MADRID: Ángel María Villar, one-time president of European federation UEFA and the Spanish FA, is back in the legal crossfire.

Villar, a former international midfielder, quit football administration in 2017 after being subjected to the National Court’s so-called Soule investigation into multiple allegations of business fraud. He has always denied any and all wrongdoing.

Now Villar, 74, has been notified by Judge Francisco de Jorge of an intention to proceed with a prosecution on the grounds that his mishandling of commercial contracts defrauded the RFEF of €4.5m. A number of the contracts were to the benefit of Villar’s son Gorka, a former general secretary of the South American confederation CONMEBOL.

The charges cover disloyal administration, corruption in business, misappropriation and falsification of commercial documents. Seven other individuals are being been prosecuted, including Gorka Villar, and Juan Padron, a former vice-president of the RFEF.

The original investigation began in 2017, when Villar had been RFEF president for 29 years. He, his son and Padron were initially detained briefly in prison.

Villar is accused of manipulating the scheduling of a series of friendly matches over many years whose contracts benefited Gorka Villar through the company Sport Advisers SL.

Judge De Jorge considered that Villar bypassed the formal structures of the RFEF to award his son the choice of opposition and contract negotiations which suited Sport Advisers SL rather than the federation.

Spain’s friendly match opposition in this era included South Korea, Chile, Venezuela, Peru and Colombia. The two matches with South Korea allegedly resulted in losses to the RFEF of €630,000 while the two matches with Chile would have resulted in losses of at least €3.2m.

The judge also activated prosecution of a number of regional federations.

Villar was a long-time executive committee member of not only UEFA but also world federation FIFA and was interim president of the European federation for 20 months after the suspension from all football involvement of Frenchman Michel Platini in the autumn of 2015.

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