The Higher Sports Council (CSD) has not provisionally suspended Pedro Rocha, but he will not sit this Saturday in the San Mamés box to preside over the Champions League final between Barcelona and Olympique de Lyon. The CSD and the Royal Spanish Football Federation have reached an agreement that was on the table since this Thursday. The recently proclaimed president of Spanish football, who is facing a case for very serious misconduct opened by the Sports Administrative Court (TAD) for having exceeded his duties when he presided over the managing committee, has agreed to collaborate with the Normalization Commission , Representation and Supervision promoted by the CSD and chaired by Vicente del Bosque to protect the federation. The pact has caused the CSD board of directors, meeting this Friday, not to address the vote for the suspension of the president of the RFEF. According to federation sources, Rocha not being in Bilbao is a concession that will not be extended to the Champions League final between Real Madrid and Dortmund, nor to the Euro Cup, nor to the Paris Games.
Rocha is also accused in Operation Brodie, in which alleged irregularities in contracts related to the RFEF are investigated during the mandate of Luis Rubiales between 2018 and 2023 and in which alleged crimes of unfair administration, money laundering, corruption in business and membership in a criminal organization. The Extremaduran leader was president of the federative economic commission since October 2020.
Del Bosque was the representative chosen by the Government to sit this Saturday in the San Mamés box as the visible head of Spanish sport, and on Thursday afternoon he was expected to go to the box. Rocha’s place will be occupied by María Ángeles García Chaves, a former soccer player and wife of Rocha’s former secretary in the Extremaduran federation and whom he appointed deputy vice president. Rocha will not be in the box this Saturday, but he will be in the Eurocup unless the TAD sanctions him. García Chaves will preside over the final together with the president of UEFA, Alexander Ceferin.
The pact does not agree with the Government’s intention that Rocha not represent Spanish football in major national and international events. Both the Minister of Culture and Sports, Pilar Alegría, and the president of the CSD, José Manuel Rodríguez Uribes, were concerned that the federative president could be suspended by the TAD in the middle of the next Euro Cup or the Paris Olympic Games. A week ago, Rodríguez Uribes sent a resolution signed by him in which he explained to both entities that the decision that Rocha not represent Spanish football is based on the general interest of Spain at a decisive moment, so there would be no interference. unjustified in the protection of the federation with the commission created.
Next July, the 2030 World Cup bid dossier will be sent to FIFA with the possible venues that Morocco, Portugal and Spain will present. The coming months, therefore, will be crucial for the internal distribution and distribution of roles, parties and influence of the three countries participating in the joint candidacy. The resolution, headed with a presentation of the serious events that have shaken the federation since the scandal over Luis Rubiales’ non-consensual kiss to Jennifer Hermoso, also specifies that it will be made up of three members, or five if UEFA and FIFA accept the invitation of the Spanish Government to participate in the commission created. This will monitor these issues through biweekly meetings.
You can follow The USA Print in Facebook and xor sign up here to receive our weekly newsletter.
