La Liga wants to ‘bridge gap’ with English Premier League in Singapore – not overtake it, says Spanish league chief

SINGAPORE: Overtaking the English Premier League (EPL) in popularity among Singapore football fans is not La Liga’s goal, its president Javier Tebas acknowledged, with the Spanish league instead aiming to “bridge the gap”. 

“In Singapore, you were born with the Premiership. You’ve been watching it since you were little. It’s your football tradition,” he told CNA in an exclusive interview on Friday (Oct 9). 

“We can kind of bridge the gap, that’s the target.” 

Given that the La Liga offers “top quality” football and is “very competitive”, Tebas added that local fans would also enjoy it. 

The Spaniard, who spoke through an interpreter, was in Singapore for the APOS Sports Edge conference, where he was one of the speakers.

La Liga opened its Singapore office in 2017 and has an ongoing partnership with the national Unleash the Roar football project.

“The interest (in the La Liga in Asia) is increasing constantly,” Tebas said. “It is a region where we have players from those countries and that brings a big pool (of fans) into the La Liga.”

These players include Japan’s Takefusa Kubo (Real Sociedad) and Ryunosuke Sato (Valencia), South Korea’s Lee Kang-in (Atletico Madrid), as well as Indonesia’s Emil Audero (Rayo Vallecano).

“We are in the best moment with players from this region in the last 10 years,” said Tebas.

A GAME IN SINGAPORE?

Tebas, who was first elected league president in 2013, has long pushed for a La Liga game to be played overseas.

The league had proposed hosting a match between Barcelona and Villarreal at Miami's Hard Rock Stadium in December last year. However, the plan collapsed amid fierce domestic criticism, player protests and legal challenges. 

Critics argued that playing league matches outside Spain would undermine the integrity of the home-and-away format. 

Should a historic overseas La Liga match one day materialise, Singapore could be in the running, Tebas told CNA, reiterating an idea he had mooted previously. 

“We have all options open including Singapore. We are very well aware that Singapore has very good facilities to host these kinds of matches. Therefore, Singapore will always be in our mind as a possibility,” he said.

“You have a fairly new stadium … The hotels, the airport, everything is within a short distance. Of course, it is quite far from Spain. (But) thinking about the calendar, we could manage it.”

He said hosting one match per season overseas would be a “sign of respect” for the league’s fans globally, and give them the chance to catch a game live.

“The most important leagues in the United States – the NBA, the NFL, the NHL – they all play matches overseas,” said Tebas.

“That keeps all the fans happy and also helps towards branding.”

While no La Liga games have been held abroad, Saudi Arabia has a contract to host the Spanish Super Cup until 2029. 

Next year’s edition however, will be held in Istanbul as Saudi Arabia is hosting the Asian Cup from Jan 7 to Feb 5.

MAN CITY, INFANTINO AND THE FUTURE

During the interview, Tebas also touched on recent findings that EPL giant Manchester City had breached financial rules. The club has been found guilty of more than 100 serious breaches of the Premier League's financial rules, but have denied all wrongdoing and are appealing.

“What Manchester City has done has affected the whole of European football … also English football, and the other clubs in the Premier League have been affected negatively by that conduct,” said Tebas. 

“So they must receive a very severe sanction.”

Tebas has also been an outspoken critic of FIFA president Gianni Infantino, and has repeatedly criticised the world football governing body over fixture congestion and plans to further enlarge the World Cup.

There are “serious problems” with regards to management and governance, said the 64-year-old, who added that FIFA’s governance rules “come from the Middle Ages”.

Infantino has announced that he will seek a fourth term in March next year.

But he has faced various calls to resign from UEFA, the AFC and CONCACAF, the football governing bodies in Europe, Asia and for North, Central America and the Caribbean respectively.

On Thursday, however, the 54 member associations of the Confederation of African Football pledged their support for his re-election.

Tebas said that he hoped a candidate would run against Infantino, and that such an individual should step up even if there is the possibility of losing. Doing so would send an “important message” to Infantino and show that there are federations that disagree with him.

However, Tebas ruled himself out of any challenge.

“I don’t think I have the abilities to do so. I don’t come from the confederation world,” he added. “I believe that there are other candidates that will be more suitable for the job.”

Tebas’ term as La Liga chief also runs till 2027. 

Asked if he plans to continue, he said it would depend on the support of the league’s clubs as he seeks to tackle various targets set out previously.

“I’m not really hoarding the privilege (of being president),” he said. “(The strength to do the job is) always (there). And if I didn’t have it, I wouldn’t tell you, because then that would be a victory for the enemy.”