La Liga wants to ‘bridge gap’ with Premier League in Singapore – not overtake it, says Spanish league chief

The Spanish league’s president Javier Tebas also tells CNA in an exclusive interview that should a historic overseas La Liga match one day materialise, Singapore could be in the running to host it.

La Liga President Javier Tebas speaking during an interview on Oct 9, 2026. (Photo: CNA/Syamil Sapari)

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SINGAPORE: Overtaking the English Premier League (EPL) in popularity among Singapore football fans is not La Liga’s goal, its president Javier Tebas acknowledged, with the Spanish league instead aiming to “bridge the gap”.

“In Singapore, you were born with the Premiership. You’ve been watching it since you were little. It’s your football tradition,” he told CNA in an exclusive interview on Friday (Oct 9).

“We can kind of bridge the gap, that’s the target.”

Given that the La Lig a offers “t op quality” football and is “very competitive”, Tebas added that local fans would also enjoy it.

The Spaniard, who spoke through an interpreter, w as in Singapore for the APOS Sports Edge conference, where he was one of the speakers.

La Liga opened its Singapore office in 2017 and has an ongoing partnership with the national Unleash the Roar football project.

“The interest (in the La Liga in Asia) is increasing constantly,” Tebas said. “It is a region where we have players from those countries and that brings a big pool (of fans) into the La Liga.”

These players include Japan’s Takefusa Kubo (Real Sociedad) and Ryunosuke Sato (Valencia), South Korea’s Lee Kang-in (Atletico Madrid), as well as Indonesia’s Emil Audero (Rayo Vallecano).

“We are in the best moment with players from this region in the last 10 ye ars,” said Tebas.

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Atletico Madrid's Lee Kang-in in action with Villarreal's Carlos Romero. (Photo: REUTERS/Thomas Peter)

A GAME IN SINGAPORE?

Tebas, who was first elected league president in 2013, has long pushed for a La Liga game to be played overseas.

The league had proposed hosti ng a match between Barcelona and Villarreal at Miami's Hard Rock Stadium in December last year. However, the plan collapse d amid fierce domestic criticism, player protests and legal challenges.

Critics argued that playing league matches outside Spain would undermine the integrity of the home-and-away format.

Should a historic overseas La Liga match one day materialise, Singapore could be in the running , Tebas told CNA, reiterating an idea he had mooted previously.

“We have all options open including Singapore. We are very well aware that Singapore has very good facilities to host these kinds of matches. Therefore, Singapore will always be in our mind as a possibility,” he said.

“You have a fairly new stadium … The hotels, the airport, everything is within a short distance. Of course, it is quite far from Spain. (But) thinking about the calendar, we could manage it.”

He said hosting one match per season overseas would be a “sign of respect” for the league’s fans globally, and give them the chance to catch a game live.

“The most important leagues in the United States – the NBA, the NFL, the NHL – they all play matches overseas,” said Tebas.

“That keeps all the fans happy and also helps towards branding.”

While no La Liga games have been held abroad, Saudi Arabia has a contract to host the Spanish Super Cup until 2029.

Next year’s edition however, will be held in Istanbul as Saudi Arabia is hosting the Asian Cup from Jan 7 to Feb 5.

MAN CITY, INFANTINO AND THE FUTURE

During the interview, Tebas also touched on recent findings that EPL giant Manchester City had breached financial rules. The club has been found guilty of more than 100 serious breaches of the Premier League's financial rules, but have denied all wrongdoing and are appealing.

“What Manchester City has done has affected the whole of European football … also English football, and the other clubs in the Premier League have been affected negatively by that conduct,” said Tebas.

“So they must receive a very severe sanction.”

Tebas has also been an outspoken critic of FIFA president Gianni Infantino, and has repeatedly criticised the world football governing body over fixture congestion and plans to further enlarge the World Cup.

There are “serious problems” with regards to management and governance, said the 64-year-old, who added that FIFA’s governance rules “come from the Middle Ages”.

Infantino has announced that he will seek a fourth term in March next year.

But he has faced various calls to resign from UEFA, the AFC and CONCACAF, the football governing bodies in Europe, Asia and for North, Central America and the Caribbean respectively.

On Thursday , h owever, the 54 member associations of the Confederation of African Football pledged their support for his re-election.

Tebas said that he hoped a candidate would run against Infantino, and that such an individual should step up even if there is the possibility of losing. Doing so would send an “important message” to Infantino and show that t here are federations that disagree with him.

However, Tebas ruled himself out of any challenge.

“I don’t think I have the abilities to do so. I don’t come from the confederation world,” he added. “I believe that there are other candidates that will be more suitable for the job.”

Tebas’ term as La Liga chief also runs till 2027.

Asked if he plans to continue, he said it would depend on the support of the league’s clubs as he seeks to tackle various targets set out previously.

“I’m not really hoarding the privilege (of being president),” he said. “(The strength to do the job is) always (there). And if I didn’t have it, I wouldn’t tell you, because then that would be a victory for the enemy.”

