La Liga send letter to Real Madrid after President Javier Tebas calls out Vinicius Junior

La Liga has once again attacked the culture of pirate streaming of football matches, starting with one of their most iconic players. President Javier Tebas has been campaigning on the issue for some time, but it won't help that one of Spain's best players is also not taking advantage of legal season tickets.

According to the European Union Intellectual Property Office, piracy streaming of sports in Europe increased by 36.5% between 2021 and 2023, Relevo underlines. The same outlet notes that Spain is the country most affected by the problem and has 25% more streaming than anywhere else in Europe, according to the same study. It's a problem that La Liga estimates is worth €700 million in lost revenue, and Tebas has lobbied Google and other major companies to take more preventative measures.

This week, Real Madrid star Vinicius Junior posted a photo of himself watching Los Blancos' clash with Liverpool, where you can see the logo of an illegal streaming site. Tebas claims that Vinicius was in Spain as he watched.

“If it is in Madrid, and I think it was in Madrid, it is piracy. Access to the content to watch the Champions League in Spain must be through Movistar Television. To see that content, you needed a VPN (virtual private network needed to spread the signal), or a satellite dish pointed to another place. There must be active behavior outside the scope of Movistar. It has been communicated that next time they should not pirate the game,” Tebas said.

The president of La Liga is said to have sent Real Madrid a letter complaining about Teba's behavior. It's an issue that affects both, but given the strained relations between the two companies, it would be a surprise to see them working together. A similar incident occurred earlier this season, with Fermin Lopez being fined after posting a screenshot of a pirate stream, which he later deleted.