Uefa rejects Spanish expulsion plea as Luis Rubiales crisis takes bizarre new twist

Uefa will take no action on an astonishing request by the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) to be expelled – and thus have its clubs including Real Madrid and Barcelona kicked out of European competitions like the Champions League – over what the RFEF claims is government interference on the Luis Rubiales crisis, as the federation president now faces an investigation from the Spanish Prosecutors Office for sexual assault. In other developments of a story that even Uefa officials were describing as ‘absurd’ and ‘stranger by the moment’, Rubiales’ mother Angeles Bejar locked herself in a church to go on hunger strike, with police and doctors eventually intervening. Such details have stunned even the most experienced people in football, but it is the request to the European body that is being seen as the most significant, given it sums up how surreal the story has become. With Rubiales facing a series of official complaints and a government process that could yet see him banned from sport in Spain for two to 15 years – to go with his current 90-day suspension from Fifa – the federation sent a request to Uefa to be expelled for breaking Uefa’s own statutes on state interference. That move has been interpreted as ‘bluster’ and ‘brinkmanship’ by the federation in order to support Rubiales, but it would still involve all of Spain’s club and national teams being removed from competition, denying them of income and – in the words of one – ‘setting Spanish football back years’. The Independent has been told that Uefa will not take action and that the government’s involvement does not meet the criteria for state interference. Spain’s players and coaches celebrate their World Cup win – as Luis Rubiales, left, joins in Victor Francos, the president of Spain’s Higher Council for Sport who has become a central figure in this situation, stated on Monday that all of the relevant bodies are ‘acting within the regulations as they stand’. Rubiales being punished according to regulations and rules is different to the government just ousting him, which it cannot do, and has created an almost Kafkaesque circus over what remains a serious issue. Underpinning it all has been this Spanish government’s willingness to take on issues of equality and sexual harassment. On that, the Spanish Prosecutors Office will ask Jenni Hermoso if she wishes to press charges against Rubialies, after she stated that the kiss was not consensual. It was that statement which led Rubiales’ mother to go on hunger strike in a church in his home town in Montril, demanding that the Hermoso ‘tell the truth’ about the incident. There have also been public accusations from one of Rubiales’ cousins that the Spanish midfielder changed her story – something that did not happen. All of this comes amid Fifa ‘s directive that Rubiales not contact Hermoso or her family, to go with the 90-day suspension. Spain’s Administrative Court for Sports has meanwhile been meeting all Monday to examine four complaints against Rubiales. Should it decide to open proceedings, it could mean the official is suspended for even longer than Fifa’s 90-day provisional punishment. In that event, the Spanish government has confirmed it would take action. ‘If the court upholds the complaint and begins to process that case, we can request the provisional suspension of the president of the RFEF until TAD finishes analysing it and takes their decision,’ Sports Minister Miquel Iceta said on Friday. Also on Monday morning, Spanish player’s union Futpro – representing Jenni Hermoso – further clarified Hermoso’s stance while describing a ‘structural problem’ in the Spanish federation. ‘Those who applauded Rubiales, [at the assembly] in my opinion, should not continue in their positions.’ While Rubiales’ position as vice-president of Uefa has itself led to criticism of the European body for a lack of comment, Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin has been in constant contact with Fifa. The position is that since the events fall under the disciplinary jurisdiction of Fifa – because the World Cup was a Fifa event – it was agreed that Fifa’s disciplinary bodies would handle the case, something Uefa does not feel it should comment on.