Luis Rubiales, former president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), assured this Wednesday that he has “never” rigged a contract and said that it has “nothing to do” with the construction company Gruconsa, of which the UCO estimates that between 2019 and in 2023 it invoiced 3.8 million euros to the RFEF and the public company Estadio Cartuja in Seville.
“I have never rigged a contract,” said the former federation leader in an interview in La Sexta, in which he claimed not to have worked with Gruconsa during his presidency. He also denied being bitten. “The statements made by the media and the money I had in my accounts have nothing to do with it. The money in my accounts is the product of my work and my savings,” he stated.
“I am not going to question the forces of public order, if they have doubts we will clarify them. We do not have the summary. I have suffered 70 complaints these years and in all of them I have proven things. I have been in very complicated situations. I have gone to a place where “They said I had hit a ball, a bite. There is a lot that has been abandoned for years that I have nothing to do with. Another one that has emerged is a bite in Cape Verde,” he explained.
“I have nothing to do with Gruconsa. I supposedly have many right hands. I have nothing to do with the construction company, I have not worked with it while I was president of the Federation. Let there be a presumption of innocence, it seems that in Spain there is no There is. In any media situation that I have been in recently there has not been one and I am going to clarify everything,” he added.
Rubiales defended his right to rebuild his life in the Dominican Republic and the difficulties he has encountered since he resigned as president of the RFEF.
“I had some savings, I have worked for many years. All the money I have is in my accounts and is the product of my work and my savings. I was trying to start doing business here and in other places. I signed a contract with a Korean company of NFTs, 1.8 million dollars for three years and as soon as the first one came out they called me saying that they had received a lot of pressure from Spain and they canceled the contract. It is being very difficult for me, until now I have no income currently. I have met people and I make an honest living,” he said.
“Approximately five months ago my bank called me to tell me that they did not want to work with me. I spoke with my friend Nene, he told me that he was going to take a trip here and that I should come to look at job possibilities. I did not want to continue being in the bank. “I wanted to be calm and start from scratch, meet people and be out of the spotlight. In December I received that communication from the bank saying that I have to leave the bank due to possible irregularities in the future. It is evident that they do not want me in Spain.”
“I love my country,” he added, “and my people, but I have to make an honest living so that my family can get ahead. This country is being treated as a tax haven, but all the money that I have transferred here has completed an anti-money laundering treatment process”.
Rubiales assured that his objective in the Dominican Republic was “hotel businesses, construction, real estate sales,” but that he found that they do not want to let him earn a living “neither in football nor outside of it.”
“I have had bank accounts here for three months, when I was president of the Federation. I have never had bank accounts anywhere other than Spain. I have declared everything in Spain, my income came from football and the sale of an apartment. “There are many people in football who earn much more than I did, I had my savings declared. I have never taken a bite, ever in my life. Everything has been duly declared,” he assured.
The former president of the Federation assured that there was nothing illegal in the contract for La Cartuja to host the Spanish team’s matches.
“Everything at the Cartuja was done impeccably. I am not going to hide, I am convinced that everything has been done well. Under the secrecy of summary there is information that has not reached me. The president of the Federation since “My arrival does not have the criteria to say this work or that other, it does not designate what is done. I have never received payments from those operations. It will never be possible to prove that I have money in other countries in accounts in my name or that of other people.” .
And he spoke about his relationship with Nene, separating himself from common businesses, since he admitted that it has been impossible for them to carry them out.
“I have known Nene for 30 years, he and his wife, a family that I love very much. I feel enormously for what they are going through, I don’t understand why, I suppose because they are my friends. He is a long-time businessman in hotels , under construction. He is advised by his lawyer but in no case has he given me money for a project. Here we were trying to do business together, but it is impossible, I can’t even pay for a Coca Cola. I have my accounts blocked, without having proven that “I have done nothing. My accounts were blocked a day ago by those here and those in Spain four or five days ago.”
“If Nene’s audio is manipulated like it has been manipulated, I understand why those things are thought. It is said in a context in which it seems that I am going to take money in exchange for something. I have had friends for many years, and there must be “There are many more people in that if there is an opportunity… There are calls in which they tell me hey here you can, you can meet people, you can build… What’s the problem?” he explained.
Your relationship with Kosmos
He also explained the relationship with the Kosmos company and assured that there was no offer from Qatar that could compete with Saudi Arabia for the Spanish Super Cup.
“It was Kosmos who brought Saudi Arabia. He released news knowing that it was false. He said that we had awarded Saudi Arabia for an amount lower than that given to us by Qatar and he knew that it was false and he was lying. They have charged us with those things. “When there is a complaint, they charge you or call you to testify. It is false that we chose that offer when there was a better one.”
