Spanish government ready to take over national federation in wake of Villar scandal
>> BARCELONA: With Angel Maria Villar in jail, the Spanish government is ready to step in and take control of football.
Spain’s sports authority is seeking the temporary removal of Villar, the longtime president of the Spanish Football Federation and Fifa’s senior vice president, after his arrest and imprisonment in an anti-corruption investigation.
Inigo Mendez de Vigo, minister of education, culture and sport and the government’s spokesman, said on Friday the government is prepared to take charge of the operations of the federation so Spanish soccer is not harmed by the scandal.
“What we want is to guarantee the complete normalcy of the institution when its president and vice president are in prison because of a judge’s decision [to deny them bail],’’ Mendez de Vigo said. “We want to send a message to the big family of football so everyone knows that we are taking steps.’’
The Higher Council of Sports said on Thursday it will ask the country’s administrative court for sports to open a disciplinary procedure against Villar and three others.
The council said it plans to call a meeting of its own executive committee to agree on the temporary suspension of Villar and the other federation executives. Mendez de Vigo said that meeting of the Higher Council of Sports will be on Tuesday.
The Spanish federation is in charge of national teams, the Copa del Rey, setting the calendars of the club competitions, and the appointment of referees, among other areas. It does not run the top two divisions of the Spanish men’s league nor the women’s league.
Spain coach Julen Lopetegui voiced no criticisms of Villar on Friday, when he completed his first year in charge of the team after Villar picked him to replace Vicente del Bosque.
“The treatment we have received from Villar as far as sportsmen go has been exquisite,’’ Lopetegui told Europa Press news agency. “He let us work and we are eternally grateful.’’
Lopetegui is getting ready for the World Cup qualifier against Italy on Sept 2. That could decide which team wins an automatic berth to the tournament in Russia next year.
“I hope this gets cleared up as soon as possible,’’ Lopetegui said. “On Sept 2 we have a game that is too important for us to be thinking about other things.’’
The arrest of Villar, his son, and two others forced the announcement of the league calendar to be pushed back until Friday at the federation headquarters in Las Rozas, which was raided by police four days ago.
Those raids, along with others at regional federations and private properties, culminated in the arrests of Villar, his son Gorka Villar, federation vice president Juan Padron, and the secretary of the regional soccer federation of Tenerife, Ramon Hernandez.
National Court judge Santiago Pedraz questioned all four suspects on Thursday. Afterward, he denied bail for the Villars and Padron. The judge set bail for Hernandez at €100,000 (US$116,000).
A state prosecutor accused the four officials of improper management, misappropriation of funds, corruption and falsifying documents.
The elder Villar is also a vice president of Uefa. As president of the Spanish federation since 1988, he was in charge when Spain won the 2010 World Cup and European Championships in 2008 and 2012.
Judge Pedraz said the 67-year-old Villar is suspected of misappropriating private and public funds received by the federation “at least since 2009.’’
In a 44-page ruling that included several quotes from phone taps carried out by the Guardia Civil, Pedraz detailed why state prosecutors allege that Villar used his influence as federation president to funnel private and public funds into regional federations in exchange for votes to remain in power for eight consecutive terms.
The state prosecutor also says that Villar used his control of friendly matches involving Spain to secure economic benefits for his son Gorka, a sports lawyer who has worked for Conmebol under three presidents who were all implicated in corruption cases.
Villar has been at the heart of Fifa and Uefa politics since the 1990s, but two weeks ago, he answered a judge’s questions as part of an investigation into accusations brought by the Higher Council of Sports that his federation committed fraud in the misappropriation of €1.8 million ($2 million) that was destined for humanitarian relief in Haiti.