Suspicious conversations have leaked again from Luis Rubiales, president of the Spanish Football Association RFEF. El Confidencial released Whatsapp messages from Rubiales with Sergio Ramos. The defender, then a Real Madrid player, is said to have negotiated with the chairman in 2018 about that year’s World Cup premiums and asked him for help in 2020 to win the Ballon D’Or. In April, the Spanish medium already leaked audio fragments between Gerard Piqué and Rubiales. Wednesday brings El Confidencial a podcast about the investigation into ‘the dark side of Spanish football’.
For Spain, the 2018 World Cup ended after the eighth final against Russia (1-1, lost on penalties). Beforehand, Ramos had clear confidence in a longer duration of the tournament: he asked the president of the RFEF for an appropriate premium when reaching the semi-finals. José María Olmo, leader of the investigation on behalf of El Confidencialmade in the podcast el Partidazo de COPE the Spanish defender’s WhatsApp conversations with Rubiales revealed.
“Either you increase what we discussed for the semi-finals or there will be shit”, Ramos is said to have sent the chairman. “And don’t forget the Hublot watch.” Then Rubiales seemed to confirm Ramos’s negotiating position. “Half a million to get third is great. We can look for something in between for the semi-finals and agree to that now,” the federation chairman returned. Two years later, the two would be in touch again, this time regarding the Ballon d’Or of 2020.
“Rubi, I hope all is well with you and your family. You know I’ve never asked you for anything, but today I’m doing it because I believe it’s a special year because of my achievements,” Ramos is said to have opened the conversation. “I want you to help me and get in touch with some key people at UEFA and in your network for the Ballon d’Or.” Rubiales then replied sympathetically. “It doesn’t depend on me, but count on all the help I can offer you.” The election was eventually canceled that year due to the corona pandemic.
In April came El Confidencial with a similar message about Gerard Pique. The Barcelona defender is said to have asked for a favorable classification from his club FC Andorra, as the 40 Spanish clubs in the third division are classified by region. “The Catalan teams are the strongest, if you put us in another region, it won’t make any big changes,” Piqué told Rubiales, among others. Not much later, requests from the native Catalan to the federation president leaked out to get him to the Olympic Games. “I’m not sure about this, I don’t want to put pressure on the trainer,” Rubiales said at the time.
Most likely, both of Rubiales’ conversations with the Spanish defenders are part of a “podcast-format documentary series” that El Confidencial publish today. The podcast, ‘Pundonor Rubiales’ (‘Honorary Rubiales’, ed.) reveals the investigative paper’s findings into ‘the dark side of Spanish football’ and sheds light on ‘Rubiales’ management at the head of the RFEF and his relationship with players such as Piqué and Ramos’. “Money, espionage, exchange of favors and the link between political power and the higher echelons of football appear in this production,” the newspaper reports on its official website.