La Liga clubs and the Spanish national team are at risk of being banned from FIFA and UEFA competitions after the government intervened to oversee the running of the country’s football association.
RFEF has been in the spotlight since last summer when Luis Rubiales, the organization’s then-president, forcibly kissed Jenni Hermoso on the lips without her consent after the Women’s World Cup final. He was later suspended from all football activities by FIFA for three years and reluctantly resigned after continuing to protest his innocence.
Prosecutors are seeking a two-and-a-half-year prison sentence for Rubiales, who is also accused of subsequently attempting to force Hermoso, along with former women’s team head coach Jorge Vilda, men’s national team director Albert Luque and RFEF marketing director, Ruben Rivera others were considered suspects in the coercion case, but they denied it.
But scandals continued to erupt, and in March an investigation into alleged corruption at RFEF under Rubiales was made public as authorities conducted raids and arrested several people, with allegations focusing on corruption, improper management and money laundering. Rubiales was summoned to court on Monday to testify as a witness in the investigation. He was initially arrested last month upon his return from the Dominican Republic, but was released after his detention.
Pedro Rocha, who has been interim president since Rubiales’ departure, was announced as the new RFEF president last Friday. As part of a legal challenge in March, Rocha had previously called for Rocha to be relieved of his duties on various grounds, including failure to comply with the statutes for calling elections, receiving the presidential salary and ending the legal challenge to the La Liga-CVC deal.
Now one of the new boss’s first acts was to accept a Supervision, Normalization and Representation Commission set up by the government’s Ministry of Education, Vocational Training and Sport, headed by Spanish football legend Vicente Del Bosque.
Pilar Alegria, spokeswoman for the government ministry, said on Tuesday that the commission’s role is “firstly to represent Spanish football; secondly, to ensure transparency and good performance of the next electoral process that the federation must go through after the Olympic Games.” Games; and thirdly, to successfully overcome the challenges that Spanish football faces: the European Championships, the Olympic Games and the 2030 World Cup.”
RFEF is expected to continue to operate independently, although meetings with the Commission will take place.
However, problems could arise with FIFA’s strict rules, which require all member associations to adhere to the “principles of good governance” and be completely independent of political influence or interference. FIFA and UEFA have already jointly contacted Jose Manuel Rodriguez Uribes, President of Spain’s Supreme Sports Council, to express their concerns and request detailed clarification.
A letter shared by AS stated: “Based on the information available to date, FIFA and UEFA are very concerned that the appointment of the Commission could significantly affect the RFEF’s commitment to manage its affairs independently and without undue influence.”
The questions asked are as follows: “On what legal and/or factual basis was the Commission appointed? What is the composition of the Commission and who appointed its members? What is the precise mandate of the Commission? What powers does the Commission have? What is the Commission’s relationship with the RFEF’s statutory decision-making bodies?”
Friday May 3rd is the deadline for submitting relevant information.
If this is not the case, FIFA could hypothetically suspend Spain as a member association. This would automatically exclude the country from Euro 2024 and this summer’s Olympics, as well as preventing the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona and various La Liga teams from taking part in the Champions League and UEFA’s other club competitions. The hosting of the 2030 Football World Cup, which is to take place together with Portugal, Morocco, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, would also be at risk.
Only Russia is currently banned by FIFA for invading Ukraine in 2022.