La Liga president seeks talks in China after boycott
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on La Nouvelle Tribune
La Liga president Javier Tebas plans to travel to China to try to restore ties after controversy over Kylian Mbappé’s comments about Mao Zedong. Broadcast boycotts and the withdrawal of Chinese commercial partners continue, and Tebas announced the trip in Barcelona on 2 November, according to La Nouvelle Tribune.
La Liga president Javier Tebas wants to travel to China to try to end the boycott of the Spanish league, which began after comments by Kylian Mbappé about Mao Zedong. He announced the plan in Barcelona on Monday 2 November, on the sidelines of the World in Progress forum, and said he remained in contact with Chinese representatives in Spain and with Beijing.
Chinese state television has suspended free broadcasts of two matches per matchday, while the Migu platform did not broadcast Real Madrid’s match this weekend. La Liga has also been excluded from a trade fair scheduled to take place in Shanghai, according to Javier Tebas. Mbappé, a Real Madrid striker, has meanwhile lost three Chinese commercial partners: Dongpeng, Mengniu and Milkground.
Tebas gave no timeline for resolving the crisis. He recalled that La Liga’s television contracts in China had reached 100 million euros, compared with 10 million euros a year currently. La Liga, Mbappé and Real Madrid have apologised, but broadcasts of the league have not resumed, La Nouvelle Tribune reports.
The boycott followed a joke depicting Mbappé as a “Chinese dictator”. On 30 October, Chinese media accused Real Madrid of applying a double standard after the club’s reaction. On 2 November, CCTV was still maintaining its boycott of Real Madrid matches in China.
