signed the RFEF intervention and immediately after that asked FIFA and UEFA to protect him from this | Relief
Tomorrow is celebrated CSD Board of Directors, which could lead to the removal of Pedro Rocha and the rest of his managers. In theory this should have happened last Thursday, but in an unexpected turn of events, 48 hours of negotiations stopped this initial suspension in exchange for what eventually happened: the government announced that it was going to create an “Overseeing Committee”. Commission, Normalization and Representation,” which was supposed to be hierarchically higher than any body of the Federation. That is, in other words: intervene.
In the midst of a bureaucratic struggle to avoid Rocha’s removal, in any case, Council of Europe President Alejandro Blanco used all his political influence to “save the furniture.”. They could call this Rocha, and then, later, they would see it. Anything better than “losing the game” last Thursday.
They seemed to come to an agreement and, in fact, this is how they signed it: “The agreement was accepted by the Spanish Olympic Committee on April 24, 2024.”. Signed by Alejandro Blanco, Pedro Rocha and Rafael Luzan. (President of the Galician Territorial Council).
Pedro Rocha, who was not yet president of the RFEF at the time, signed himself as “The only candidate for the presidency of the Royal Spanish Football Federation.” They agreed to “appoint Pedro Rocha Junco as President of the Royal Spanish Football Federation.”“and today “to appoint a Board of Directors and announce elections on September 10, 2024.”
The document ends with a very relevant phrase: “In the face of great future challenges, such as the organization of the 2030 World Cup, the European Championship and the celebration of the Olympic Games in Paris, willingness to cooperate with the commission appointed by the Supreme Sports Councilwhich ensures the transparency of the electoral process and the proper functioning of the Royal Spanish Football Federation.”
A minute later… he turned to UEFA and FIFA for help
The same Thursday that CSD announced the creation of this Commission, problems began. Rochi’s name hasn’t been given, he’ll be there the next day, but when does that happen? suddenly everyone felt that they had more reasons to “go to war”. The immediate calling of elections and the fact of subordination to this commission no longer seemed such a good idea.
In fact, there seems to be a key phrase here: “hierarchically superior to any RFEF body”. Something the government explained off the recordin front of dozens of journalists, but was not included in the statement.
The next step was to seek help from UEFA and FIFA, who sent a letter to the government, in particular the Secretary of State for Sports, José Manuel Uribes. In it, they expressed interest in the commission and asked five questions to “defend” the independence of the Federation. It didn’t take long for Uribes himself to respond with equal force a day later: “It would be irresponsible to do nothing.”.
On the table lay an allegedly veiled threat from both institutions to leave Spain without a European Cup, without an Olympic Games or even without a World Cup due to the famous “government interference”. Hardly a credible threat, given that it was voiced only by some media outlets., but never UEFA or FIFA. Nothing like this has happened in any country in the European Union and it would be difficult for CAS to accept something like this.
But above all, what kind of “interference”? If, for example, the Moroccan Federation is headed by a government minister and was appointed to the World Cup, and a week ago Infantino himself was there. Not to mention others like Qatar or Saudi Arabia… What more interference than in these federations… and both of them are also World Cup players.
key day tuesday
Tomorrow the Supreme Sports Council faces a decisive day: Let’s see if Pedro Rocha will be suspended, as Uribes hints in his letter to FIFA and UEFA, and what happens next. How far does this interest and/or the supposed threat from UEFA and FIFA go, because it is one thing for a letter or a press release, and quite another to bring such a resolution, unpublished, and approve it in CAS, and check how they develop events both in the RFEF and in the Government.
A possible meeting point between all institutions could be the participation of FIFA and UEFA in the RFEF commission., and bring them to the polls… but not in September, but now. Only presidential ones (if Roche is removed, of course). This would minimize government intervention, give the RFEF another president, and allow them to organize “real” elections themselves as soon as they can.