On Wednesday morning, the headquarters of the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) and the home of its former president were raided as part of an investigation into allegations of corruption during Luis Rubiales’ five-year rule.
Rubiales resigned as president of the RFEF in September after initially being suspended by FIFA, world soccer’s governing body, for his behavior when Spain won the 2023 Women’s World Cup the previous month, adding an allegedly non-consensual kiss with Spanish player Jenni Hermoso while on duty. – Medal and trophy matching ceremony.
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Agents of the Spanish Civil Guard, through the court’s investigators, also carried out searches elsewhere in Spain. Seven arrests were made; five in Madrid and two in Granada, where Rubiales has an apartment. He was at the time, but his legal team told the investigating judge that he would cooperate.
Investigators in a case dubbed “Operation Brody” have shown that they are investigating possible crimes, adding corruption, embezzlement of cash and embezzlement of the federation’s budget between 2018 and 2023, prospectively adding the deal that saw the Spanish Super Cup, the Spanish equivalent of English football’s La Community Shield moved to Saudi Arabia and built paintings at Seville’s Estadio de los Angeles Cartuja in Seville, where the Spanish national team plays.
Athletic takes a look back at the dramatic events of this week and the consequences for Rubiales, the RFEF and the Spanish national teams.
Shortly after 11 a. m. local time on Wednesday, uniformed officers carried out a stunning attack on the RFEF headquarters in Las Rozas, an affluent suburb northwest of central Madrid.
The search was carried out through agents of the Central Operational Unit of Los Angeles Guardia Civil, in coordination with the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office and Europol.
This happened while the players of the Spanish national team were preparing to exercise in some other component of the complex. The team stayed ahead of this week’s friendlies against Colombia in London today (Friday) and Brazil in Madrid on Tuesday.
Los Angeles Angels, including Manchester City’s Rodrigo, Real Madrid’s Dani Carvajal, Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal and Atletico Madrid’s national captain Alvaro Morata, took part in an educational consultation overseen by coach Luis de los Angeles Fuente, as police officers walked in and out of the federation’s offices, carrying boxes. of documents and other conceivable evidence.
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The RFEF has tried to put a “status quo” on social media.
“No more successful consultation!” read an article on their official X account. “I’m a big fan of those players and the temperament of the team. “
Many enthusiasts of those players and the role they play in the team. #VamosEspaña | #EURO2024 pic. twitter. com/9ZQmswRMOF
– Spanish Men’s National Football Team (@SEFutbol) March 20, 2024
Subsequently, Brentford goalkeeper on loan from Arsenal, David Raya, attended a press conference in which the former asked him if he had been aware of the police activity throughout the morning at the complex. “We gave up, we had breakfast and trained normally. ” Raya said. “I actually had no idea what was going on. “
Another consultation took place as planned in the afternoon as RFEF staff tried to keep things as general as imaginable for players and coaches as they were ready for their upcoming matches, now that there are less than three months to go until this summer’s European Championship in Germany.
At around 8pm, the RFEF issued a statement saying it was “fully cooperating” with the Guardia Civil and demonstrating “absolute transparency”.
Around the same time as his arrival at the RFEF, police also raided the offices of the stadium known as La Cartuja in Seville and homes related to some of Rubiales’ closest collaborators. Boxes of documents were looted from the former president’s apartment in central Granada. while passers-by looked on the busy street.
Rubiales was not present. He’s in the Dominican Republic, in the Caribbean, where it’s been a long time since he was expelled from the RFEF and banned from all football activity through FIFA in October.
“I’m absolutely amazed by all of this,” Rubiales told Spanish television show Telecinco on Thursday night. “I’ve been racing here for months, in the Dominican Republic, and I’ve been here for a month. In fact, My circle of relatives is about to fly here to spend Easter with me.
Rubiales also told the newspaper El Español that he had “done nothing wrong,” that he had “nothing to hide” and that he was “surprised” by what happened. He further said, “I’ll answer everything when (investigators) ask me. “
After the global outcry when Rubiales kissed national team player Hermoso in the trophy rite when Spain won the Women’s World Cup last summer, Spanish prosecutors have opened an investigation into possible allegations of sexual assault and coercion.
Hermoso said in early January that she had not consented to Rubiales kissing her. At the end of January, the judge of the Audiencia Nacional, Francisco de Jorge, ordered the case to be tried. No date has yet been set.
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Rubiales has strenuously protested that he did nothing serious, claiming that Hermoso had consented to the kiss. He has also continually claimed that he is the victim of a conspiracy because enemies elsewhere in Spanish football need to expel him (those he suspects come with Javier Tebas, president of La Liga).
