The Key Figures of an Unending Storm in the Federation

The fall of Pedro Rocha after being disqualified by the Administrative Court of Sport (TAD) is just the latest in a long list of dominoes that have toppled following Luis Rubiales' departure from the Spanish Football Federation (FEF). Since the former president publicly announced his resignation from the helm of Spanish football on September 10, 2023, cornered by the scandal of an unsolicited kiss to Jenni Hermoso after the Women's World Cup final in Sydney, several key figures from that era have fallen one by one.

Andreu Camps, the general secretary and a strongman of 'rubialism,' was the first to follow his boss's path in a dismissal that, ironically, also ended up dooming Pedro Rocha over a formal issue. A central figure of the previous era, Camps' departure was one of the conditions that the women's national team players imposed on September 20, 2023, to then-President of the Higher Sports Council (CSD), Víctor Francos, to play for Spain.

Two days later, on September 22, the federation also dispensed with the services of Integrity Director and Deputy General Secretary Miguel Ángel García Caba. A week later, on September 29, it was officially announced that Pablo García Cuervo, then Director of Communications for the FEF, would be leaving. The Asturian was dismissed after being summoned by the National Court to testify as a witness in the 'Rubiales case.'

These initial departures following the storm caused by the unsolicited kiss from the former president to Jenni Hermoso and the return to competition for the women's national team seemed to offer a temporary truce. However, the apparent calm in Rocha's management was shattered just as he was preparing to call elections and present his candidacy.

On March 20 of this year, UCO agents raided Las Rozas Football City as part of an investigation into irregularities in several contracts signed during Rubiales' era—something that fully implicated the offices of an entity governed by his protégé.

As things stood, Tomás González Cueto, FEF's legal advisor, was next to fall. On March 21, Rocha terminated his relationship with GC, his law firm. This decision led TAD to impose a financial penalty exceeding 16,000 euros on Rocha, understanding that he was not authorized to make such a decision given his interim status. Six days later, on March 27, Marketing Director Rubén Rivera was suspended following a request by the Prosecutor's Office to the National Court for a year and six months in prison for coercing Jenni Hermoso.

A couple of months later, on May 15, came a massive purge. The FEF saw the departures of Spanish national team Sporting Director Albert Luque, implicated in the 'Rubiales case'; Legal Area Director Pedro González Segura; Human Resources Head José Javier Jiménez; and a day later Institutional Relations Director Antonio Gómez-Reino.

Rocha had been under government scrutiny since April 12 when he was charged with alleged corruption in managing the federation in the 'Brody case,' which also investigates Rubiales. He aimed to clean up FEF's image to avoid disqualification that TAD was already meticulously studying. The deadlines prevented him from being removed from office before Euro 2024. Still, his interim mandate was already doomed. Just two days after displaying the trophy won in Berlin and shaking hands with Felipe VI and Pedro Sánchez, he was disqualified for two years in the latest episode of the storm that has been raging over Las Rozas for nearly a year.

María Ángeles Chaves 'Yaye,' number two in Rocha's provisional mandate, will now take over a practically rudderless FEF unless Rocha's request for precautionary measures succeeds. He aims to halt his disqualification until elections are held on September 10. These elections for assembly, presidency, and delegate commission for the 2024-2028 period hold the key to total renewal within the federation—a necessary step to finally end the turmoil within Spanish football's governing body.