LaLiga has officially launched a new reward scheme today, January 28, 2026, offering citizens €50 for reporting illegal football broadcasts in bars and restaurants.
The initiative, led by LaLiga President Javier Tebas, aims to protect the 170,000+ hospitality establishments in Spain that pay for legal licenses and to mitigate the €600–700 million lost annually to piracy.
The process is designed to protect the establishment of illegal viewing. the body provided a platform where citizens can access at ease in other to repoert any illegal viewing center.
The football body also gave an insight on how to be able to differentiate between an illegal and a legal viewing platform.
“B” Symbol: Must be visible in bars/restaurants.
“A” Symbol: Must be visible in betting shops.
If you come across any viewing platform without any letter during any match, the broadcast should be tagged illegal or a pirated signal.
“If during the broadcast you don’t see a ‘B’ in the case of a bar or an ‘A’ in the case of a betting shop, that establishment is not authorized and the broadcast is illegal,” LaLiga argues.
“If you detect a possible irregularity, anyone can access www.laligabares.com/denuncias , complete a short form and attach images that allow verification of the broadcast. The process is quick, intuitive, and confidential,” LaLiga emphasizes.
This move was urged as a result of masive legal offenses that resulted to a total of 1,600 convictions since 2019. the footbal body as of last season alone recorded about 15,000 venues using illegal signal, illegal stream has contributed to an annual lost tht is estimated to about €600M – €700M for Spanish clubs.
Tebas has been vocal about the “parasitic” nature of piracy, recently clashing with tech giants like Cloudflare for “protecting” pirate infrastructures.
“Piracy harms the entire football ecosystem… We want everyone to be able to identify an illegal broadcast and know they can report it easily. Citizen collaboration is a key tool.” — Javier Tebas
With the recent announcement, social media has been ignited into a debate. While legal bar owners welcome the protection of their investment, many fans have criticized the move, with some jokingly offering “bounties” to identify the informants.
