In the latest edition of the "Talk Sports" interview series, our Mike Fox spoke with La Liga President Javier Tebas during his recent visit to China. The 63-year-old discussed Spanish football's collaboration with China, VAR, and his views on the expanded FIFA World Cup format, while also expressing pride in the league's strong representation at this edition.

Reflecting on the past two years since signing historic agreements with China in 2024, Tebas noted that changes have been "in the development of part of what we signed at that time with the Chinese Professional Football League, and helping with our experience to further professionalize the Chinese Professional Football League."

He explained that there have been exchanges with clubs, with some clubs visiting their offices in Madrid, and that he recently attended a meeting in Xi'an with CEOs of different clubs.

"We are also on an institutional path," he said, adding that they recently met with the governor of Sichuan Province. "We are also going to open a line of development for non-professional football, as well as with the professional club in the province. And we are going to continue working along that line."

When asked about initiatives with the club Chengdu Rongcheng in Sichuan, Tebas outlined two specific work streams. One involves the first-division professional club, focusing on "marketing management, ticketing management, hospitality, stadiums, and financial fair play models that we have in our league."  

He said the goal is to help them understand that it is a model they believe should be installed in the Chinese football league. He also pointed to youth development as "a significant shortcoming that the club has."  

The other stream, which he wants to start now, is in the political sphere, "stemming from the base of youth football, grassroots football, training for grassroots coaches, and also training for executives."

On the topic of VAR, a subject he has been outspoken about, Tebas identified two fundamental issues. "One is that there is no unified criterion among the refereeing group, the VAR referees, for certain plays," including the famous handball. "And then there is a technological issue in the area of offside." He explained that while leagues currently use semi-automatic offside, they need to implement a fully automatic tool, which they will have next season.  

"We are going to solve the problems that semi-automatic offside presented," he said, adding that they must continue working with the refereeing group to unify the criteria.

Regarding the relationship between a top league and a strong national team, Tebas said the relationship exists "but it is not what it was many years ago." He pointed to Brazil, noting that while they have had good World Cup results in the past, their recent results reflect that they don't have a strong national competition.  

Conversely, Spain has achieved good results recently and has a strong national league where many players take part. He called England "a more complicated case," explaining that while England has many players in this World Cup, "there are many English players who are in the Premier League, but don't play, right? So that means they don't play regularly, which means they might lose a bit of competitiveness.”

Asked about the most positive thing to come out of the current World Cup, Tebas was critical of the expanded format. "I am very critical of the World Cup in terms of the number of teams," he said. "I think that having so many teams will not benefit football, and will not benefit domestic leagues. It makes our schedule very tight, and so in this aspect, I don't see anything positive." He added that what could be positive for football is the United States, "so that Major League Soccer finally takes off and becomes a great league like the rest of the other American leagues."

Despite his concerns, Tebas expressed pride in La Liga's representation at the tournament. "We have more than 60 players from our teams in the World Cup," he said, noting that after the Premier League, La Liga is the competition that contributes the most players across various national teams. "We contribute to teams that are favorites. We have a significant number of players in France. We also have a significant number in Argentina, and of course, in Spain." He added that they also have players playing with them in Brazil, and said they are hoping for good results from these teams.

Reflecting on his long tenure, Tebas named the league's Financial Fair Play system as his most important internal achievement. 

"It has achieved economic stability and sustainability for Spanish football. Along with the Bundesliga, we are the most economically sustainable leagues. Our clubs do not lose money overall, and I believe that is the greatest success we have had in the last decade."