Spanish football federation sets 6 May date for presidential elections

The Spanish football federation (RFEF) announced Wednesday that elections for its new president will take place on 6 May, to find the successor of the disgraced Luis Rubiales.

The head of the management commission overseeing the RFEF following Rubiales's resignation, Pedro Rocha, stepped down from the commission in order to run in the elections – of which he is the leading candidate, according to Spanish media.

Local media expect his principal opponent to be Eva Parera, a lawyer with an expertise in sports law.

Ex-president Rubiales was forced to step down as RFEF boss in September after forcibly kissing Women's World Cup star Jenni Hermoso following Spain's triumph in the Sydney final in August.

During Wednesday's meeting, the RFEF management commission also decided to "initiate criminal proceedings against all those who may have caused economic or reputational damage to the institution".

The decision comes in the wake of the alleged graft scandal at the RFEF when Rubiales was president.

Several members of the federation, including Rubiales, are being investigated as part of a probe into alleged corruption and other crimes.

AUDIT AUHTORISED

Earlier on Wednesday, Rubiales was detained at Madrid's Barajas airport shortly after flying in from the Dominican Republic but released shortly afterwards as part of the probe.

His arrest came two weeks after investigators searched 11 locations, including the RFEF's Madrid headquarters and Rubiales's house in the southern city of Granada, as part of "an investigation linked to presumed crimes linked with corruption in business, fraudulent administration and money laundering", according to judicial sources.

A day after the 20 March raids, the RFEF sacked its legal director Pedro Gonzalez