LaLiga President Calls for Stronger Measures to Combat Racism in Spanish Football

Tebas believes that the league’s hands are currently tied by the country’s laws, which mean that LaLiga can only identify and report incidents, and punishment is rarely handed out. However, Tebas is confident that if given the power to take action, the problem could be eradicated within months. “What we want is the power to do more things. With the power, we are convinced within months this would be solved,” he said at a press conference.

He believes that the competencies required are for those intolerable behaviors such as racism and homophobia. Tebas has requested that the Spanish Football Federation and LaLiga are given rights to tackle this issue urgently. Tebas suggested that the league needs more agility and speed to solve the problem quickly.

Tebas affirms that if Vinicius wants to leave the pitch during games due to further racist abuse, he will have the full support of the league.

LaLiga has set up multiple reporting channels on its website and email to speed up the identification of people who engage in racist behavior. However, since 2015, only a dozen racial incidents linked to matches have been reported. LaLiga lists nine separate incidents relating to Vinicius Junior since December 2020, but only two were found to feature racism, and the clubs involved were only allowed to issue sanctions themselves.

Tebas denies that Spain is a racist country, but he admits that he is concerned about LaLiga’s worldwide image in light of these recent accusations. He believes that the league will continue to protect players from racism on and off the field and will work to turn this image around.