Spanish FA warns it will halt play unless ‘government interference’ stops

Angel Maria Villar

By Mark Baber
January 30 – Relations between the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) and the Spanish Government Sports Council (CSD) and their respective leaders have taken an dramatic turn for the worse as the Federation requested the head of the CSD be removed from all positions in football and on Thursday warned it was prepared to halt football in the country over “government interference”.

The relationship between Angel Maria Villar (pictured), head of the RFEF and Miguel Cardenal Head of the CSD has not been harmonious, and it took a dramatic turn on Wednesday as the RFEF announced it had written to UEFA requesting that Cardenal be removed from “any positions he has assumed in committees or working groups” within UEFA and that UEFA “withdraw its support” for Cardenal joining the International Council of Arbitration for Sport.

The RFEF also said it would be writing to FIFA to “communicate our complaints regarding the illegitimate meddling of the Sports Council in matters reserved for Spanish football.”

The Sports Council responded saying that the accusations were false and that its primary concern was to ensure that taxpayers money was being spent properly – demanding that the RFEF finally cooperate with external auditors so that the government could see exactly how its subsidies were being spent. The CSD is backed in its demands for greater transparency by the president of the Spanish football league, Javier Tebas, who has said that the Sports Council “has the right and even the duty to demand more transparency” from the federation.

On Thursday the dispute escalated as the RFEF said it would consider “the partial stoppage of Spanish football” citing the “suppression of financial support to youth football.”

For its part the CSD has stated its position saying: “It is the obligation of the CSD to act with the utmost diligence over the use of financial resources and so once more the RFEF is invited to collaborate with external auditors who so far have not been able to complete their work with respect to the year 2013.

“For several months now the RFEF has blocked all relations with the CSD and has not replied to any written correspondence.”

Villar has reportedly admitted that a breakdown in personal relations has led to the deterioration in institutional relations. It remains to be seen if Alejandro Blanco, Head of the Spanish Olympic Committee, which has also issued a statement denouncing “interference”, will be able to bring the two sides together to find some kind of accommodation.

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