FIFA Vice President and President of the Spanish Football Federation Arrested by Police

On Tuesday, July 18, Spanish police arrested Ángel María Villar, the president of the Spanish Football Federation, his son, and two senior officials from the federation during investigations related to financial corruption. According to the Associated Press, the prosecutor's office responsible for the case stated that Ángel María Villar, who is a senior vice president of FIFA and UEFA, arranged matches for the Spanish national team that were commercially beneficial to his son. The prosecutor's office and Spanish police reported that Villar, his son Gorka, and two other officials from the federation were arrested during a police inspection of the federation's headquarters and several other locations. The other two individuals arrested are Juan Padrón, the federation's vice president for economic affairs and regional head in Tenerife, Canary Islands, and Ramón Hernández, the regional organization head of the Spanish Football Federation. The four were arrested as part of an investigation into the federation's operations on charges of mismanagement, misuse of property, corruption, and document forgery. FIFA issued a statement saying: 'We are aware of media reports regarding Mr. Villar. Given that this appears to relate to the internal workings of the Spanish Football Federation, we ask you to refer to that body for further information.' Spanish police have been conducting this investigation since 2016 following a complaint from the National Sports Council, the government body responsible for managing sports affairs in Spain. The prosecutor's office stated: 'Ángel María Villar likely arranged some of the Spanish national football team's matches with other countries in a way that benefited his son's business activities.' The prosecutor's office added that Juan Padrón and Ramón Hernández, the other two arrested officials, were also arranging federation contracts in a manner that allowed them to profit personally. Minutes after the arrest of the four individuals, Spain's Minister of Education and Sports stated in a television interview: 'In this country, the law is applied equally to everyone, and no one is above the law.' The Associated Press reported that the Spanish Football Federation and its local organization in Tenerife did not respond to phone inquiries from the news agency by Tuesday afternoon. UEFA also stated: 'We are aware of Mr. Villar's situation and are currently not making any comments.' The National Sports Council of Spain announced that it would use all its resources to ensure this issue does not affect football competitions. Ángel María Villar, 67, a former professional player in Spanish clubs, has been the president of the federation since 1988, during which time the Spanish national team became world champions in 2010 and European champions in 2008 and 2012. Villar has also been at the center of FIFA and UEFA policymaking and decision-making since the 1990s, collaborating closely with many senior football officials who have been arrested or charged in recent years. His son Gorka has recently worked as a legal manager and then as CEO in the South American Football Confederation. All the presidents of this confederation during Gorka Villar's tenure have been implicated in corruption investigations related to FIFA. Michael Garcia, an independent American lawyer commissioned by FIFA to investigate corruption and possible bribery related to World Cup hosting, wrote in his 2014 report: 'Mr. Villar is in no way willing to cooperate in this investigation, and as the recorded conversations show, his tone and manner were very disrespectful and threatening.' In this context, Switzerland has opened a legal case against Sepp Blatter, the president of FIFA, and the Swiss police have searched the offices of the European Football Association.