The anticipated meeting between the Spanish Footballers' Association "AFE" and the Spanish league association "LaLiga" before the National Court has been postponed. The meeting was supposed to lift the ban on opening negotiations over the new collective bargaining agreement, which must be settled this season.
Blame the postponement on the general strike called solely by the footballers' union (Futbolistas ON), who did not attend the session. The agreement file now hangs in limbo, with tension between the two parties rising to unprecedented levels.
At the heart of the crisis lies a struggle over representative legitimacy, according to the Spanish newspaper "AS". In the elections held inside the dressing rooms, the AFE union led by David Aganzo won the backing of 93% of players. It argues that the Sports Law allows only unions that secure at least 10% of the votes to negotiate the new agreement with the employers.
The employers, though, also invited the rival union. They lean on the fact that the previous agreement set the bar at more than 5% to take part in negotiations, a stance that drew fierce condemnation from AFE. The union went so far as to accuse the league association of "ignoring democracy".
Why does the agreement matter so much? It shapes the players' future. The union wants to regulate rest periods between matches, with players demanding a minimum of 72 hours between one game and the next. It will also negotiate the terms for staging a possible league match outside Spain, chief among them the controversial Miami plan.
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Last season, a players' protest against the league association lasted just ten seconds. That was enough to push Relevent into suspending the Miami plan, a major setback for Tebas that ramped up the tension with Aganzo.
The employers' association took the players to court over the dispute. The court ruled in the players' favour, confirming they had not staged a secret strike as alleged.
For all the tension, the players are not weighing up a strike like those of the past. Even so, relations between the two camps have hit a critical point, pointing to a long confrontation that could threaten the stability of the competition.
Just as everyone waited for the atmosphere to settle, Tebas reached for his familiar Goebbels comparison and lit another front, according to "okdiario" radio.
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez had given an interview in which he spoke about fascist communication methods and the dehumanisation of the political opponent. Tebas pounced, writing on social media with the clip attached: "Someone should send the clip of the Prime Minister talking about Goebbels' methods to the Spanish Sports Council and Rodríguez Uribes. What a hideous comparison!".
His latest attack lands while his own future hangs before the Court of Arbitration for Sport "CAS". The Spanish Sports Council filed a lawsuit against him last October, after he likened Real Madrid's media and television channels to Nazi propaganda methods. He may now face suspension under Article 76.4.b of the Sports Law, which treats public acts that undermine dignity or sporting decorum as serious offences.
Taken together, these developments expose how fragile the balance is between players, the administration and the clubs. They leave the current season facing a genuine test of whether the parties can bridge their differences through dialogue rather than judicial and media warfare.
