Spanish Football Federation's New President Rafael Louzan Is Also Full Of Problems

Rafael Louzan was elected President of RFEF (Instagram/@rfef).

Rafael Louzan became the new president of the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) after being elected on Monday, December 16, 2024, local time.

The election comes just five days after FIFA confirmed that Spain will be one of six countries to host the 2030 World Cup alongside Morocco and Portugal, with three single matches held in South America.

57-year-old Louzan represents the Galactic Football Federation and has been a member of the RFEF Executive Committee since December 2019. He defeated the only other candidate, Salvador Gomar.

The term of office lasted four years. Louzan was allowed to run despite being sentenced to seven years by the Provincial Court to hold public office for offenses during his tenure as President of the Pontevedra Provincial Council.

He has appealed the decision to the Spanish Supreme Court.

RFEF has been experiencing a period of instability since the previous president's "kiss incident", Luis Rubiales, with Spanish women's national team player Jennifer Hermoso, in a medal presentation ceremony.

At that time, the Spanish Women's National Team won the 2023 Women's World Cup after winning over England in the top match.

Rubiales resigned shortly after that and will be tried next year. In addition, he was also sanctioned by FIFA.

On October 30, 2023, Rubiales was banned by the FIFA Disciplinary Committee for involvement in any activities related to football, both at the national and international levels, for three years.

Then, on November 17, 2023, the legal panel overseeing sports in Spain also issued a similar ban for three years, which prevented Rubiales from working in sports while in Spain.

Finally, on December 6, 2023, FIFA published a report accusing Rubiales of touching two English football players indecently, as well as three other Spanish football players, still on the agenda of the 2023 Women's World Cup.

The crisis in RFEF worsened after Rubiales' replacement, Pedro Rocha, was suspended in July 2024 for two years by the Spanish Sports Council (CSD) for serious offenses.

The Spanish government then formed a special committee to oversee the RFEF in response to the crisis in the organization that gave rise to warnings from FIFA.

FIFA insists that the new President of the RFEF must be elected before the end of 2024 or Spain could risk losing the right to host the 2030 World Cup matches.