In the absence of other candidates, such an outcome was not in doubt. In a sulphurous context, it will not fail, however, to give rise to controversy. Pedro Rocha, indicted in the corruption case which is shaking the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), was appointed president of the RFEF on Friday, the latter announced in a press release.
“Pedro Rocha was today appointed new president of the Spanish Football Federation, after receiving the support of the majority of the institution’s assembly,” wrote the RFEF in a press release. He was the only candidate in the elections for the presidency of the Federation which were initially to be held on May 6 if several people had presented themselves.
This announcement comes the day after the Spanish government’s decision to place the Federation under supervision, in crisis since the scandal of the forced kiss of Luis Rubiales, former president of the body for whom Pedro Rocha had been acting since August. 2023.
Irregularities in signed contracts
Concretely, “a supervision, standardization and representation commission” created by the Superior Sports Council (CSD), an organization dependent on the Ministry of Sports, will exercise “supervision of the RFEF during the coming months”, in “the interest of Spain”, future organizer of the 2030 World Cup jointly with Portugal and Morocco, the CSD announced on Thursday.
Already shaken by the scandal of the forced kiss of world champion Jenni Hermoso after the world title of “Roja” in August, which led to the resignation of Rubiales, the RFEF is now at the center of a corruption investigation in which the former strongman of Spanish football and Pedro Rocha were indicted.
This case concerns irregularities in the contracts signed by the RFEF over the last five years, during the presidency of Luis Rubiales, including the lucrative contract concluded to relocate the Spanish Super Cup to Saudi Arabia.