“The one from Qatar was not an offer, it was a proposal that they did not validate before the ten days had passed. It was an intention that had to be approved. Qatar, we are interested in doing this, a committee has to approve it in ten days and “then the proposal will be firm. Ten days pass and they do not accept it, the offer declines, there is no offer.”
“I have never had business in Saudi Arabia. I wish I could have business there or anywhere, I have a family that needs to get ahead, and I also want to get ahead. I am moving with all the contacts I can have wherever I want, I am a free person with the right to earn a living. It seems that having been president of the Federation or receiving several complaints disqualifies you from everything. I want to earn a living and I have contacts, and I want to use them, although they have made it very difficult for me,” he stated. .
Rubiales ruled out that he was thinking of contacting the Royal House for help and that he had spoken with the Spanish Government. And he addressed his broken relationship with his uncle Juan, who he claimed was the one who recorded conversations that have been leaked.
“It has been proven that he recorded the conversations. I cannot drive and record myself while. On one occasion I realized that he was recording and we had an argument. I have tried to divide my uncle from all the good things he has given me, he has been in very difficult moments in my life. I never kicked him out of the RFEF. I prefer to stay with the first, the rest is painful. I am willing if there is a doctor who will assure us that if we put truth serum and they ask me if I ever moment I have been with a prostitute and I tell her no. Ask my uncle too. No one will ever be able to prove it because I have never been. The relationships I have had are intimate and within the freedom of two adults.”
He rules out that he exercised “coercion” on Jenni Hermoso
Rubiales ruled out that he exerted “coercion” on Jenni Hermoso, in a conversation that he claimed lasted “10 or 15 seconds” on the plane, after the non-consensual kiss at the World Cup trophy presentation, and assured that the way he described his words as The international soccer player “is manipulative.”
“If that is coercion, any conversation between people is coercion,” Rubiales defended, ensuring that he did not commit sexual assault.
“Whoever sees the images, I cannot understand why someone thinks it is a sexual assault. It occurs after winning a World Cup between two friends, Mrs. Hermoso has said. With a question, a sexual offender does not ask. In the context there was nothing sexual. She tells me okay, even in a ‘story’ she recognizes it,” he said.
“Most people tell me on the street that there is nothing. She immediately came out to say that there was nothing of sexual assault. There is a single version by one of those involved and another person changes his version. Mrs. Hermoso She didn’t do it on the plane. She changes and the day after landing we spoke with the FIFA commissioner and we both said the same thing again. About the coercion I only spoke for ten seconds with her on the plane to go out together to clarify why we They asked for communication. She said she wanted to enjoy and that’s it. If that is coercion…”, he added.
Rubiales assured that his intention is not to harm Jenni Hermoso, but he wanted to make clear what happened later on the trip to Ibiza that the Federation gave to its players.
“I am not attacking. I have verified that she says that there is nothing and seven days after the famous trip to Ibiza, she says something else in writing. And then there is a complaint from the Prosecutor’s Office, we have found out from the press so that there a public debate and today I have no notification from my lawyers. She had an opinion at the beginning, before speaking to anyone; then it changed. There was a relationship of friendship and euphoria for winning the World Cup,” he said.
And he also denied that the then coach Jorge Vilda put pressure on Jenni Hermoso. “I am sure that it is false that Vilda coerced Hermoso, it cannot be proven. No one from the Federation coerced. They still tried to talk to help. I also spoke with her so that the two of them could go out together to say what they said publicly. that we had already said. No one will be able to prove that we have coerced.
Rubiales highlighted her role in promoting women’s football. “When I arrived there were 40,000 licenses in women’s football and I left with 100,000. We hired doctors, cooks, physios. When I arrived at the World Cup I hired another cook because there was only one. When the captains come and tell me that they wanted to be close to what they are given to the English women so that their families could be there. The English women charged 11,000 euros, we gave them 15,000. They wanted me to kill Vilda for no reason, because they didn’t get the message, they were tired of it. In a call the three captains told me They asked for Vilda’s head,” he revealed.
And he praised Vilda’s role. “He led them to win the World Cup, thanks to him they won. We accepted a very tough situation, we reinvented ourselves, we had to bring other players. He left with a block of players who came to replace those who did not want to come. The footballers have 90 or 99% of the credit for their quality, discipline, good behavior, but the rest of us have led the most complete expedition of the World Cup. Our merit is to give them more than any other Federation.”
