Spain football chief Angel Maria Villar Llona arrested
The president of the Spanish Football
Federation and his son have been held as part of a corruption
investigation, police in Spain say.
Angel MarÃa Villar Llona was arrested on suspicion of embezzling funds, El Pais and Efe news agency reported.
Mr Villar, a former Spain international footballer, has been president of the association since 1988.
His son Gorka was among a number of other people also arrested during a number of raids early on Tuesday.
Spain's
High Court told Reuters that one of its investigating magistrates and
anti-corruption prosecutors were leading the probe.
Spanish media
report that the allegations centre on the falsification of documents and
skimming profits from international football matches.
There has been no comment yet from Mr Villar, 67, or his lawyers.
'You really have balls'
In
Villar's time as president of the federation, Spain's men's football
team has won two European championships as well as the 2010 World Cup,
becoming one of football's dominant forces.
He has also served on
the council of football's world governing body Fifa for the past 29
years, but was reprimanded by Fifa for failing to comply with its
internal inquiry into the 2018/22 World Cup bidding process.
Michael Garcia, who conducted the investigation, wrote that Mr Villar told him:
"Well, you really have balls" when the American lawyer refused to
reveal who had made allegations against Mr Villar. He also demanded Mr
Garcia drop the case "for your own good".
Richard Conway, the
BBC's sports news correspondent, said the Spaniard's arrest is
significant and a clear signal that the many issues surrounding
officials who presided over world football in recent decades continue.
Uefa and Fifa said they were aware of the reports.
Gorka Villar served as the director-general of the South American football confederation Conmebol before standing down last year.
Before standing down, he had been accused of extortion by a number of Uruguyan football clubs.
BBC
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