Javier Tebas has sharpened his attack on Fifa, revealing new detail on how Gianni Infantino allegedly manipulated match officiating and scheduling to serve commercial interests during the 2026 World Cup. The La Liga president told La Gazzetta dello Sport that Fifa arranges matches "for its own interests, certainly not for football", citing a 27-minute half-time break and claiming on-pitch "hydration breaks" were staged for advertising purposes rather than genuine heat concerns, since stadiums in Dallas, Los Angeles and Atlanta had air conditioning.

Tebas also gave a fuller account of the Folarin Balogun affair, saying Fifa "were lucky" Belgium eliminated the USA in the last 16, as a scandal over the striker's suspended one-match ban could otherwise have cost Infantino his job; the ban was lifted after Donald Trump phoned Infantino directly, though Fifa maintains its disciplinary committee acted independently. This builds on Tebas's earlier comments that Fifa is "destroying the football industry" by considering expanding the 2030 World Cup from 48 to 64 teams, and his call for Infantino, president since 2016 and expected to win a fourth term in March 2027, to resign, describing football's governance as "a system rotten at its core". Fifa has been approached for comment.