The president of UEFA, Aleksander Ceferin, explained, in an interview with the Croatian newspaper Nacional, that he rejected all requests for help from Luis Rubiales, former president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), considering them “absurd”. Likewise, the Slovenian leader, who announced his departure from the European organization in 2027, has acknowledged that “on numerous occasions after his (Rubiales) suspension he has asked me for something.”
Even so, Ceferin has denied any financial donation to Rubiales, after several media outlets speculated that the UEFA president had offered help to the Spanish leader after his suspension following the scandals surrounding the non-consensual kiss he gave Jennifer Hermoso. .
The Slovenian leader added that Rubiales complained of being “in a difficult situation” that affects his family. Even the former president of the RFEF sent him several messages of protection: “he wrote me messages like: ‘My three daughters have nothing, they don’t have this, that, can you help?'”.
The top representative of UEFA answered his phone calls even though he knew he would not be able to help him. However, Rubiales, after hearing the Slovenian leader’s denials, “called other UEFA colleagues” asking “if he could work on this or that,” but “nothing related to football,” Ceferin noted.
Likewise, the UEFA president explained that he was shocked when he learned of the corruption accusations against Rubiales through the press. “That was a real shock. I knew him quite well, but obviously I didn’t know about those things,” he declared.
Furthermore, Ceferin has protected the body he presides over from the acts committed by the former president of the RFEF: “Neither UEFA nor I have anything to do with it, because he did not do any of that (alleged acts of corruption) as vice president of the RFEF. “UEFA”.
The Slovenian has also rejected the alleged information that linked Rubiales to UEFA after the Spaniard was suspended by FIFA: “At the same time of the suspension he retired as a member of the executive committee and as vice president (of UEFA)” , the leader has stressed.
