Javier Tebas | |
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Javier Tebas
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President of Liga de Fútbol Profesional | |
Assumed office 26 April 2013 |
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Preceded by | José Luis Astiazarán |
Personal details | |
Born |
Javier Tebas Medrano 31 July 1962 San José, Costa Rica |
Religion | Roman Catholic |
Javier Tebas Medrano (born 1962) is a Spanish-Costa Rican born football president, who is the current president of Liga de Fútbol Profesional.
Tebas has worked for eleven different La Liga clubs, with his first one being appointed president of SD Huesca in 1993. He served three terms as the Vice-President of Liga de Fútbol Profesional (LFP), being elected for the first time in 2001, and also worked for the G30 group of clubs, where he helped the clubs negotiate their television deals.
In 2013, Tebas was appointed the president of LFP after an uncontested election in which he was supported by 32 of the 42 La Liga and the Segunda División. Prior to the election, Tebas had promised to clean up the Spanish game after match-fixing allegations, and also to make match tickets affordable.
Tebas studied law at the University of Zaragoza. Tebas is a Real Madrid fan, although he has said that this does not affect his neutrality as president.
Shortly after Tebas' appointment as La Liga president, former Spanish coach Javier Clemente compared Tebas to a Nazi concentration camp boss, due to his affiliation with the right-wing Youth New Force in the 1980s. During his tenure, Tebas has said that Spanish league matches could be held outside of Spain, although he has said that El Clásico will only be held in Spain, and has also said that if the Catalonia region became independent from Spain, then its football team, including FC Barcelona, would not be allowed to compete in the Spanish football leagues.