The rise and fall of Luis Rubiales: from Spanish football president to pariah

The way Luis Rubiales told the story, it was a warning. Designed to illustrate how determined he is, who he is. He revealed that when he was barely a month old his sister broke his legs. She fell on top of him, causing six or seven fractures on each side, and the doctor told his parents that their son could be anything except a footballer. But that was exactly what he had become and now he was the president of the Spanish football federation so, no, he wasn’t going to be beaten this easily. “I’m a fighter,” he said.

It was April last year and Rubiales was giving a press conference following the publication of a series of voice notes between him and Gerard Piqué, still playing for Barcelona at the time, which showed how they had taken the Spanish Super Cup to Saudi Arabia – the Supercopa of equality, Rubiales called it. The back and forth between “Geri” and “Rubi”, taken from the president’s phone and leaked, saw the pressure build and the circle tighten, but he wasn’t going to back down, however hard they tried to get him, and he claimed they would stop at nothing.

“I’m a normal guy, 44 years old, from Motril,” Rubiales said, during the appearance which did indeed reveal something of who he is, if not always the way he intended. “I don’t drink alcohol, I don’t smoke. I don’t think we’ll reach the point when they find me in a ditch, shot in the back of the head, but if they have done this with my mobile, why wouldn’t they put things on it? I can’t guarantee that tomorrow they won’t find a bag of cocaine [planted] in the boot of my car.” In the end, it wasn’t the cocaine; it was the World Cup. It was the kiss. He pulled this trigger himself.

Just because he is paranoid doesn’t mean that they aren’t out to get him – “We