On a corner of Getafe’s grey-paved Plaza Espana, between two much bigger and brighter betting shops, sit the modest offices of CENAFE, a public organisation that runs football coaching courses.
This very proletarian street of butchers, supermarkets and hair salons seems a world away from the nearby nexus of money and politics where Spanish football’s rulers wield their power. But here, in a nondescript corner of Getafe, a working-class city just south of Madrid, is the setting for one man’s determined documenting of the decisions being made 45km (28 miles) to the north, where the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) is headquartered in the leafy prosperous suburb of Las Rozas.
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His name is Miguel Angel Galan.
Over the past 16 years, Galan has written 30 different complaints, notifying both the Spanish government and its public prosecutors of what he saw as clear wrongdoing by RFEF leaders, including Luis Rubiales and his predecessor as the body’s president, Angel Maria Villar. Not all of them have been successful, but one led to Villar’s downfall, and others have recently pushed the courts and government to act against Rubiales.
Rubiales had felt secure enough within the system that he belittled Galan with the nickname ‘Querellator’, (derived from ‘querella’ — the Spanish word for a legal complaint in the criminal system).
But everything changed with his kiss on Jenni Hermoso after Spain won the Women’s World Cup final in August.
“I’ve been alone, and I’m still alone,” says Galan from behind his desk in the basement at CENAFE.
“I’ve been battling for years. A few sports journalists took notice, but most of the Spanish media were not interested, people did not want to get involved. I was seen as a weirdo, people laughed at the label ‘Querellator’. They said, ‘Look, he’s making another complaint’.
“But after what happened at the World Cup, people in Spain, and all around the world, started to say, ‘What’s going on with this guy?’.”
CENAFE (short for Centro Nacional de Entrenadores de Futbol — National Centre of Football Managers) is a body within the Spanish department of education. It runs coaching programmes from the very basics up to professional, top-level teams.
An electrical engineer by trade, 45-year-old Galan has been a football coach since his teens and CENAFE president since 2011.
A remit to represent its graduates’ professional aspirations led to some tension with the Spanish FA. Galan’s initial complaints, claiming misuse of RFEF funds, were a way of drawing attention to what he saw as unfair treatment of CENAFE members. But they led directly to the ‘Operacion Soule’ police investigation that eventually saw Villar arrested and subsequently removed as RFEF president in 2017.
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The latter happened because he was found to have “violated neutrality in the (RFEF) electoral process” in a ruling issued by Spain’s Administrative Sports Court (TAD). Spain’s Audiencia Nacional (National Court) is still investigating an alleged misuse of RFEF funds.
When Rubiales replaced his former mentor as RFEF president the following year, Galan continued to denounce alleged wrongdoing to the Spanish government and through Spain’s legal system.
Galan’s complaints since have included claims of Rubiales’ alleged misuse of RFEF funds to pay for a luxury apartment in Madrid — a claim that he denies and which is still working its way through the courts. A further complaint focussed on a “party” in the Andalusian town of Salobrena to which young women were invited.
Rubiales’ uncle Juan, a former RFEF employee himself, alleged in September last year that federation money was used to pay for that “party”. Rubiales has always maintained it was a work event, although after a judicial investigation was launched, the costs were reportedly repaid into federation coffers and no charges were brought. Spanish prosecutors are also looking at the use of RFEF money to pay for a trip to New York involving a stay at luxury hotels for Rubiales and his then-girlfriend. Rubiales has denied misusing RFEF funds.
Another of Galan’s complaints focused on an RFEF agreement that moved the Spanish Supercopa (the equivalent of England’s Community Shield) to Saudi Arabia.
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An investigation by Spain’s anti-corruption authorities into the deal with Saudi, brokered by former Barcelona and Spain defender Gerard Pique’s company Kosmos, continues. Pique and Rubiales have denied any wrongdoing.
Even though Galan had played a role in Villar’s downfall, he claims the Spanish government’s Consejo Superior de Deportes (CSD) consistently ignored his complaints against Rubiales.
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“I denounced all these cases to the court in Majadahonda (near Las Rozas) and to the CSD — the party in Salobrena, the apartment in Calle Ferraz, the commission from Saudi Arabia,” he says. “Nevertheless, the current government, and the CSD, took my complaints and stuck them in a drawer. If we reached this situation, it was because the current government and the CSD allowed it.”
The Athletic contacted the CSD, the RFEF and Rubiales’ legal representatives for comment on the various allegations Galan refers to in this article.
Galan was watching on TV when Spain won the Women’s World Cup on August 20. As soon as he saw Rubiales’ behaviour during the celebrations and post-match medals and trophy presentation ceremony, especially the kiss on Hermoso, he decided to act.
He says: “That night, I made two legal complaints. One on the public administrative route to the CSD, the other criminal to the public prosecutor. That was before all the politicians came out the following day. To me, it was a clear sexual abuse, and a sexist action, which cannot be tolerated.
“We will see now if the courts punish him. But they should have punished him a long time ago, for many other things.”
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The Spanish government said publicly that Rubiales could not continue as RFEF president. However, the TAD rejected a proposal from the CSD to have him removed completely from his position. Instead, it was FIFA, world football’s governing body, that banned him for 90 days, and then Rubiales himself who realised he had to resign.
“Rubiales was suspended by FIFA, and is being investigated by public prosecutors due to my legal complaint,” Galan says. “The government did not do anything, they just made fools of themselves. They have not even disqualified Rubiales yet from holding a position (in sports). If it were not for FIFA, Rubiales would still be president of the federation. They have the power, but they do not want to use it. The complaints are all there, but nothing is done.”
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Galan believes that Spain’s socialist prime minister, Pedro Sanchez (of the PSOE party), declined to act against Rubiales, especially before the Hermoso incident, as he was seen as ‘their man’ in different political battles.
