Former Spain coach Vicente del Bosque will head the commission charged with overseeing the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), whose officials are under investigation for corruption, the Spanish government said on Tuesday.
Del Bosque, 73, is a respected figure in Spain after leading La Roja to the World Cup title in 2010 and the European title in 2012, as well as two Champions League titles as Real Madrid coach.
Del Bosque will head the commission created by the government to “supervise” the RFEF and try to solve its crisis and face with guarantees its main challenge, the organisation of the 2030 World Cup together with Morocco and Portugal.
Both the current president of the RFEF, Pedro Rocha, and his predecessor, Luis Rubiales, who resigned at the end of last year over the scandal of the forced kiss with the player Jenni Hermoso, have been charged by the Spanish justice system, which is investigating several cases of corruption in the organisation.
“We are proud to announce that the person who will assume the presidency and representation of this normalisation commission is Vicente del Bosque,” the Minister of Education and Sport, Pilar Alegría, announced at a press conference.
“He is going to be the face and representative of Spanish football,” she told journalists on Tuesday.
The Consejo Superior de Deportes (CSD), which reports to the Ministry of Sport, announced last week the creation of a “Supervisory, Normalisation and Representation Committee”, which “will oversee the functioning of the RFEF over the coming months in response to the crisis of the federation and in defence of the general interest of Spain”.
This announcement prompted FIFA and UEFA to issue a joint statement to express their “great concern about the situation surrounding the RFEF” and warned the Spanish authorities against possible government interference affecting the “independence” of the federation.
