“From the Government we have acted as soon as the legal mechanisms have allowed us to.” This is how forceful the acting Minister of Sport, Miquel Iceta, has shown himself at the press conference of the Council of Ministers in which he has been questioned about Sumar’s criticism for not having proceeded more quickly from the central Executive in the case Rubiales after the “unacceptable” behavior of the president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation.
“The Government is advancing diligently and firmly”, insisted the minister, who justified the times applied by the need to preserve all legal guarantees to prevent an appeal from revoking the decisions that are made. “The Government can act reactively but not preventively,” the minister insisted before guaranteeing that the Higher Sports Council (CSD) “will give a full response” to the Administrative Court of Sports (TAD) by providing it with the documentation that it has requested on the complaint against the suspended president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), Luis Rubiales, “before 2:00 p.m.” today.
In the event that the TAD, attached to the CSD, initiates the procedure against the federative agent, the Government will request the suspension of all his functions of the president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation, Luis Rubiales, who has already been disabled for 90 days by the FIFA.
“Once the complaint is admitted for processing, we can convene the CSD board of directors in 48 hours, where we will propose the suspension of the former president until the final resolution of the Court is produced,” Iceta detailed at the press conference after the Council meeting. of Ministers. In this way, and even if the TAD met tomorrow, Wednesday – it usually does so on Thursdays – the CSD conclave would not be held until Friday afternoon at the earliest.
Iceta has specified that the CSD has presented two reasoned petitions for “two very serious infractions” of the Sports Law, specifically its article 76, which refers to abuses of authority, and another related to “notorious and public acts that violate dignity and sporting decorum”.
The minister has defended that both his department and the CSD have “worked against the clock” to examine “thoroughly” the complaints received, with the aim of being “scrupulous” with the steps to follow to “avoid future challenges and appeals that could lengthen the process in an unwanted way.”
“We must be quick in response, but also effective,” Iceta added, who wants the decisions made to be “legally rigorous.” Despite the delay in time, the head of Sports has been convinced that “the complaint of such serious events will be addressed” by the court. “We are not in another scenario,” he stressed.
Iceta wanted to highlight in his speech that the ministry he directs has respected the independence of the RFEF because the Government does not want to “interfere or be accused of it.” “The Sports Law obliges us to respect the operation of the Federation”, Iceta pointed out to explain why the Government waited to present its complaint until the RFEF Assembly was held last Friday, where the “inaction” was ratified. of the Federation, in his words.