After FIFA made the decision to suspend him, Rubiales resigned, taking advantage of an interview on the British channel TalkTV to once again present himself as a victim of Hermoso’s “lies”, while boasting of having increased the RFEF’s annual profit by 3 million euros. million/$3. 2 million). at current rates) up to €27 million during his five-year presidency.
In December, Rubiales also conducted a similar interview with Luis “Alvise” Pérez, a Spanish personality known for his far-right, anti-feminist and anti-immigration messages. He claimed that the government of Spain’s current Socialist Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, had made a big deal out of kissing Hermoso to distract others from the government’s “amnesty” deal with Catalan separatist politicians.
The following month, Rubiales and South Korean company The Moon Labs unveiled an NFT. The supporting exhibit curtain claimed that Rubiales “made a small mistake” at the Women’s World Cup, but clarified that “everyone knows deep in our hearts” that she was not going to participate. He blamed it for any “violent sexual assault,” adding that the NFT was part of a crusade against “extremism and radical feminism” globally.
This message is aimed at those who defend true equality, not radicalism or media manipulation.
⚖️?
NFT LINK 1/17/2024: https://t. co/PoGaDKakrZ pic. twitter. com/KVfINtr6X6
– Luis Rubiales (@LuisRubiales17) January 16, 2024
Rubiales claimed online that the NFTs sold out almost immediately. However, very few were bought, and their price temporarily plummeted.
He is said to be concerned about more business activities in the Dominican Republic. Former footballer Francisco Javier Martín Alcaide, known as Nene and an old friend of the former president of the RFEF, now runs several hotels under the Urban Dream brand, both in Spain and on this Caribbean island.
Rubiales’ departure from the RFEF was due to her behaviour in the final of the Women’s World Cup, where she also grabbed her crotch to some seats of Queen Letizia of Spain and her 16-year-old daughter Sofia in the VIP box of the stadium.
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Even before this tournament in Australia and New Zealand, Spanish investigators were very interested in his business dealings as president of the RFEF.
A complaint filed through Miguel Ángel Galán, on May 30, 2022, before the Courts of Majadahonda, Madrid, triggered the reasons that led to Wednesday’s searches. Galán is president of the Association for Transparency and Democracy in Sport and has spoken to El Athletic in the past about alleged corruption within the RFEF.
GO FURTHER
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That lawsuit included allegations of irregularities in the contract that moved the annual Spanish Super Cup to Saudi Arabia. This agreement was reached in 2019 after mediation through Kosmos, a company owned by former Barcelona and Spain defender Gerard Piqué (who is still a Barça player at the time).
Investigators also investigated the possible use of the RFEF’s budget to pay rent for Rubiales’ luxury apartment in Madrid, for a trip to New York in October 2018 and a party in Salobreña, a beach town in the southern Andalusian region of Spain. involving the federation’s staff and their companions.
Rubiales has denied embezzlement of RFEF funds.
Among the homes raided on Wednesday were the Urban Dream hotels in Granada and Torrox, near Malaga, and La Cartuja in Seville, which hosts the Copa del Rey final every year, as well as the Spanish internationals. The RFEF’s legal director, Pedro González Segura, its director of human resources, José Jiménez, and his external legal adviser Tomás González Cueto (the agents also raided the offices of GC Legal, the latter’s office).
Ángel González Segura, brother of the organization’s legal director and director of the Gruconsa corporate structure, has also been arrested. During Rubiales’ tenure at the federation, Gruconsa was paid almost one million euros for the works of La Cartuja, in addition to preparing a stadium configured for the Athletics will host the matches of the last European Championship, which was due to be played in 2020 but has been delayed for 12 months due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
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For negotiating the transfer of the Super Cup to Saudi Arabia, Kosmos would have earned a commission of 24 million euros. This agreement was initially signed for 3 years, until 2021, but was later extended until 2029.
It seems that Kosmos is under investigation because the Guardia Civil did touch the company, did not ask for any documents and did claim anything from Piqué or him. A spokesperson for Kosmos told The Athletic that they would comment on the matter.
Pique and Rubiales have denied wrongdoing in the past.
The Civil Guard also visited the headquarters of the Junta de Andalucía on Wednesday. At the beginning of 2021, the Board awarded an “exceptional grant” of €4. 9 million for the modernisation of the Cartuja Stadium ahead of the (delayed) Euro 2020 matches by taking up position there.
