The Guardia Civil has dismantled Spain’s largest illegal football streaming network, ‘Cristal Azul’, in an operation that left 78,000 users without access to pirated broadcasts of top Spanish football leagues. Authorities estimate that the network caused losses amounting to over €42 million to the legitimate operators La Liga and Movistar.
The alleged mastermind behind the operation, a 37-year-old man, now faces charges related to fraud and consumer market violations.
#OperacionesGC I Desactivado el canal de streaming pirata más importante en #España
➡️Se ha conseguido investigar al desarrollador del software en el cual se retransmitían en directo partidos de fútbol.
➡️Más de 78.000 miembros de la comunidad de diferentes canales de una… pic.twitter.com/X9XWPjLNp1
— Guardia Civil (@guardiacivil) November 15, 2024
Cristal Azul provided Spain’s Primera and Segunda
The Guardia Civil’s Comandancia in Madrid confirmed the success of ‘Operation Corsario Azul’ on Friday. Herewith the police force disabled the country’s largest illegal streaming channel. Furthermore, the officers also identified the suspect, whose identity remains undisclosed, and dismantled supporting channels on Telegram. These platforms provided streams of Spanish Primera and Segunda Division football, free of charge. Therefore, they were using illegitimate programming codes distributed via KODI—a popular open-source media player.
Unmasking the streamer
The investigation into Cristal Azul centred around a KODI add-on. That is an extension that allowed access to the football streams. Investigators from the Guardia Civil’s Technological Research Unit (EDITE) traced digital pseudonyms embedded in the source code of the KODI extension, ultimately identifying the developer responsible. The investigation was prompted by a joint complaint from LaLiga and Movistar. Both companies are very eager to stamp out the unauthorised distribution of their exclusive content.
International sting reaches Ecuador
The crackdown on illegal streaming extended beyond Spain, with LaLiga confirming the arrest of a key figure behind a major piracy network in Ecuador on Thursday. The man, detained in Guayas province, was allegedly operating Flujo TV—a platform illegally distributing sports, live TV, series, and films. The Ecuadorian operation, launched after a joint complaint from Spanish club association LaLiga and Latin American sports broadcaster DIRECTV, aimed to curb unauthorised streaming across the region.
Javier Tebas, President of LaLiga, hailed the success of the operations, stating: “Disabling illegal platforms like MagisTV and FlujoTV is crucial for protecting intellectual property rights and safeguarding the livelihoods that the audiovisual industry supports across Latin America.”
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