LaLiga asks EU to add four VPN providers to piracy watch list

LaLiga has asked the European Commission to include NordVPN, Proton VPN, ExpressVPN and Surfshark in its upcoming 2027 Counterfeit and Piracy Watch List, according to TechRadar, citing TorrentFreak.

In a 14-page submission, the Spanish football league argued that affiliate guides and tutorials promote the VPN providers by showing users how to connect to foreign servers to bypass geographic restrictions and watch football broadcasts. LaLiga said some affiliate pages also name pirate streaming platforms and explain how to get around court-ordered blocks.

The league said its request concerns the commercial promotion of VPNs to circumvent court-ordered blocking measures, rather than the provision of VPN services themselves. It argues that access to free or discounted broadcasts undermines the territorial exclusivity of its broadcasting deals. The claims are allegations made by LaLiga.

TechRadar said it had asked the four providers for comment and would update its article with their responses. The request follows previous disputes in Spain: the source reports that anti-piracy efforts led to more than 500,000 websites being wrongly blocked, and that a Spanish court declined to fine NordVPN after concluding that the targeted IP addresses changed too frequently for a permanent block. The European Commission has not been reported as having made a decision on LaLiga’s request.