Spanish FA president, Angel Maria Villar arrested for alleged corruption

FIFA vice president and Spanish FA president Angel Maria Villar has just been arrested by the police, accused of corruption.

Villar who was a former Spanish international footballer, was being held on suspicion of abusing his position to embezzle funds from the federation, among other charges, according to reports.

Villar’s son Gorka and another federation official were also detained in the probe which notably focuses on match fixing at international level.

The 67-year is also vice president of football governing bodies FIFA and UEFA.

Meanwhile, Angel Maria Villar was one of the founders of the Association of Spanish Footballers in 1978.

Having already worked in the Royal Spanish Football Federation under president José Luis Roca, Villar was elected his successor in 1988, and would stay in office for the following two decades, being in charge as the national team won Euro 2008.

Villar also occupied several roles within UEFA and FIFA, being named the organizations’ vice president, respectively in 1992 and 2002. Following Spain’s controversial exit at the 2002 FIFA World Cup,he left his post at the latter, but was immediately named, amongst others, for the presidency of the Referees’ Committee (also in that year, he was named for that position at UEFA.

Villar led the unsuccessful Spain and Portugal 2018 World Cup bid. On 16 February 2012, he was elected for his seventh term at the helm of the Spanish Federation, remaining in office until 2016.

Following the suspension of Michel Platini in October 2015, Angel Maria Villar became UEFA’s acting president.The following month, he was fined 25,000 Swiss francs and warned by the FIFA Ethics Committee for failing to cooperate with the investigation into the bidding process of the 2018 World Cup.

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