Javier Tebas · History

Javier Tebas Medrano was born on 31 July 1962 in San José, Costa Rica. A lawyer specialising in sports and insolvency law, he has been president of the Spanish professional football league, LaLiga, since 26 April 2013. Before that he was president of SD Huesca and served three terms as one of the league's vice-presidents. He holds both Costa Rican and Spanish citizenship, and in March 2023 he confirmed publicly that his official first name is Xavier.

Childhood and studies in Zaragoza

His parents were working in Costa Rica when he was born, and the family moved back to Spain when he was four. His father was an army officer. His mother, Gloria Medrano Mir, was a professor at the University of Zaragoza, and his brother Pablo Tebas is a virologist. Javier earned a law degree from the University of Zaragoza. He then took postgraduate courses in business law, sports law and insolvency law, the three fields on which he built his career.

The law firm and Huesca

Tebas set up a law firm focused on sport. Over the years it advised clubs such as Mallorca, Betis, Xerez, Rayo Vallecano, Granada, Real Valladolid and Huesca, several of them during insolvency proceedings. His first post in football came in 1993, when he became president of SD Huesca. In 1998 he advised the Argentine businessman Marcelo Tinelli on his purchase of Club Deportivo Badajoz. That connection opened the door to the governing bodies of Spanish professional football.

Vice-president of the LFP

In 2001 he was first elected vice-president of the Liga de Fútbol Profesional, representing Badajoz, and went on to serve three terms. In 2003 he became the representative of the G-30, a group of clubs calling for a fairer split of television money. That same year he argued that broadcasting rights should be sold collectively through the league rather than by each club. At the time this was a minority position against the individual deals of the biggest clubs. Ten years later it became the core of his programme.

President of LaLiga from 2013

On 15 February 2013 he announced his candidacy. On 26 April he was declared president as the only candidate, backed by 32 of the 42 clubs in the first and second divisions. He appointed Javier Gómez as managing director and introduced an economic control system that sets each club a squad spending limit based on its revenue. According to LaLiga's own figures, between June 2013 and June 2017 the clubs' debt to the Spanish tax authorities fell by 71%, from 647 million to 184 million euros, while revenue rose by 48%. In 2014 he co-wrote the novel El fútbol no es así with Pedro Torrens.

On 30 April 2015 the Spanish cabinet approved the royal decree-law on the collective sale of football broadcasting rights, the measure Tebas had been calling for since 2003. Parliament later ratified it by a wide majority. On 11 October 2016 he was re-elected with the support of 37 of the 42 clubs. In January 2018 Italy's Serie A offered him the job of running its league. LaLiga responded with a pay rise tied to a non-compete clause, approved by 35 votes out of 42. In 2019 he won a third term.

The Super League and the CVC deal

In May 2019 LaLiga brought other national leagues together in Madrid to oppose plans for a European Super League. The conflict sharpened in April 2021, when Real Madrid, FC Barcelona and Atlético de Madrid were among the project's twelve founding clubs. That same year Tebas negotiated the LaLiga Impulso deal with the investment fund CVC Capital Partners. On 10 December 2021 an extraordinary general assembly ratified it by 37 votes to 42. The clubs would receive 1.994 billion euros in exchange for an 8.2% stake in a new company. Real Madrid, FC Barcelona and Athletic Club stayed out and announced legal action against the agreement.

Fourth term

In November 2023 he resigned to trigger an early election, in which he stood as the only candidate. He was re-elected for a fourth term in December 2023.