Mediapro wins latest court battle with Spanish Football Federation

Spanish media group Mediapro is celebrating after a fourth consecutive legal victory over the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF). In the latest spat, the Provincial Court of Madrid ordered the RFEF to pay €242,000 plus interest for impeding Mediapro service GOL and beIN SPORTS from showing the final of the 2019 Copa de la Reina.

In a statement, Mediapro said: “It is the fourth time in twelve months that the courts have condemned the management of Luis Rubiales at the helm of the RFEF. This list of lost cases confirms the unjustified and arbitrary actions of the Federation president. On three previous occasions, the Courts ruled in favour of Mediapro due to the illegal actions of the Federation in excluding Mediapro from tenders for the award of VAR services, the commercialisation of the media rights for the 2019-2022 seasons of the Copa del Rey, and the broadcast rights for the 2019 Copa del Rey final.”

The women’s football Cup Final between Atlético de Madrid and Real Sociedad was held on May 11, 2019 in Granada. Despite the existence of an agreement between the RFEF and Mediapro covering the 2016/2017, 2017/2018 and 2018/2019 seasons and allowing the production and broadcast of three matches of the Liga de Fútbol Femenino (Women’s Soccer League) and the final phase of the Cup, a few days before the match, the Federation informed Mediapro it could not broadcast the match.

Rubiales argued that there was no agreement between the parties, despite the fact that Mediapro channels had until then broadcast 265 matches of the First Division of the Liga Femenina and 20 of the Copa de la Reina. However the court rejected this.