that La Liga seeks to get “much more exposure” after ten years without working with the Asian giant’s main media outlet and to contribute its experience in “technologies and social networks”.
Finally, Tebas addressed the issue of racism in Spanish football, mentioning recent statements by Real Madrid player Vinicius Jr. “I think that, if you look, you will see that his statements were not entirely consistent with what he himself says in the interview. At the same time as saying that, perhaps, the World Cup should not be contemplated, he was also saying that Spain is not a racist country,” Tebas said.
“Let’s take out what is incoherent and stay with what is coherent: that Spain is not a racist country and, in that, I agree with Vinicius,” concluded La Liga chief. Tebas also commented on his recent appearance in an advertising spot for the Kings League, organised by Gerard Pique. Although initially critical of the competition, describing it as a ‘circus that wouldn’t last six months’, he acknowledged its success: “It has lasted longer than I thought and what Pique and his team are doing is interesting,” he said.
