- A Sanish Court has ordered NordVPN and Proton VPN to block IPs broadcasting illegal soccer streams
- La Liga can update the list of IPs in real time during matches
- Proton VPN and NordVPN said they have not been formally notified yet
VPN users in Spain could soon face blackouts during soccer matches after a new court ruling gave LaLiga the power to issue blocking orders to major privacy services.
According to La Liga’s official statement, the Commercial Court No. 1 in Córdoba has ruled in favor of La Liga and Telefónica, classifying VPN providers as “technological intermediaries” under the European Digital Services Act (DSA). The ruling specifically names NordVPN and Proton VPN, requiring the companies to block access to IP addresses registered by broadcasting illegal streams of LaLiga matches.
The “precautionary measure” allows for dynamic blocking, meaning LaLiga can update the list of banned IP addresses in real time as they are identified. This gives the Football League unprecedented speed in shutting down connections, but privacy advocates warn that it creates a high risk of collateral damage, where legitimate users, such as remote workers or privacy-conscious citizens, are swept up in the dragnet.
We have become aware of recent reports of legal proceedings in Spain that may affect VPN services, including Proton VPN. At this time, we were not aware of any procedure that may have been underway prior to these reports and has not been formally…17 February 2026
In a post on X, Proton VPN confirms that the company “has not been formally notified.”
“Spanish courts, like all courts operating under the rule of law, are bound by procedural guarantees that ensure that parties are given a fair opportunity to present their case before a binding judgment is rendered,” the provider wrote.
Speaking to Bandaancha.eu, NordVPN also said that it has not been involved in any legal proceedings in Spain, and considers such an approach “unacceptable.”
TechRadar has reached out to both Proton VPN and NordVPN for comment on this ruling and will update this article when we hear back.
“Nuclear Option” against VPNs
This judgment marks a decisive shift in anti-piracy enforcement. In the past, the rights holders targeted the hosting sites or the pirates themselves. Now the Spanish courts are taking action tools is used to bypass these blocks.
The court’s decision is based on the argument that VPNs are not just passive conduits, but active “middlemen” that facilitate copyright infringement. By classifying them this way, the court requires VPN companies to actively block access to IPs used to watch illegal soccer streaming sites during La Liga matches.
A European trend?
Spain does not act in isolation. This trait reflects a similar action in France, where the Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP) recently secured a court order ordering ISPs to block DNS access to pirate sites, which then escalated into pressure against VPN services.
The French ruling, handed down by the Paris court, also targeted major providers including NordVPN, ExpressVPN and Surfshark, ordering them to block access to specific pirate domains. However, the Spanish ruling appears to go a step further by requiring the blocking of the VPNs own infrastructure (their IP addresses) instead of simply asking the VPNs to block certain websites.
This follows a chaotic period for Spanish internet users. In December 2024, a court in Barcelona authorized LaLiga to block IP addresses associated with Cloudflare, a large content delivery network. This “blunt instrument” approach reportedly caused widespread outages for legitimate websites and services that had nothing to do with football piracy, simply because they shared infrastructure with pirate sites.
With this new ruling from Córdoba, the possibilities for collateral damage have been expanded again. For now, users in Spain using NordVPN or Proton VPN may find their service unreliable during match times, regardless of what they actually use the internet for.
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