Luis Rubiales is experiencing his most delicate moment as president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) since he took office in May 2018. The fire that he has set after his non-consensual kiss to Jennifer Hermoso and his obscene gestures in the box at authorities during the celebrations of the World Cup won by the women’s team threaten his mandate. The Superior Sports Council (CSD) received on Tuesday the complaint filed by Miguel Galán, president of the Cenafe coaching school, and both the legal services of the government body and the State attorney are studying to take it to the Administrative Court of Sport (TAD).
To Galán’s complaint was added another from Sumar, which on Tuesday night had not been registered by CSD officials. Once the criminal route has been ruled out because Hermoso has not filed a complaint, the administrative route is the one that can end Rubiales’ mandate. For Friday, Rubiales has convened an extraordinary assembly in which he intends to obtain the support of the territorial barons. The RFEF assured in a statement that after “the events that occurred” in the final “the federation’s internal proceedings regarding integrity issues are open, as well as the rest of the applicable protocols.”
If the CSD transfers the complaints to the TAD and the highest representative of Spanish football is filed, the president of the CSD, Víctor Francos, has the power to convene the organization’s board of directors and put the provisional suspension of Rubiales to a vote until the TAD resolve. The other way, once the file is opened, is to wait for the court’s decision without there being a prior suspension. If the TAD interprets that the new Sports Law has been violated in its article 104, which qualifies as “very serious the notorious and public acts that violate the dignity or sporting decorum and the abuses of authority”, Rubiales can be disqualified from 2 to 15 years in accordance with article 108 of the aforementioned law.
The CSD did not notify the TAD of other complaints against Rubiales motivated by the Supercopafiles case revealed by El Confidencial. However, the kiss to Hermoso fully touches gender equality, one of the flags of the Government of Pedro Sánchez. CSD sources convey the discomfort over the damage caused to the image of Spanish sport before the international community after having reached a milestone in its history.
In this context, the acting Executive has publicly pressured Rubiales to resign. He resists protected by the fact that his breach of protocol is not a reason to resign and that the federation is a private entity that does not have to respond to resignation requests from any body. This position clashes with the delegated public powers held by the federations. Federal sources assure that Rubiales has no intention of leaving office, despite the government barrages that do not stop and corner him. If on Monday it was the acting second vice president and leader of Sumar, Yolanda Díaz, who demanded that the Sports Law and the federal protocol against sexist acts be applied to her, on Tuesday it was Pedro Sánchez himself who described it as “unacceptable”. his behavior and described as “insufficient and inadequate” the apologies of the highest federal leader.
Coldness in La Moncloa
Sánchez was critical after having previously staged his estrangement with Rubiales in the reception offered to the champions at La Moncloa. At the time of the acting president’s inn with the champions and the rest of the expedition, the protocol led Rubiales along with the utilleros. Then, coldness presided over Sánchez’s individual congratulations when it was his turn for the sports leader. “You must continue to take steps to clarify what we saw in the media,” Sánchez warned. “The players have done everything to win. But there have been some behaviors, such as Rubiales, which show that in our country there is still a long way to go in terms of equality and respect, and in the equalization of rights between women and men. Yolanda Díaz herself returned to the charge against Rubiales on her social networks on Tuesday under the protection of information from Relevo that assured that Rubiales begged Hermoso to appear together in the video in which she apologized. “This is a boss pressuring a worker to cover up the abuse she has suffered. He is very serious and denigrates Spanish sport. Rubiales must resign immediately,” the vice president wrote. The federation categorically denies the aforementioned information. Later, Díaz confirmed Sumar’s complaint: “Sports federations are subject to the Sports Law and the CSD must act so that machismo does not go unpunished.”
This is a boss putting pressure on a worker to cover up the abuse she has suffered. It is very serious and denigrates Spanish sport.
Rubiales must resign immediately. https://t.co/1P3cqdUqF8
— Yolanda Diaz (@Yolanda_Diaz_) August 22, 2023
Neither the judicialized contract that transferred the dispute from the Spanish Super Cup to Saudi Arabia and involved a succulent commission for Gerard Piqué, nor the recordings of ministers, nor the spying on David Aganzo, president of the soccer players’ union (AFE) had so threatened the Rubiales presidency. The AFE, which Rubiales chaired for seven years, issued a statement in which it demanded that the CSD apply the Sports Law and its own Protocol of action against sexual violence, which includes “kissing by force” as “unacceptable conduct that It will have immediate consequences.” Rubiales had never seen his position so exposed to a government decision. And both FIFA, organizer of the World Cup, and UEFA, of which Rubiales is vice president, have the power to file proceedings against him.
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2023-08-22 21:30:42
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