Tip-offs pay in LaLiga: over €1,000 for reporting pirate football
LaLiga’s offensive against pirated football in bars may already have its first rewarded informants. The association allegedly paid 1,100 euros to the same person for reporting 22 establishments that were supposedly broadcasting competition matches without authorization. The document said to support the payment was released by Miguel Galán, president of CENAFE, who has long been at odds with Javier Tebas’s management.
The amount matches LaLiga’s system exactly: 50 euros for each valid and effective report. The association itself officially announced this program on January 28 to involve citizens in detecting fraudulent broadcasts in bars, restaurants, and betting shops. However, simply pointing out an establishment is not enough. LaLiga says it reviews each report and checks the evidence provided before considering it valid and paying the reward.
The receipt now disclosed by Galán would, if authentic and corresponding to the stated purpose, be proof that the system has not remained merely an advertising campaign. The president of CENAFE argues that these payments could help strengthen his actions against Tebas before sports authorities. That is his legal interpretation, not an administrative or judicial conclusion.
The battle against illegal broadcasts has become one of LaLiga’s main fronts. In March, the organization claimed to have surpassed 2,000 convictions against HORECA establishments since it began its legal strategy in 2019, with another 488 venues still awaiting trial.
The reward system has also drawn criticism. Hospitality business owners and voices opposed to Tebas’s management questioned from the moment of its launch the fact that private individuals were being financially incentivized to report establishments.
