Following her mandatory resignation from the management committee in order to present her candidacy, María Ángeles García Chaves (Cáceres, 37 years old) could become the first female president in the history of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) in the next few days. García Chaves, wife of Alberto Montes, former secretary of Pedro Rocha in the Extremadura region, will thus fulfil the role for which he appointed her deputy vice-president if he was disqualified by the Administrative Court of Sport (TAD). Known by the nickname Yaye, Rocha’s heiress presented 88 endorsements and, as hers is the only candidacy, a vote by the assembly will not be necessary.
Once she takes over the presidency, Yaye will call for a new electoral process in which a new assembly and a new president will be elected for the 2025-28 Olympic cycle. This will be the roadmap unless the TAD, on Thursday, approves the challenge raised by Miguel Galán, president of the Cenafe coaching school. He has denounced that what is required is a single electoral process to elect an assembly and president for the next four-year period, as established by the ministerial order that regulates elections in sports federations. If the TAD rules in favor of Galán, García Chaves will not appear as an official candidate in the four-year elections. It would be Rocha who would do so if she obtains a precautionary measure – it has already been denied once – that paralyzes her two-year disqualification for having exceeded her functions as president of the aforementioned management body.
There is a general consensus among most of the presidents of the regional football associations that García Chaves is the ideal person to occupy the presidency of Spanish football on a short-term basis, although many of them also recognise that she is not qualified for it. “I don’t even know how she speaks,” says one of the barons, who admits that the appointment of Yaye as deputy vice-president “already bordered on nepotism”.
Contradiction
“None of the other barons have presented themselves for this electoral process because they did not want to take any risks, they had to resign as president of their territorial and this is always a risk. Yaye is not the most suitable, but here everyone plays their cards,” says a territorial president without aspirations to the presidency of Spanish football. Curiously, when Rubiales resigned, some of the barons did not want to take the step of presenting themselves because they were waiting for the elections in their respective territorials. At that time, it was convenient for them to delay the process and they achieved it with Rocha at the head. More than a year after Rubiales’ resignation, the elections to elect the president for the new Olympic cycle have still not been held.
The process of appointing Chaves has once again exposed the seams of the prevailing system. One of the names put on the table was that of the current secretary general, Álvaro de Miguel, who is more qualified for the position because he has worked for ten years in the legal department of the federation. His figure was rejected, mainly by some of the barons who do intend to stand for election for the 2025-28 period because they fear that he could consolidate his position during his time in charge. This will be at least a few months if Rocha does not obtain the injunction. In this landscape, there are barons who do not rule out a battle between them to choose the successor and García Chaves will have to navigate the middle of that fight as president of the management committee.
The system allows Rocha, who is also under investigation in the framework of Operation Brodie for not having fulfilled his duties as president of the federation’s economic commission in matters such as the contracts with Saudi Arabia and the corresponding commissions of Gerard Piqué, or the concessions of works in the federation’s headquarters, to still preside over the RFEF. The system also allows someone who is not prepared, as recognized by barons and federation employees, to replace him. “If the Sports Law allows this, the government in power should consider changing it,” concludes one opponent of Rocha.