The Spanish Football League (LFP) has launched legal action to block a decision by the country’s football federation, the RFEF, to suspend domestic competition from May 16 in protest over the terms of media-rights legislation that was approved last week by the national government.
The RFEF and the players’ union, the AFE, announced its support for an “indefinite suspension” of domestic competition yesterday (Wednesday) evening, only for the LFP to respond by claiming that such a move would be “legally invalid.”
The LFP said that “appropriate action with the pertinent administrative and legal bodies” would be undertaken to prevent the suspension and added: “The LFP wishes to reiterate the importance of the Royal Decree approved by the Spanish government and emphasise its importance as an historic milestone for Spanish soccer.”
After a board meeting on Wednesday, the RFEF accused the government of a “lack of respect” and complained that it had not been consulted properly on the new legislation, which will allow the top-tier Liga and second-tier Segunda División to move to a collective rights model for domestic and international rights from the start of the 2016-17 season.
The RFEF believes that the new Royal Decree could diminish its powers and is also unhappy that some of the money raised through media-rights sales would be used for activities that are not related to the sport.
A total of 17 regional associations would be affected by the suspension, including more than 600,000 players and 30,000 matches, the RFEF said. “At the same time, and yet again, we reiterate the offer of dialogue to the Spanish government,” the RFEF added.