If your website uses Cloudflare to improve security and performance or you have activated the free CDN option from your SWPanel, you may experience interruptions on football match days. This particularly affects users accessing from operators such as Movistar, O2, Vodafone, Orange, Digi and others in Spain.
These interruptions are not due to failures on the part of your internet provider, but to measures imposed by LaLiga to combat piracy in sports broadcasts. However, these blocks unintentionally affect legitimate websites.
In recent days, we have detected that some of our customers with Cloudflare activated are experiencing problems accessing their websites on certain telecommunications operators during LaLiga match days.
This problem is due to the fact that LaLiga has implemented blocks on operators' networks to restrict access to unauthorized content. However, this block can affect other websites that use Cloudflare. These blocks do not distinguish between websites related to sports broadcasting and those that simply use Cloudflare as an optimization and security system, which causes many pages to become inaccessible for no apparent reason.
LaLiga has reported that piracy generates losses of 600 to 700 million euros per year for clubs. Spain is one of the countries with the highest piracy rates in Europe, 25igher than the European average. Between 2021 and 2023, this illegal activity increased by **36.5.
To counteract this problem, LaLiga has implemented an advanced system based on Big Data and Machine Learning to detect and block illegal content in real time. However, some pirate platforms have used Cloudflare to hide their activity, which has led to massive blockings of Cloudflare IPs by the main operators in Spain, affecting legitimate websites.
If you have Cloudflare activated on your service and you have received reports from users indicating that they cannot access your website during LaLiga match days, it is very likely that your website is being affected by these blockages. To check if your website is affected, you can try to access it from different networks or use availability monitoring tools.
Law 11/2022, of June 28, General Telecommunications Law, obliges operators to guarantee compliance with public service regulations in electronic communications. In addition, the Law on Information Society Services (LSSI) requires providers to inform their users about methods to protect themselves from threats on the internet.
In this context, the operators have abided by LaLiga's guidelines, implementing blocks that end up affecting websites that are not related to piracy.
The only way to avoid these problems is to temporarily disable Cloudflare in the service while the restrictions imposed by LaLiga persist. To disable Cloudflare, you can do so from the settings of your control panel in SWPanel.
In addition, it is important to note that the Fundació.cat has announced that .cat domains will be monitored due to their participation in the complaint against LaLiga. This action is due to the fact that they consider that the blocks imposed by LaLiga may be affecting net neutrality and causing collateral damage to the accessibility of many websites.
If you have a .cat domain, we recommend that you keep an eye out for any official communication from the Foundation on this issue. The monitoring of these domains may generate warnings or reports on possible impacts, so it is important to stay informed in order to make quick decisions in case problems are detected.
Although these measures seek to protect the rights of LaLiga and its clubs, Cloudflare's massive blocking of IPs is harming numerous legitimate websites, generating:
✅ Interruptions in access to web pages
✅ User experience problems
✅ Economic losses for online businesses
If your website is experiencing interruptions, consider these solutions:
🔹 Temporarily disable Cloudflare to prevent your website from using blocked IPs.
🔹 Inform your users about the situation and recommend alternatives such as VPNs or proxies for unrestricted access.
If you manage your website with SWPanel, review the available configuration options to minimize the impact of these blocks.
At SW Hosting we are committed to transparency and support for our customers. We know that these blocks can affect the visibility and performance of websites that use Cloudflare, so we recommend evaluating the need to temporarily disable this service during LaLiga match days.
At SW Hosting we strongly condemn the actions taken by LaLiga under the presidency of Javier Tebas.
If you have any questions or need help configuring your service, our team is available to provide assistance. We will keep you informed of any developments in this situation and any possible alternative solutions that may arise.
