ANDIn just under a month, life has changed for much of the world of football in Spain. The transformation is not over yet. Now, Pedro Rocha will be the helm until the electoral process begins there in the month of February 2024. What could have been and was not is left behind. He didn’t want to see it no matter how much they told him. Not even the FIFA sanction, but everything changed suddenly and it was following a call from Aleksander Ceferin.
Beyond part of his family, Rubiales had been left alone. Socially and sportingly. His attitude was not understood by absolutely anyone. Even many of those who were his guard, his trusted men, advised him to retreat from the beginning, asking him to leave the path clear so that the consequences would not be as dire as they are. He didn’t listen to anyone, turned his back on everyone and embarked on a path of no return. Deep down he knew it, but he didn’t want to see it until he received a call from Switzerland. It was the last thing he had left, but from that moment on he knew that the curtain had fallen definitively.
250,000 from the Executive
Until that moment, UEFA, under the protection of FIFA’s decision, to separate him of any position related to the world of football, He had remained so much on the sidelines, expectant and waiting for a resignation that never came. Ceferin was emphatic. There was no escape. “Either you resign or I will fire you”. There was no room for further delay. From his position as vice president of UEFA and member of the Executive Committee, Rubiales came to think about being able to continue within the organizational chart of the highest European football organization, as other managers who have left their positions in their respective federations have done.
From Nyon they were clear. The Rubiales case was not comparable with any other. So much so that the reaction of the former president of the Spanish Federation was immediate, presenting a letter of resignation. In fact, Rubiales’s photo can no longer be seen anywhere at the UEFA headquarters..
The example of Athenea
The former president of the AFE and the Federation wants to be tried before being sentenced. He is in his right, but what he will no longer recover is the position that he had achieved in the world of football and with it, a more than solvent economic situation due to his position in the City of Football and the UEFA Executive and the 250,000 euros of the position. The problem comes with the many professionals who have come to the Federation together with the and that they are now being vilified and attacked for the mere fact of their origin. There are very valid people with dignity, capable of putting their position and position at the disposal of the Federation.
Now, what is worrying, both in Nyon and Zurich, It is for Spanish football to regain its momentum, for it to return to normality and for situations that compromise the future of Spanish sport to end, such as the one that is being experienced around women’s football. The political interference and situations that go beyond the sporting norm are striking, such as the demand for a clean sweep unparalleled in any federation, as requested by the world champions. Not all. Athenea wanted to raise the white flag and did so trying to show some common sense and giving priority to sports and time for structural decisions.
