Premier League is still the best competition, says La Liga president

In a recent press conference, La Liga president Javier Tebas admitted that the English Premier League is still the leading football competition. He said that the Spanish League has been growing exponentially ever since he took over seven years ago. However, according to Tebas, it is still trailing behind the Premier League.

During his press conference, he highlighted some of the successes that La Liga has seen over the years. Meanwhile, he also pointed out the aspects in which English football has more economic prowess as compared to La Liga.

Since Tebas took over as the president of La Liga, the economic gap between the Spanish league and the Premier League continued to narrow. Over the last seven years, La Liga's net worth has seen impressive growth.

According to Tebas, La Liga's revenues from its domestic TV rights grew from €236 million (£213.85 million) in 2013, to almost €800 million (£724.90 million) in 2020. On the other hand, the league's international revenue has increased from €550 million (£498.37 million) in 2013 to approximately €1.2 billion (£1.09 billion), as of 2020.

According to ESPN, Tebas said, "We have expanded even to Mongolia and Greenland. In short, since June, La Liga can be seen everywhere in the world. Our next aim is that we want to beat the Premier [League]. We have La Liga offices all over the world, hundreds of people working with us. It is important to be present in the most populated and rich countries to promote, to try to expand, to find local sponsors that will help us grow economically. We are growing but there is still a lot to do compared to the Premier [League]."

The 58-year old Spaniard admitted that Spain doesn't have as much population as of Great Britain. As a result, the Spanish football league gets a beating as far as its domestic TV rights are concerned. However, they have been actively working to gain significant market share in other countries, such as the ones in Asia.

According to reports, Tebas faced resistance from FIFA and Spain's Football Federation when he attempted to stage La Liga games in the United States of America. La Liga recently signed a 15-year marketing agreement with Relevent Sports to promote football in North America.

Also, Tebas said that he hopes Barcelona captain Lionel Messi will continue his club career in Spain beyond June 2021.