There is a telling moment in Apple TV+’s punchy new documentary, Super League: the War for Football, in which the head of La Liga, Javier Tebas, gives a withering assessment of those who seek to control the modern game. “You have to keep up the fight,” he growls. “Money is not everything. Far from it. The rich don’t have the same ethical standards. There’s lots of liars and fakes. Betrayals happen all the time. Loyalty is practically nonexistent. I’ve never trusted anyone.”
Tebas has a lawyer’s mind and a pugilist’s love of a ruck. It is a healthy combination, and football is the better for it. Without him, as well as the Uefa president, Aleksander Ceferin, and Paris Saint-Germain’s president, Nasser al-Khelaifi, the European Super League might well have become a reality. Now, however, he has a fresh target in his crosshairs: the Premier League.