“Rubiales convinced the government that he could deliver a (men’s) World Cup (with Spain as hosts), using his power as UEFA vice-president,” he says. “Secondly, La Liga president Javier Tebas is linked to the (conservative) Partido Popular. They wanted to have Rubiales, whose father was PSOE mayor in (his hometown) Motril, in the federation, as a counter-weight. What they did not know was that (Rubiales) was such a liability.”
Rubiales’ angry defence of his actions at the Women’s World Cup final, to the point of he and other federation staff privately threatening and publicly attacking Hermoso and her team-mates, was also familiar to Galan.
“Rubiales was Villar’s ‘pitbull’ — and Villar set him on me when I was denouncing him, to pressure me,” he says. Galan adds they made many complaints about him, but none of them stuck.
“They tried to have this CENAFE centre closed down,” he adds. “CENAFE Barcelona was closed down.”
Galan also says he has “received death threats” and that “a private detective was hired to follow me for six months”. It is not known who was behind this, and nor is there any evidence to suggest a link with Rubiales or the RFEF.
“Have I felt scared? Not before, but maybe now, a bit more,” Galan says. “But the Querellator is not going to stop. I am still the CENAFE president, and Villar and Rubiales have both been thrown out of football.”
Recent weeks have also seen other important figures leave the RFEF — including all-powerful secretary general Andreu Camps, head of integrity Miguel Garcia Caba and director of communication Pablo Garcia Cuervo.
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These departures were not due directly to Galan’s actions, or government pressure, or interim president Pedro Rocha pushing root and branch reform. Instead, the Spanish women’s national-team players forced the issue when they were in camp for last month’s games against Sweden and Switzerland.
“The players are the only ones who really did anything,” Galan says. “We should be kissing the ground on which they walk.
“They achieved what I have been fighting for these five years, to get rid of Rubiales, and his people Camps, Caba, and others. This country should erect a statue in honour of those women.”
Rocha and prime minister Sanchez have both been taking public credit this week after Spain was named as a co-host of the 2030 men’s World Cup, but for Galan, the RFEF’s interim chief should already have been suspended by the government for breaking the federation regulations.
“When the president resigns or is fired, elections must be called immediately,” Galan says.
“Rocha only has the power to manage the elections (of the next permanent RFEF president), oversee administrative functions. Instead, he is acting as president, meeting the Moroccan and Portuguese federation presidents (two of the other 2030 co-hosts), firing people when he does not have the power. The CSD should take notice of my complaint, and suspend Pedro Rocha. But they do not want to. Again, the government does nothing.”
The CSD’s president Victor Francos told The Athletic it was aware of Galan’s complaint and did not believe any rules had been broken. On Wednesday, however, an Audencia Nacional ruling obliged the CSD to pass Galan’s complaint on to the TAD.
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No date has yet been set for the election to choose Rubiales’ successor, with candidates representing different interests already jostling for position behind the scenes, and the ‘assembly’ voting system giving most power to the ‘barons’ from Spain’s regional football federations.
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In 2020, Spain’s 2010 men’s World Cup-winning captain and Real Madrid icon Iker Casillas said he would run against Rubiales, only to withdraw his candidacy and publicly accept he had little chance given the rules.
“There will be many candidates — the territorial barons will choose some, La Liga will have someone, the government will choose a woman,” Galan says. “And maybe I will put my name forward again, I am not sure yet.
“If the government does not change the electoral system, it will just be the same old story. Iker told me the system was rotten, that there was nothing he could do. There needs to be a direct election of the president in clean, democratic elections — one member, one vote. (But) now the media noise has passed, the government is not interested in the issue.”
Mention of La Liga brings up a claim Rubiales and some others have made in the past — that Galan’s challenges against the federation are backed, or even directed, by La Liga chief Tebas.
“Javier Tebas must be very grateful for everything I have done,” Galan says. “(But) Tebas has never told me what to do, what complaints to make, against whom. We just exchange a few messages a few times a year, or we see each other at an event and have a brief chat. We have a shared enemy, but Rubiales had many enemies.”
This week saw Spain’s national basketball federation choose Elisa Aguilar as its first female president. Galan says he would welcome a similar groundbreaking move in football, once the prospective president agrees to give CENAFE graduates access to the UEFA Pro coaching licence.
“I think (former CSD chief and federation executive) Ana Munoz or (former national-team player) Vero Boquete would be ideal candidates,” he says. “And if they resolve the problem of the coaches, I would campaign for them. I’d ask to be their vice president of transparency and good governance. I would do it without getting paid. It would be a role to fight corruption, with the power to hand out sanctions.”
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Rubiales is fighting criminal charges of sexual assault and coercion, which Galan’s legal complaint set in motion.
He believes Rubiales should be more worried about another case, related to the €24million (£20.8m; $25.3m by today’s rates) paid in commission to Pique’s company Kosmos when the four-club Supercopa competition was moved to Saudi Arabia in 2019 for the next five years. The allegations there are extremely serious and if he is charged and found guilty, he may face a lengthy jail term.
Galan could also move further into organised football, whether or not he ends up with a role in the federation.
His legal battles against Villar and then Rubiales led him to study sports law. He has discovered a real liking and flair for the subject, which has brought him to national and international attention after so many years fighting in the dark against corruption in Spanish football.
“I’m in the third year of a law degree,” he says. “I’ve learned a lot about criminal law and business law. But until the issues with the coaches are resolved, I’ll keep fighting. And I’ll take out as many federation presidents as required. I’ve got rid of Villar, Rubiales, and have just made a complaint against Rocha.
“Only when that is resolved will the Querellator die.”
(Top photo: NurPhoto/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
