BRUSSELS — Spanish officials are dismissing concerns that international investors could attempt to seize the Royal Spanish Football Federation’s assets while it plays in World Cup matches in the United States.
Ahead of the national team’s opening match against Cape Verde in Atlanta on Monday, Blasket Renewable Investments LLC has issued subpoenas demanding Adidas, Hilton hotels and other entities involved in Spain’s World Cup participation hand over documents detailing their financial dealings with the Spanish delegation.
The investor, a Delaware-based investment holding company, specializes in sovereign debt recovery. Its legal action relates to a dispute dating back to 2013, when then-Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy cut generous subsidies that had encouraged investors to acquire stakes in solar and other renewable energy projects in Spain.
Those cuts triggered a wave of investor claims under the Energy Charter Treaty, a controversial international agreement that was originally intended to protect energy investments in the former Soviet Union against government intervention.
Spain has so far lost roughly half of around 50 cases and been ordered to pay about €2 billion in compensation. However, Madrid has largely refused payment, citing a European Court of Justice ruling that such intra-EU arbitration awards cannot be enforced under EU law.
Because Spain has successfully resisted enforcement inside the EU, investors have increasingly gone hunting for Spanish assets in more creditor-friendly jurisdictions such as the United States. Blasket is currently litigating about 10 claims with a combined value of just under €500 million.
“Payments and commercial relationships linked to Spain’s participation in the World Cup are now under judicial scrutiny and could be seized to satisfy outstanding debts,” said Matthew McGill, a lawyer at King & Spalding, which represents Blasket.
Granted anonymity to discuss the legal disputes freely, a Spanish government official dismissed the subpoenas as an “information-gathering” exercise. The official pointed out that the Royal Spanish Football Federation is a private body and questioned whether its assets could be used to satisfy claims against the Spanish state.
Any attempt to seize assets in the United States, the official added, would require “a legal proceeding in which Spain will have the opportunity to defend its interests.”
Brussels to the rescue
It’s not the first time creditors have pursued aggressive enforcement tactics against Spain over the renewable energy dispute.
Earlier this year, Blasket obtained rulings in Belgium and the Netherlands allowing the seizure of Spanish-linked assets, including a historic building housing the Cervantes Institute — a state-run cultural diplomacy agency — in Utrecht.
Madrid has resisted paying arbitration awards, arguing the bloc’s state aid rules forbid it from doing so without authorization from Brussels. A spokesperson for the EU executive confirmed: “Spain cannot pay the awarded compensation until the Commission has decided on the compatibility of the notified measure because it is bound by the standstill obligation.”
Brussels has sided with Spain in several of the ECT-related cases it has already reviewed. Last year, the Commission ruled that a €101 million award to Luxembourg-based Antin should not be paid because doing so would constitute illegal state aid.
Brussels has also instructed EU member states not to enforce certain arbitration rulings. In April, the EU executive slammed Belgium for allowing Blasket to seize €482 million in Eurocontrol air traffic management payments owed to Spain and warned it could be referred to the EU’s top court for “failing to comply with its obligations under EU law.”
Simultaneously, Brussels has shown some flexibility in managing the dispute, acknowledging the pressure Spain faces from enforcement actions outside the EU. According to correspondence between the Commission’s competition directorate and Spain, Madrid was permitted to pay Blasket a €23 million settlement to avoid imminent asset seizures in the United States.
“If Spain does not proceed with this payment, there may be enforcement actions in the U.S. with unpredictable consequences in terms of risks for Spain’s assets, costs and length of enforcement proceedings,” said a Feb. 2025 letter signed by then-Competition Director-General Olivier Guersent. The Commission noted that Spain might need to recover the funds if the payment is later deemed incompatible with EU state aid rules.
The handling of these disputes is being overseen by EU economy chief Valdis Dombrovskis, after Competition Commissioner Teresa Ribera recused herself due to her previous ministerial role in the Spanish government, where she worked on energy policy between 2018 and 2024.
While Brussels continues to review claims, Spanish officials say Madrid is actively defending itself in foreign courts. This includes asking the U.S. Supreme Court to grant relief against Blasket’s seizures based on claims of sovereign immunity. A judgment is expected by the end of June.
“Spain is defending its legitimate interests through existing legal mechanisms against actors whose sole aim is their own enrichment at the expense of the legitimate interests of a sovereign state, by exhausting all procedural avenues and strictly complying with its obligations as an EU member state,” the official said.