2023-08-22 16:04:01
Luis Rubiales (Las Palmas, 1977) went from being a player with pride, a nickname he earned in his time as a Levante footballer, with whom he played close to a hundred games and three years in the First Division, to stirring up Spanish football since the presidency of the Spanish Football Federation (FEF) based on scandals. The former defender -lateral or central- of up to six Spanish clubs and of Scottish Hamilton Academical has always seen how the noise has been chasing him since he became the ‘head honcho’ of Spanish football.
The awkward kiss to Jennifer Hermoso, top scorer in the history of Spain for women and world champion, has been the latest case in an extensive list that began a month after her arrival at the head of the federation in May 2018. Nothing More to come, and just 48 hours before the World Cup in Russia began, he dispensed with coach Julen Lopetegui after Real Madrid announced that they had signed him as their new coach. Fernando Hierro, at that time sports director, had to assume command on an interim basis and sit on the bench of La Roja. It was his first earthquake in Spanish football, although his extra-sports leadership career began as a spokesman for that historic squad of the Levantine club, which came to announce a strike after presenting suspension of payments, later called off, at the Madrid headquarters of the Footballers Association Spaniards (AFE).
Years later, fighting for the rights of soccer players led him to be elected president of the AFE. As leader of this body, Rubiales, a Law graduate and holder of a Sports Management Course, led the fifth strike in the history of Spanish football for a non-payment of La Liga worth 50 million euros. There he began to have an important network of contacts that allowed him to come to command of the federation when Ángel María Villar fell, who ended up in Soto del Real prison for corruption, after almost 30 years in command. “When I want something, I get it,” he recalls in an interview. He was also elected vice president of Uefa in 2019.
The mess of the Super Cup and the schism of the rebels
His way of managing the 15 o’clock schism with that revolt against the coach Jorge Vilda, revealed his leadership style. A matter of principle, little friend of forgiveness and admitting mistakes. “They have tried to break the order… The principle of dialogue is fundamental, but also that of authority and that of hierarchy,” he said bluntly. In Sydney, he made obscene gestures in the box and an implausible request for an apology after the commotion caused and the criticism even from the Government. A cascade of representatives came out in a rush to ask for his resignation.
Since his arrival at the organization, the leader from the Canary Islands and raised in Motril (Granada), dialectically confronts Javier Tebas, another controversial leader who is president of La Liga, every time he can, due to an absolutely conflicting internal management and the use of all his springs to sell the rights of the Spanish Super Cup to the dark Saudi Arabia with important commissions through Kosmos, the company chaired by Gerard Piqué. “The only thing I’m afraid of is that they put cocaine in my car,” the federation boss came to confess a little over a year ago when he denounced being the victim of “a prepared hunt, falsifying reality”, a consequence of “a mafia” that had stolen information and conversations from his private mobile phone when he defended himself against the accusations he had received about the agreement with Saudi Arabia.
The leader had to respond to the Higher Sports Council (CSD) after the Government demanded that he give explanations for having recorded private conversations with senior officials of the Pedro Sánchez Executive. Among others, with the former Minister of Culture and Sports José Guirao, and with the former Secretary of State for Sports, Irene Lozano.
Significant salary increases
Rubiales lives in conflict and his management of the position of national coach shows that he does not shy away from any confrontation. With Luis Enrique and his assistant, Robert Moreno, he lived a dream when he took office for a few months after losing his daughter due to illness. A relationship that ended in spite and betrayal.
With the votes renewed until 2024 after he was the only candidate for the presidency in 2020, Rubiales maintains that he has not had “not a quiet week” since he was president and he himself has claimed to have 25 complaints, since “they want to finish me off.” Rubiales admitted that he charged the federal entity for some meals in Salobreña (Granada) and a party with several young girls. Rubiales handles scandals well and both he and the Federation have been acquitted by Justice. For example, the case of the architect Yasmina Eid-Macheh, who accused him of physical assault and non-payment and she ended up sentenced for chance.
Rubiales directs a healthy Spanish Football Federation that has multiplied its income, thanks to having obtained the audiovisual rights of the Copa del Rey, more attractive than before with single-match qualifiers up to the semifinals. His annual income also grew exponentially: he tripled his payroll and already in 2019 he quintupled the salary of 85,000 euros of the Prime Minister, his friend Pedro Sánchez. Some documents uncovered by El Confidencial show that the leader went from receiving 12,984.86 euros per month in 2020 to 29,619.46 euros tax-free in 2021, in addition to an extraordinary pay of 237,000 euros in December.
A report from the General Intervention of the State Administration also revealed that the head of Spanish football received housing assistance of about 3,100 euros per month, despite not meeting the requirements for it. Luis Rubiales had bought a luxury penthouse with two floors and a private pool in Madrid for an approximate price of 2 million euros.
Last June, he announced his intention to build a stadium for the federation, something unprecedented in our country, with the benefits of the last two years estimated at 61 million. His relationship with some clubs is not very good and until this Women’s World Cup won by Spain, the last controversy in which he had been seen had been with Osasuna, after the Navarrese club accused him of not defending him after being excluded -and later readmitted – in European competitions. Some leaked audios last year caused criticism to rain down on him for his derogatory comments towards Seville, Valencia Villarreal and Atlético de Madrid. “I am a former soccer player who had a tremendous rivalry with clubs,” he justified himself.
Promotion of women’s football
With multiple controversies along the way, in the five years that he has led the Federation, there are several sporting successes to highlight. The absolute men’s team was proclaimed champion of the last Nations League, of which it was already a finalist in the previous edition, and was a semifinalist in the 2021 Euro Cup. The Olympic team won silver at the Tokyo Games, the U21 won the European in 2019 and the Sub-19 did the same two years before. In addition, in this period of time, the women’s teams have been world champions in the Absolute and Under-20 category. The U-17 World Cup was won twice plus a European one, and on two other occasions they reigned in Europe with the U-19.
Only four years ago there was no collective agreement that would improve the labor rights of women soccer players and before the arrival of Luis Rubiales to the presidency, the women’s team did not have its own budget of three million. Now he manages one of more than 27 million euros and since then his achievements have exceeded all expectations.
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