FORMER president of Spain Mariano Rajoy could become the new chairman of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), although he has remained characteristically tight-lipped about any possible appointment.
A lifelong Real Madrid fan and a property registrar by profession, Rajoy, who headed up the country and the PP party until current president Pedro Sánchez (PSOE, or socialists) took over in June 2018, has recently released his autobiography, which he presented in a an act with the Aragón Association of Directors and Executives today (Thursday).
The possible position of head of the RFEF overshadowed the publication of his memoirs, however, but when asked by reporters about the former, Rajoy said: “I only came here to talk about the book.”
When journalists pressed him, the Galicia-born ex-president was not willing to either confirm or deny reports that have appeared in Spanish sports newspaper Marca this week.
“I'll talk about it in more detail in my next book,” he assured, causing ripples of laughter at the convention.
Current RFEF chairman Luis Rubiales came under fire in 2018 when, just two days before the start of the UEFA World Cup and with the Spanish team already in Russia awaiting their first match, he fired their manager, Julén Lopetegui, after the latter leaked details of his post-Cup appointment as coach for Real Madrid.
This left the team with an 'emergency' manager with no experience in such a rôle and who resigned a month later after Spain crashed out of the World Cup.
Rubiales' four-year term is now coming to an end and the job is up for election again.
Along with Rajoy and Rubiales, the third possible candidate is ex-Real Madrid goalkeeper Iker Casillas, who now plays for FC Oporto.
Despite collapsing with a heart attack and requiring an emergency stent operation in May last year, Iker is back in play, but as he is still active in the game, he may not be able to run for the job.
The Casillas family went through the mill in 2019 – less than a month after Iker's stent operation, his wife Sara Carbonero, a nationally-famous reporter, presenter, model and influencer, was diagnosed with early-stage ovarian cancer.
Surgery was successful, but she spent the summer and most of the autumn undergoing chemotherapy, which she completed before the end of 2019.
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