President of the Spanish Football Association suspended for a few days after attending the European Championship final against England

The president of the Spanish Football Federation, Pedro Rocha, has been banned from the football association for two years for a “very serious breach” of his authority.

Rocha only accepted the role in April after being personally selected by Luis Rubiales, who resigned in September after kissing Spain star Jenni Hermoso following her team’s Women’s World Cup victory.

Rocha had initially served as the country’s interim president following the scandal before taking up the post full-time. A statement from the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) at the time said: “Pedro Rocha has today been appointed as the new president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation after receiving the support of the majority of members of the Assembly of this institution that governs Spanish football.”

“The process followed the procedure agreed by the Electoral Commission, which met this morning, and the timetable established for these elections.”

Rocha’s only task in this position was to conduct elections to find a new president, but he made decisions that were beyond his power, such as calling for the dismissal of former Secretary General Andreu Camps, who was under close surveillance.

Rocha has now been suspended by the Spanish Court of Arbitration for Sport (TAD) for exceeding his powers and has also been fined two times for two other violations totalling 16,527.84 euros.

The TAD considered that Camp’s dismissal was an “abuse of his authority” because the RFEF management committee had not been consulted before the decision was made. Rocha had also failed to consult the committee on two further calls, which led to the two additional fines.

Rocha has already been investigated on corruption charges, as has disgraced former president Rubiales. He was summoned to court as a witness in April and said he had “no knowledge and therefore no responsibility for the facts under investigation.”

The latest punishment came just days after Spain won the Euro 2024 title against England, a match Rocha attended. Goals from Nico Williams and Mikel Oyarzabal secured the nation its fourth European title in Germany on Sunday.

Spain will host the 2030 World Cup alongside Portugal and Mexico. Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay will also host matches to commemorate the first World Cup.

In a speech last October, FIFA President Gianni Infantino said: “Two continents – Africa and Europe – unite not only in the celebration of football, but also in a unique social and cultural cohesion. What a great message of peace, tolerance and inclusion.”

“In 2030, we will have a unique global presence: three continents – Africa, Europe and South America – and six countries – Argentina, Morocco, Paraguay, Portugal, Spain and Uruguay – welcoming and uniting the world and celebrating together the beautiful game, the centenary and the FIFA World Cup.”

Join our new WhatsApp community and get your daily dose of Mirror Football content. We also treat our community members with special offers, promotions and advertising from us and our partners. If If you don’t like our community, you can always come back. If you are curious, you can Data protection.