Rubiales: "In the face of lies and manipulation, with strictness as a flag"

The president of Authentic Spanish soccer federation (RFEF), Luis Rubialeshas ensured that “in the face of lies and manipulation” it will “continue with austerity as a banner” and that it has a “management model that is now a reference and“ hard to find a federation with such success ”.

Rubiales on Monday led the RFEF General Assemblywhere he defended the cleanliness of his performances since he took office in 2018 and provided explanations on issues such as the contract for the Super Cup to be held in Saudi Arabia, including through the player’s company Barcelona.

“It’s not pleasant to come to explain the same thing, people forget it, with everything that has been set up, insinuations or manipulation, a rare atmosphere has been created. I’m glad there is no doubt, if there is. we answered it clearly. In the face of lies and manipulation, we will continue to be strict as a flag, “he said.

For more than two and a half hours, the Assembly listened to the president’s presentation of “a very successful, unique balance” and cited “the best result in history at the economic level, with 406 million euros”, a figure representing 280 % more than the year before he became president four years ago, it was 146 million.

“We have a management model that is now a reference and we are creating a federation that can compete face to face with the first in Europe, which is the English Federation. In 2021, the RFEF will generate more revenue than ever before, 370 million , which together. whose territorial revenues add up to 440 million, those are numbers that are closer to English football, “he said.

Rubiales stressed that since his arrival, sponsorship revenue has grown to 83 million last year from 29-30 million; The television rights more than doubled, from 61 million to 129, and he specified that a profit of 32 million was obtained, to be allocated to a contingency fund for the future, and that added to other actions, they reached number of 74 million.

Despite the exposure of these data, the board of directors did not put last year’s accounts on a vote today in the Assembly, as external auditors requested additional time after receiving a burofax from LaLiga that requires data related to the Soule case between 2009 and 2017.

“These are issues that are not related to the management of this board, but this house. The auditors are asking us for more time to evaluate the possible impact of that information on the conclusions of their work and we understand that submission we ourselves for approval, at this time especially knowing that we have until June 30 to approve the accounts ”, explains treasurer Eduardo Bandrés.

Rubiales also considered the “key” to good economic conditions to be the modernization of competitions, such as the Super Cup and Copa del Rey, which from 13 million were formed to 47.5 million, which is another 360 percent, and He returned to give of explanations. about the contract for the first held in Saudi Arabia and the previous negotiations in Qatar and about a supposed trip to New York.

“There are issues we want to explain, some of them have to do with publishing stories in the media. I spent almost three hours on the first news that came out in the media and I’m not going back because it’s going to be redundant, but I want to give two examples so you can see what the situation is, when there is no content to create a breeding ground that generates expectations, people’s disapproval and that there is a lot of noise and when there is no irregularity that can be obtained from management ”, he said referring to the information and audios disclosed by El Confidencial.

The president indicated that the “Super Cup has become a lifeline at some point”, as it has gone from generating € 130,000 to € 40 million, and confirmed that “it is not true” that there is an offer from Qatar that not chosen because another is more interested.

“There was a proposal from Qatar of 33 million that was not perfected because it was subject to the approval of the Qataris. After a few days they had to respond but they did not. It is wrong that there was a firm offer from Qatar and it was not the best, “he said.

RFEF’s legal adviser, Tomás González Cueto, specified at this point that although the first contract was for three years, with the option of another three, so that the Saudis would pay for the 2021 edition it would not can be played there since the pandemic has been discussed again and the new commitment covers 10 years.

“The Saudi side took over Kosmos, a company headed by Gerard Piqué, and it paid the commissions corresponding to that company that they freely agreed to. The RFEF did not pay nor will it pay a euro to those commission for this contract There is no conflict of interest in the case of Gerard Piqué, “he said.

Regarding the RFEF’s possible payment of Rubiales’ personal trip to New York, he clarified that the agency covered the transfer of three workers – him and two colleagues from his cabinet at the time.

“It was a work trip with fully accredited meetings, that someone who wanted to lie would lie, but a noise was formed around something untrue in a truncated document in the names of Antonio Gomez. Reino and Juan Rubiales, to show that This trip I am doing it alone. I am accountable to the Assembly for my work, “he added.

Rubiales lamented that “in these numbers and in this management there have been ongoing attacks.” “It is being played out within the Federation, like employees passing information illegally … They are the usual tactics, it is tremendous that this happens in our country with this administration,” he stressed.