‘I am going to resign, because I cannot continue my work’, those were the words of former president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) Luis Rubiales, who revealed with Piers Morgan that he would in fact be stepping down from his position. It came despite his shouting ‘I will not resign’ just 17 days earlier.
Rubiales’ resignation was confirmed by the RFEF shortly after the news broke, and now a new era can begin in Spanish football. How exactly that looks, remains to be seen.
Interim President Pedro Rocha must now decide how to proceed. Formerly vice-president, Rubiales sacked his colleagues in the position before he was suspended, making Rocha the de facto president in his absence.
He and other members of the Federation will now become an administrative board, alongside General Secretary Andreu Camps, and Treasurer Eduardo Bandres. They will then call elections.
It is not yet clear whether Rocha will be designated by that administrative board to carry out the position of interim president until the elections, although this seems most likely.
RFEF elections must be called every four years, which were due after the Olympics which will take place in Paris next summer. Hence Rocha is left with two choices: he can call elections now, meaning there will be another election after the Olympics, or Rocha can hold off until January, when a more permanent option could be selected.
The Federation have the added complication of the Spain World Cup bid for the 2030 tournament alongside Morocco and Portugal. Relevo say that FIFA will formalise the bids in January of 2024, and are unlikely to consider a bid without a president in place for one of the countries.
No doubt there will be plenty of politics involved in which candidates present themselves. However with Rubiales enormously popular in the Federation, there is concern in Spain that the same attitudes that kept Rubiales in power so long may once again prevail in the elections once again.
It’s going downhill, that’s what’s happening, when wokeness is a priority over performance.
Bring GERARD PIQUE at the helm of the FA