The president of the Spanish Football Federation Angel María Villar Llona has been arrested over suspicion of embezzlement of funds.
Liona was arrested along with his son Gorkaas part of an investigation into corrupt activities, El Pais and Efe news agency reported.
They were arrested early Tuesday during a series of raids
He became president of the federation in 1988 after retiring as a Spanish international soccer star.
According to Reuters, the probe was being led by an investigative magistrates and anti-corruption prosecutor from the Spanish High Court.
Spanish media report that the allegations centre on the falsification of documents and skimming profits from international football matches.
There has been no comment yet from Mr Villar, 67, or his lawyers.
In Villar’s time as president of the federation, Spain’s men’s football team has won two European championships as well as the 2010 World Cup, becoming one of football’s dominant forces.
He has also served on the council of football’s world governing body Fifa for the past 29 years, but was reprimanded by Fifa for failing to comply with its internal inquiry into the 2018/22 World Cup bidding process.
Why Spanish stars are in legal trouble
Michael Garcia, who conducted the investigation, wrote that Mr Villar told him: “Well, you really have balls” when the American lawyer refused to reveal who had made allegations against Mr Villar.
He also demanded Mr Garcia drop the case “for your own good”.
Join our twitter community :
