Spanish soccer league LaLiga requested that the European Union include four of the biggest VPN services on its piracy watch list. In the latest submission for its 2027 edition, LaLiga named NordVPN, Proton VPN, ExpressVPN and Surfshark.
The league says the companies gain when other websites teach people how to get around anti-piracy blocks. It says it is not attacking VPN technology itself.
LaLiga’s demand
Every few years, the European Commission sends out a questionnaire to rights-holders asking which websites or platforms should be added to the Counterfeit and Piracy Watch List.
Torrent websites and illegal streaming services tend to prevail among those suggested. Recent lists also named hosting companies and Cloudflare. The 2025 list included no VPNs. It did name hosting providers, IPFS, and the domain privacy service Njalla.
The VPN section of LaLiga’s filing is new. This complaint refers to marketing practices and not software. The VPNs operate affiliate programs where publishers receive commissions if their readers make purchases using their links. LaLiga says this kind of promotion makes the companies more than neutral technical providers.
The two kinds of guides that LaLiga watches out for
LaLiga flags two kinds of affiliate pages. The first is pages on how to watch the matches for free or at a low price in other countries. Readers connect to a foreign server, and the match appears.
These guides have been created for the 2026-27 season. According to LaLiga, these are not pirated streams. It argues they still weaken the exclusive territory rights it sells. The second kind worries the league more. These pages name pirate streaming sites and explain that a VPN can beat court-ordered blocks.
LaLiga says anyone can confirm this. But the filing does not name or link to a single guide or influencer. It also questions whether the publishers are independent. It says review site vpnMentor shares ownership with Kape Technologies, which owns several VPN brands. LaLiga admits those sites disclose the tie. It does not say which ones carry the guides it objects to.
Ongoing VPN legal battle
The filing follows a legal fight at home. In February, a commercial court in Córdoba ordered NordVPN and Proton VPN to block 16 pirate streaming sites identified by LaLiga and its broadcast partner. The court acted without hearing either company.
LaLiga could update the list of blocked addresses in real time during matches. The court reportedly said both companies advertise their ability to bypass geo-restrictions, and it pointed to match schedules in their marketing. A similar debate is also playing out in the U.S., where a bill could force VPNs and DNS providers to block piracy websites. Proton VPN said nobody had formally notified it of any proceedings. NordVPN did not apply the blocks. LaLiga then asked for fines.
On May 19, the court said no. NordVPN showed that the listed addresses change constantly, often within hours. Its experts also argued that blanket IP blocking would make thousands of lawful websites unreachable. The judge saw a real technical dispute and found no proof of deliberate defiance.
NordVPN says the ruling is not final. It also admitted the court did not declare its experts right and LaLiga wrong. LaLiga says the decision only sets aside the fines while the case continues. It adds that NordVPN must still block IPs where LaLiga can prove piracy. The main case goes on.
Downloader is also named
VPNs are not the only everyday tool in the filing. LaLiga also targets Downloader, a popular Fire TV and Android TV app from AFTVnews. Users type in a web address or a short number code to grab a file. LaLiga says it logged 341 codes, and 262 led to pirate apps. It calls the list an editorially curated catalog.
AFTVnews owner Elias Saba disagrees. He says the shortener creates a code automatically from any link a user submits, with no editorial review. Saba calls Downloader a general-purpose browser and file downloader. He says he disables codes after valid takedown notices. Saba has not seen the notice LaLiga cites, but he plans to send his own reply to the Commission.
The downloader has faced trouble before. Google pulled it from the Play Store in 2023 after complaints from Israeli TV companies. It was later reinstated.
What’s next?
The Commission says its list does not make findings of legal violations. LaLiga’s own filing says the same about the companies it names. The main consultation closed Sept. 21. Interested parties can still respond to submissions until Oct. 28, and the final list is due in the second quarter of 2027.
The weak spot is evidence. LaLiga points to affiliate marketing but names no guide. Courts and lawmakers also still disagree on whether VPN providers must carry out blocking orders. The first reports on the filing did not include responses from the four companies. For now, no VPN is on the list. If the Commission adds one, it would be a first.
