José Ignacio Carrillo de Albornoz, Institutional Audiovisual Anti-fraud Manager at La Liga, speaks to Insider Sport about the league’s fight against football piracy.
Piracy is an expensive problem for football leagues and few have gone after it as aggressively as La Liga.
Under President Javier Tebas, the Spanish league has built a dedicated anti-piracy operation, taken VPN providers to court and most recently, challenged FIFA in a letter over its sponsorship deal with ExpressVPN at the 2026 World Cup.
As part of one of its initiatives, the league blocked shared IP ranges, accidentally taking down over 500,000 legitimate websites, apps, and government portals that have no connection to sports.
VPN providers and fans say the measures miss the real issue, nodding to soaring costs and fragmented rights as the root of piracy, common problems across most European leagues.
Insider Sport spoke to José Ignacio Carrillo de Albornoz, Institutional Audiovisual Anti-fraud Manager at La Liga, about the letter sent to FIFA, the distinction between legitimate and harmful VPN use and whether football needs to look at accessibility and affordability of its broadcast model.
Read the full interview below.
Do you want FIFA to end the partnership or rethink how it approaches these kinds of deals?
As we explain in our letter, this is not simply about one sponsorship agreement. It is about ensuring that commercial partnerships across football are consistent with our shared commitment to protecting audiovisual rights.
We have asked FIFA to clarify whether ExpressVPN has fully implemented the measures required by the French courts, to publicly reaffirm its commitment to combating audiovisual piracy, and to ensure that future commercial partnerships meet appropriate due diligence standards regarding intellectual property. We consider that FIFA’s public response is insufficient and that an issue such as this requires more in-depth consideration.
How do you distinguish between legitimate VPN use and VPNs that facilitate piracy?
La Liga fully recognises the legitimate role VPN services play in protecting privacy, cybersecurity and online security. Our concern is not with VPN technology itself, but with providers whose services have been found by courts to facilitate access to pirated sports content and which have failed to implement effective measures required by judicial rulings.
This is not a debate about VPN technology or digital privacy. It is about ensuring that providers act responsibly and take effective steps to prevent their services from being used to access illegal content, particularly where judicial authorities have required them to do so. The issue arises when providers knowingly allow their infrastructure to be used to circumvent court-ordered blocking measures.
How do you justify criticising FIFA’s deal while partnering with betting, crypto or other high-risk industries?
There is an important distinction. This is not about whether a particular sector is considered high risk. It is about whether a company has been found by the courts to facilitate access to pirated sports content and whether it has effectively implemented the measures required by those judicial rulings.
Football depends on the value of its audiovisual rights. Sponsorship decisions should therefore be consistent with protecting the very asset that finances the game. Commercial partnerships also send a message to the market, particularly when they involve football’s governing institutions.
How do you respond to criticism that innocent businesses are paying the price for anti-piracy enforcement?
Protecting the audiovisual ecosystem is a shared responsibility. Our experience shows that when rights holders, technology companies and public authorities work together, illegal services can be disrupted quickly and effectively. Recent cooperation with a growing number of responsible technology partners has significantly strengthened our ability to protect audiovisual rights.
The greatest challenge arises when certain intermediaries fail to take reasonable steps to prevent their services from being used to circumvent court-ordered blocking measures or to facilitate access to illegal content. This unnecessarily prolongs the availability of pirate services and undermines the effectiveness of judicial decisions.
This is particularly concerning where VPN providers actively promote their services as a way of bypassing geo-restrictions or blocking measures. French courts have already recognised the role that certain VPN services play in enabling access to illegal sports streams and have ordered measures to prevent that use.
Can piracy ever really be stopped or is the goal to make it harder and less attractive?
Piracy is constantly evolving, so tackling it requires continuous innovation and collaboration. While no single measure will eliminate piracy entirely, coordinated legal action, technology, enforcement and industry cooperation can significantly reduce its scale, increase the costs for illegal operators and make piracy far less attractive.
Actually, La Liga estimated that piracy was reduced by 60% in Spain due to our actions.
Recent judicial decisions and growing cooperation between rights holders, broadcasters, technology companies and public authorities demonstrate that meaningful progress is possible. Piracy will continue to evolve, but so will our ability to respond.
How much value is being lost to piracy, and are broadcasters becoming more demanding of anti-piracy measures?
La Liga estimates annual losses of between €600m (£512.87m) and €700m as a result of audiovisual piracy. Italy’s latest FAPAV/Ipsos study estimates that audiovisual piracy caused around €2.3bn in lost turnover in 2025 alone, together with more than €400m in lost tax revenues and over 11,000 lost jobs. These figures show that piracy is not simply a problem for rights holders; it has significant economic consequences for society as a whole. Beyond the direct financial impact, it undermines investment throughout the football pyramid, from professional competitions to grassroots development. Its wider impact cannot be measured in financial terms alone.
Broadcasters, leagues and rights holders are increasingly aligned in calling for stronger and more consistent anti-piracy enforcement. Protecting audiovisual rights is essential to safeguarding the long-term sustainability of professional football.
Does football need to look at accessibility and affordability of its broadcast model?
La Liga and its broadcast partners continually work to ensure fans have a wide range of legitimate, accessible and cost-effective ways to watch football.
Accessibility and affordability are important objectives, but they can never justify the illegal distribution or consumption of copyrighted content, nor criminal business models built on copyright infringement.
Are rights holders staying ahead of pirates or playing catch-up?
Piracy methods continue to evolve, but so do the tools and capabilities available to rights holders. La Liga invests significantly in technology, intelligence, legal action and strategic partnerships to stay ahead of emerging threats. We also execute technical assessments of our own broadcast partners to ensure they maintain the highest standards in protecting our content throughout the distribution chain.
The fight against piracy is an ongoing process. Staying ahead requires constant innovation, close cooperation across the industry, and the willingness of every stakeholder in the digital ecosystem to assume its responsibilities. When technology companies and intermediaries actively collaborate, illegal services can be disrupted far more quickly and effectively. Conversely, when some actors fail to cooperate – or allow their services to be used to circumvent court-ordered blocking measures – they make it significantly harder to protect audiovisual rights.
What does success look like for La Liga’s anti-piracy strategy?
The only real success would be to eradicate audiovisual piracy altogether. As long as criminal organisations continue to profit from stealing and illegally distributing content created through the investment and work of others, our job is not finished.
La Liga will continue investing in technology, legal action and cooperation with responsible partners to protect its content and the wider audiovisual ecosystem. This is not simply about defending commercial rights. These criminal networks generate enormous illegal profits while exposing users to significant digital risks through fraudulent websites, APPs, APKs, malware, data theft and other cyber threats.
We will therefore continue working with technology companies, public authorities and the wider industry until piracy is no longer a viable business model.