“The paintings have been done and the procedures followed were all legal,” government spokesman Antonio Sanz told local reporters on Thursday.
The raid in Las Rozas came hours before the RFEF committee organizing the elections to decide on Rubiales’ permanent successor met to officially announce the date of the vote. As police were present at the federation’s headquarters throughout the day, the assembly was suspended indefinitely.
Just before Rubiales was suspended through FIFA, he chose Pedro Rocha as his interim successor and has been interim head of the organization ever since. Although Rocha’s only official role is to organize elections to decide on a new permanent president, he has hired and fired senior officials. directors of the federation, extending the contract of coach De los Ángeles Fuente until 2026, representing Spain on occasions prior to the 2030 World Cup, of which he is co-host. -Organize and win the president’s annual angelesry events of €675,000.
Rocha, however, was widely regarded as the likely top winner of the vote, which will depend on who repositions Rubiales for the remainder of the four-year term he was unable to complete. He would also have been the favorite to win separate elections for the next presidential term, which were due to be held before the end of this year.
This schedule is now suspended.
In addition to serving as vice-president of the RFEF, Rocha was also president of its finance commission and of the signing of some of the contracts that have recently been investigated. He has not been questioned by police and is not under investigation.
On Thursday at noon, the RFEF announced that it had suspended González Segura and Jiménez and opened disciplinary proceedings against the two. His contract with GC Legal was also coming to an end and Gonzalez Cueto could stop forming the federation, he said. The RFEF also had to appear officially in the judicial investigation as an aggrieved party.
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Rocha is credited with making those decisions. However, others in and around the RFEF pointed out that those moves came too late and questioned how senior officials close to Rubiales had continued to work for the federation under Rocha’s leadership.
Thursday morning was a quieter day in Las Rozas, with the education of the men’s team again under the direction of De los Angeles Fuente. Then it was time for a quick shower and packing before flying to London for Friday’s match against Colombia at the London Stadium. home of the 2012 Olympics and now West Ham United.
The @SEFutbol enters a sunny morning in Las Rozas before flying to the UK very late. #VamosEspaña | #EURO2024 pic. twitter. com/JANBwCoC4K
– Spanish Men’s National Football Team (@SEFutbol) March 21, 2024
Meanwhile, those of the RFEF continue.
The draw for the football tournaments for this summer’s Summer Olympics in France was also held on Wednesday, in which the Spanish men’s and women’s U-23 teams will participate. Ironically, the men were randomly drawn in an organization with. . . Dominican Republic.
There has been frustration among some members at the constant attention paid to the Rubiales when the RFEF deals with so many other things: running semi-professional leagues, creating senior and youth national teams, managing the Copa del Rey (Spanish edition of the FA Cup). and is preparing to co-host the 2030 World Cup.
GO FURTHER
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An RFEF source recently told The Athletic how everyone has overcome the “cataclysm” of last August, with peace and order returning to life in Las Rozas, also highlighting how Hermoso and her teammates won the inaugural UEFA Women’s Championship. February.
However, the events of this week demonstrate how incapable they have been of drawing a line further and moving forward.
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If irregularities are discovered in the contracts signed through the RFEF under Rubiales, they can be legally challenged. “We will wait for the investigation and the judges,” Jose Manuel Rodriguez Uribes, president of the Spanish government’s Higher Sports Council, said late in the day. Wednesday. ” If there are irregularities in the contracts, they are not valid. “
Uribe under pressure not to co-host the World Cup in six years’ time. Lately, however, tensions and political manoeuvring have been taking place over which Spanish cities will host which matches in the tournament, which is shared with South American countries such as Argentina. , Uruguay and Paraguay, Morocco in North Africa and Spain’s neighbor Portugal, as well as the country’s identity and authority. The president of the RFEF plays a key role in those decisions.
The venues for the long-running competitions of the Spanish Super Cup and the Copa del Rey finals could also be in question.
Rubiales’ lawyer has sent a letter to the investigator who is ruling on Delia Rodríguez indicating that he will appear before the courts of Madrid on April 6, or earlier if necessary. This appears to have relieved the Spanish government of any legal responsibility, seeking an extradition warrant for their counterparts in the Dominican Republic.
It also remains to be seen whether charges will be brought against those arrested in those searches and what evidence police and investigators have accumulated in Madrid, Granada, Seville and elsewhere.
Thursday’s RFEF refers to the damage caused to the establishment and the symbol of football in Spain.
This is true, and the extent of the impact of Rubiales’ five-year presidency has yet to be clearly defined.
(Top photo: Thomas Coex/AFP Getty Images)