An investigation into suspected corruption in Spanish football has led to the arrest of the head of the Spanish Football Federation, Mr. Angel Maria Villar. Spanish investigators also arrested Angel's son and other top Spanish Federation officials in early Monday morning raids for being suspected to have engaged in fraud, embezzlement, mismanagement of funds, and collusion. Raids were also conducted at the country's Federation's headquarters and other properties. Investigations on the accused were being carried out for several months. Investigations first originated from the country's state sports council.
Angel is also the vice president of FIFA and UEFA.
Allegations by investigators
Investigators are investigating whether an improper football-related business benefited Angle. They are also investigating whether Angle bribed his way to the presidency of the Spanish Football Federation using the Federation's fund. Angel is also suspected to have arranged matches for Spain in deals that benefited his son.
After the arrests were made, Spain's minister for education, culture, and sports said that "laws in Spain are enforced, they are the same for all and that nobody is above them." UEFA in a statement stated that "it is aware of the corruption allegations against Angel and others and it will not make any comments."
Angel's career
Angel Maria Villar is a Spanish retired footballer.
He played for the Athletico Bilbao between 1961 and 1969 during his youth years. During his senior career as a footballer, Angel played for Athletico Bilbao between 1969 and 1981; he played for Galdakao on loan between 1969 and 1970 as well as Getxo on loan between 1970 and 1971. He also played for the Spanish national amateur football team in 1972 and the Spanish national football team between 1973 and 1979.
He mostly played as a midfielder for these teams.
He was among those who founded the Royal Spanish Football Federation in 1978 where he had worked as president for 20 years and was in charge of the countries national team when it won the UEFA Euro 2008 football championship games. He was elected to head the Spanish football federation on February 16, 2012, for the seventh term.
He also became UEFA's acting president in October 2015 after the suspension of Michel Platini. Angle was fined 25,000 Swiss francs and also received a warning letter one month after becoming UEFA's president by the FIFA Ethics Committee for not cooperating with investigators investigating Spain's 2018 World Cup bidding process.
