SPAIN Law and Practice Contributed by: Joaquín Jofre Fernández-Abascal, Jofre Sports Law
Hospitality and VIP packages This is the fastest-growing sector. These rights include “experiential” services. Naming rights These apply not just for stadiums but also increas - ingly for training grounds and even youth academies. These are contractual “service” agreements rather than property rights. Ticketing and Secondary Sales Ticketing in Spain is a complex area where national • The “street sale” ban: Royal Decree 2816/1982 technically prohibits the “street” resale of tickets. • Digital resale: Law 13/2011 (the Gambling Act) and the General Law for the Defence of Consum - ers mandate that reselling above face value is only permitted if the event organiser explicitly allows it. • The 2024–2026 shift: under the EU Digital Services and regional laws often overlap. Legal status of secondary sales Act (DSA), now fully active in Spain, platforms are legally responsible for verifying the identity of professional resellers and must remove fraudulent listings immediately upon notification. Combating illegal sales Sports bodies and the government use a three-pillar defence. • Nominated tickets: for high-risk matches, tick - ets are linked to a national ID or passport. Law 19/2007 against violence in sport mandates this for “high-risk” events. • Technological barriers: most clubs have shifted to dynamic QR codes in their official apps, which refresh every few seconds to prevent screenshots or PDF sharing. • Administrative fines: regional governments can issue fines of up to EUR30,000 for unauthorised mass resale. Recent Noteworthy Case (2025) The “ticket bot” crackdown In early 2025, Spanish authorities, in co-ordination with LaLiga, successfully dismantled a network that used automated “bots” to harvest thousands of tick -
ets for the 2024 UEFA Champions League matches played in Spain. The investigation led to the cancella - tion of over 1,200 tickets and the first significant appli - cation of the DSA’s “know your business customer” (KYBC) rules against an online marketplace that failed to verify its sellers. 2.2 Sponsorship Terms How Sponsors Use Sport to Promote Their Brand In Spain, brands utilise sports properties to achieve several key objectives. Values alignment and CSR Sponsors increasingly focus on environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals. For example, Iberdrola’s sponsorship of the Spanish women’s football league (Liga F) is heavily promoted as a commitment to gen - der equality. Access to fan data Sponsors seek access to the rights-holders’ first-par - ty data (via official club apps and loyalty programmes). Under Organic Law 3/2018 (LOPDGDD), this must be handled with explicit consent, but it allows sponsors to deliver hyper-personalised offers directly to a fan’s smartphone. B2B and hospitality Many Spanish sponsors (especially in banking and telecommunications) use experiences to entertain corporate clients and close business deals. Digital and social activations Brands move beyond the 90 minutes of a football match, using content such as behind-the-scenes fea - turing players to reach audiences. How Rights-Holders Attract Investment Rights-holders (clubs, federations and event organ - isers) use sophisticated strategies to market them - selves: • segmented rights packages – instead of one global sponsor, rights are sliced into different categories; • proven ROI reporting – rights-holders now use AI- driven tools to provide sponsors with real-time data on their brand exposure across TV, social media and in-stadium signage; and
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