Real Madrid have lost a key legal battle against La Liga after a Madrid court rejected the club’s attempt to overturn an agreement on how Spanish football’s television income is distributed.
The civil division of Madrid’s Court of First Instance No 26 has dismissed in full the lawsuit filed by the 14-time European champions, who were seeking to annul an agreement approved in August 2023 covering the criteria for distributing audiovisual production revenues linked to the so‐called “social impact” component.
La Liga announced the ruling on Thursday, describing it as a complete endorsement of the league’s position in its long-running dispute with Real Madrid over the governance of broadcasting income.
According to Spanish newspaper Mundo Deportivo, the court concluded that the agreement is fully compatible with Spain’s legal framework. Judges found it was approved under the specific powers granted by article 5.4 of Royal Decree‐Law 5/2015, had been given prior approval by the body supervising the management of broadcasting rights, and was then ratified by La Liga’s board of directors with the legally required qualified majority of two‐thirds of votes.
Court backs La Liga’s distribution model
In its statement, La Liga stressed that the system upheld by the court preserves audience metrics as a factor in allocating a portion of the money, while tying another part of the distribution to “the degree of voluntary collaboration of each club” in measures designed to improve the audiovisual product, taking into account viewing figures.
The judgment, as quoted in La Liga’s release, underlines that Royal Decree‐Law 5/2015 gives the governing bodies of each competition tier the authority to set distribution criteria. The court ruled that lawmakers did not restrict the notion of “generating resources through the commercialisation of television broadcasting” nor stipulate that allocation must be based solely on audience data.
The court also accepted La Liga’s argument that the new framework is an incentive-based, voluntary participation system. As set out in the league’s statement, the judges concluded this model does not deprive clubs of ownership of their rights, nor of the ability to exploit audiovisual rights that fall outside the scope of mandatory collective broadcasting.
Real Madrid claims of financial harm rejected
Real Madrid had alleged misuse of rights and argued that the new criteria caused it quantifiable economic damage. However, the court ruled out any abuse-of-rights claim, holding that the agreement was adopted by the competent bodies and supported by sufficient justification regarding its purpose and operating mechanism.
The ruling further noted that Real Madrid had not provided technical evidence to substantiate the specific financial losses it said it had suffered as a result of the new distribution system.
This civil case followed an earlier attempt by Real Madrid to challenge the agreement through the criminal courts, a complaint that had already been dismissed. The latest decision therefore represents a second judicial rebuff to the club over the same issue.
La Liga emphasised that the decision of the Court of First Instance is not yet final. Under Spanish procedure, Real Madrid have 20 working days from the date of notification of the ruling to file an appeal.
