La Liga wins court order, requiring NordVPN and Proton VPN to block illegal football streams in Spain — but VPN firms say they have not been notified
The article reports that Spain’s LaLiga has obtained a court order requiring major VPN providers NordVPN and Proton VPN to block illegal football streams connected to its matches. The ruling was issued by Commercial Court No. 1 of Córdoba following a legal request from LaLiga and its broadcasting partner Telefónica Audiovisual Digital (TAD).
Under the court’s decision, the VPN companies must block access to IP addresses that transmit unauthorized streams of LaLiga matches. These blocks apply to users in Spain and are designed to prevent people from bypassing existing restrictions on pirate streaming sites.
A key feature of the ruling is dynamic blocking. This means LaLiga can continuously update the list of banned IP addresses in real time as new illegal streams appear during matches. The VPN providers are expected to update their systems to block those addresses as soon as they are identified.
The court classified VPN services as “technological intermediaries” under the EU Digital Services Act, meaning they can be required to help prevent copyright violations carried out through their infrastructure. The decision suggests that VPNs contribute indirectly to piracy because they allow users to change their IP address and bypass geographic restrictions used to block illegal content.
However, both NordVPN and Proton VPN say they were not formally notified of the court proceedings before the ruling became public. Representatives of the companies said they learned about the decision through media reports and have not yet received official documentation from Spanish authorities.
VPN providers and privacy advocates warn that such measures could cause collateral damage for legitimate users. Many VPN servers use shared IP addresses, meaning blocking one IP associated with piracy could disconnect thousands of legitimate users who rely on the same server for privacy, remote work, or security reasons.
The case represents a significant shift in anti-piracy enforcement, because authorities are now targeting the infrastructure used to bypass blocks rather than focusing only on piracy websites themselves. Similar legal actions against VPN services have recently appeared in other European countries as rights holders expand efforts to combat illegal sports streaming.
