La Liga has been sanctioned with a €250,000 fine after breaching a host of data and privacy EU laws in the way it uses its app.

Through the app, which provides fans with the latest score updates and Spanish football news alerts, La Liga identified the location of users and sought to map out where bars were illegally streaming games through microphone data.

The EU has also ordered the removal of the feature from the app, which is used by over four million people in Spain, by the end of June.

In a statement, which was published by Reuters, La Liga emphasised its belief that it was in the right as it had asked users on two separate occasions for permission, revealing that the decision would be appealed.

It stated: ‘La Liga disagrees profoundly with this decision, rejects the penalty imposed as unjust, unfounded and disproportionate and considers that the AEPD has not made the necessary efforts to understand how the technology works.

‘As a result, it will challenge the ruling in court to demonstrate that its actions have always been responsible and in accordance with the law.’

Piracy is high on the agenda for La Liga, with the league’s President Javier Tebas previously revealing  at Sportel Asia in Macau, that a unified approach is required to combat the ever growing problem of piracy.

He added: “We are the owners of content so we need to protect it. If we want the value to remain or be improved we have to protect against piracy, otherwise the broadcasters will pay less.

“There are some competitors who don’t share this concept. They see the broadcasters as the holders of the rights so they don’t protect them like we are doing.”

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