Football
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Javier Tebas predicts La Liga play overseas in near future

La Liga president Javier Tebas anticipates that Liga or Copa del Rey games will be played outside of Spain in the future.

Bringing competitive domestic games to other countries in order to generate extra interest and revenues on a global level is a leading topic among many of Europe's top leagues -- with English Premier League chiefs having floated the idea on more than one occasion.

A push to raise interest in Spanish teams has seen the introduction in recent years of the LFP World Challenge games, with exhibition games taking place in countries including China, Uruguay, Italy, Japan, Argentina, Germany and Morocco last summer.

Overseas rights have also become a matter of contention among La Liga clubs, with Real Madrid for one reportedly arguing that online rights for other countries should not be included in the planned new "collectivised" TV rights deal -- an issue which apparently led Madrid president Florentino Perez to walk out of the traditional pre-match meal ahead of last Sunday's derbi at Atletico Madrid.

Speaking at the Sport Business Summit in London on Wednesday Tebas said that plans for games to be played outside Spain were in development, however it would be a while yet before the moves came to pass.

"In the medium term, we will play Copa or Liga games overseas," the LFP chief said. "In the short term it is not possible. We have not yet decided where we will play the games. We need to develop the projects and, of course, you need permission from international organisations like UEFA or FIFA. And at the moment FIFA is very busy with corruption."

The United States, China and Africa were referred to as "strategic locations" for the growth of Spanish football during Tebas' speech, while he also denied that the English language gave the Premier League a big advantage on a global level.

"English is not the key to achieving followers," he said. "The language is not the most important thing for our teams to grow and compete. If we have stars, Spanish football will be watched in Japan, Indonesia and many more countries. In three or four years we will grow especially in Africa, due to the use of mobile phones."

One of the biggest obstacles to such growth, claimed Tebas, was fans around the world watching games live online via pirated internet streams they found via social networks.

"You must pay to watch the Premier League and La Liga," he said. "Everyone knows nowadays that you must pay to watch football, and putting games on the internet is even a crime in many countries. The real problem is not the individual who does the recording, but the social network that allows this message to be sent out to millions of users."

Spain's authorities have invested €3 million in anti-piracy campaigns, such as this one , Tebas said.

"We have invested significant resources only to fight against piracy," he said. "About €3 million. Piracy is one of the biggest risks to our audiovisual market."

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