Spanish FA & Rubiales house raided by police in Saudi super cup corruption probe

Police searched the Spanish Soccer Federation (RFEF) headquarters and an apartment belonging to its former head Luis Rubiales on Wednesday in a corruption probe over a multimillion-euro deal to relocate the Spanish Super Cup to Saudi Arabia.

A Spanish court has been investigating since June 2022 whether Rubiales committed a crime of improper management when the RFEF agreed with former FC Barcelona player Gerard Pique's Kosmos firm to move the tournament, a judicial source said.

Rubiales did not immediately reply to a Reuters request for comment but he has previously denied wrongdoing.

The RFEF declined to comment.

Rubiales angered Spanish soccer traditionalists by expanding the contest between the league champions and Copa del Rey winners to a four-team format, shifting the event from August to January, and hosting it outside Spain.

The RFEF in 2019 agreed a three-year deal worth a reported 120 million euros ($131 million) with the Saudi sports authority to stage the competition in Saudi Arabia. Judge Delia Rodrigo Diaz ordered the new searches of the RFEF's Madrid base and Rubiales' Granada apartment as part of her investigation, the source told Reuters.

The national prosecutor's office said the probe was looking for corruption in business, improper management of assets and money laundering, Police carried out a total of 11 searches at unspecified locations across Spain related to the case, and the prosecutor's office said it expected seven people to be arrested.

As the Civil Guard and undercover agents searched the offices of the soccer federation, the Spanish national team was practising on the adjoining pitch. They face Colombia on Friday in London and Brazil on Tuesday in two friendly matches. RFEF staff were barred from