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西班牙联赛主席哈维尔·特巴斯在接受亚洲新闻台独家采访时也表示，如果有一天西甲联赛有机会在海外举办历史性的比赛，新加坡可能会成为申办国之一。

西甲主席哈维尔·特巴斯于2026年10月9日接受采访。（图片：CNA/Syamil Sapari）

这段音频由人工智能工具生成。

新加坡：西甲联赛主席哈维尔·特巴斯承认，西甲联赛的目标并非在新加坡足球迷中超越英超联赛（EPL），而是力图“缩小差距”。

“在新加坡，你从小就看着英超联赛长大。这是你的足球传统，”他在周五（10月9日）接受亚洲新闻台独家采访时表示。

“我们可以努力弥合差距，这就是我们的目标。”

鉴于西甲联赛提供“顶级水平”的足球比赛，而且“竞争非常激烈”，特巴斯补充说，当地球迷也会喜欢它。

这位西班牙人通过翻译发言，他当时在新加坡参加 APOS 体育前沿会议，他是会上发言者之一。

西甲联赛于 2017 年在新加坡设立了办事处，并与新加坡的“释放怒吼”足球项目保持着持续的合作关系。

特巴斯表示：“亚洲对西甲联赛的兴趣与日俱增。亚洲有很多来自这些国家的球员，这为西甲联赛带来了庞大的球迷群体。”

这些球员包括日本的久保建英（皇家社会）和佐藤龙之介（瓦伦西亚）、韩国的李康仁（马德里竞技）以及印度尼西亚的埃米尔·奥德罗（拉约·巴列卡诺）。

“我们正处于近十年来拥有该地区球员的最佳时期，”特巴斯说道。

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马德里竞技队的李康仁与比利亚雷亚尔队的卡洛斯·罗梅罗拼抢中。（图片：路透社/托马斯·彼得）

在新加坡玩游戏？

特巴斯于 2013 年首次当选西甲联赛主席，他长期以来一直推动西甲联赛在海外进行比赛。

去年12月，联盟曾提议在迈阿密硬石体育场举办巴塞罗那与比利亚雷亚尔之间的比赛。然而，由于国内的强烈批评、球员的抗议和法律挑战，该计划最终搁浅。

批评人士认为，在西班牙以外的地方进行联赛比赛会破坏主客场赛制的完整性。

特巴斯告诉亚洲新闻台，如果有一天西甲联赛真的在海外举行，新加坡可能会成为参赛国之一。他重申了之前提出的想法。

“我们考虑了所有选项，包括新加坡。我们非常清楚新加坡拥有举办此类比赛的优良设施。因此，新加坡始终是我们考虑的备选方案之一，”他说道。

“你们的体育场相当新……酒店、机场，一切都在很近的距离内。当然，它离西班牙相当远。（但是）考虑到赛程安排，我们能够应付。”

他表示，每个赛季在海外举办一场比赛是对全球联赛球迷的“尊重”，并让他们有机会现场观看比赛。

“美国最重要的几个联赛——NBA、NFL、NHL——都在海外进行比赛，”特巴斯说。

“这既能让所有粉丝满意，也有助于品牌推广。”

虽然西甲联赛还没有在国外举办过比赛，但沙特阿拉伯与西班牙签订了合同，将举办西班牙超级杯，合同期至 2029 年。

然而，明年的比赛将在伊斯坦布尔举行，因为沙特阿拉伯将于1月7日至2月5日举办亚洲杯。

曼城、因凡蒂诺与未来

在采访中，特巴斯还谈到了最近有关英超豪门曼城违反财务规定的调查结果。该俱乐部被认定犯有100多项严重违反英超财务规定的行为，但否认所有指控并已提起上诉。

特巴斯说：“曼城的行为影响了整个欧洲足球……也影响了英格兰足球，英超联赛的其他俱乐部都受到了这种行为的负面影响。”

“因此，他们必须受到非常严厉的制裁。”

特巴斯也曾公开批评国际足联主席詹尼·因凡蒂诺，并多次批评世界足球管理机构赛程过于密集以及进一步扩大世​​界杯规模的计划。

这位 64 岁的老人表示，国际足联在管理和治理方面存在“严重问题”，他还补充说，国际足联的治理规则“源自中世纪”。

因凡蒂诺宣布他将于明年三月寻求连任第四届。

但他曾多次面临来自欧足联、亚足联和中北美洲及加勒比海足球协会的辞职呼吁，这三个机构分别是欧洲、亚洲和北美、中美洲及加勒比海地区的足球管理机构。

然而，周四，非洲足球联合会的 54 个成员协会承诺支持他连任。

特巴斯表示，他希望有候选人能与因凡蒂诺竞争，而且即使有可能落败，这样的人也应该挺身而出。这样做会向因凡蒂诺传递一个“重要信息”，并表明还有其他联合会不同意他的观点。

然而，特巴斯表示自己不会接受任何挑战。

“我认为我没有能力胜任这项工作。我不是来自联邦制国家，”他补充道。“我相信还有其他更适合这份工作的候选人。”

特巴斯的西甲主席任期也将持续到2027年。

当被问及是否计划继续执教时，他表示这将取决于联赛各俱乐部的支持，因为他正努力实现之前制定的各种目标。

“我并没有刻意囤积（总统的）特权，”他说。“（胜任这份工作的能力）一直都在。如果我没有这种能力，我也不会告诉你，因为那样就等于给了敌人可乘之机。”

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