The government believes that Joan Soteras must “provide representations to society” based on the ARA’s information

BarcelonaJoan Soteras, the president of the Catalan Football Federation (FCF), announced last week in an interview with the newspaper ARA that he would send a letter to the president of the Generalitat de Catalunya, Pere Aragonès, with the aim of reducing tensions and uncover the association’s work in women’s football. Previously, government spokesperson Patrícia Plaja said publicly that Soteras “is not the most suitable person to stand before the FCF” given the reaction – especially at the beginning – to the kiss on the mouth without the consent of Luis Rubiales was weak, the suspended president of the RFEF, to Jennifer Hermoso, player of the Spanish national football team. In fact, he was among those who applauded Rubiales in the meeting where he announced that he would not resign.

It didn’t take long for Soteras’ first response to Plaja: “You’re nobody.” [referint-se al govern català] to tell me whether I should resign. I don’t know Ms. Plaja at all. I don’t even know who it is.” The next day, more relaxed, the FCF president said in an interview with ARA that they had “all warmed up and slowed down” before adding that he had “nothing” against the Generalitat “. As the ARA learned from government sources, President Aragonès received Soteras’ letter on August 30. In this letter, the sports director admits that he made a mistake in his less forceful statements after the RFEF meeting – he said that Rubiales’ explanations were “credible” and that he believed that he “apologized as necessary” in his speech – and by saying he didn’t know who he was

The same government sources tell this newspaper that “Soteras should give the society more explanations for his reactions to the Rubiales case, but also for the information published in the ARA in recent days.” They refer to the public complaints about the treatment suffered by Paquita Linares, a former manager, and Sandra Mora and Raquel Elola, former employees, at the FCF, as well as the news spread by this newspaper about the suspension of an FCF game In 2022 the Catalan women’s national team is in full conflict at Rubiales’ request the 15th with the Spanish team.

From a legal perspective, the government has little leeway

When Soteras says that the government is no one to tell him whether he should resign, from a legal perspective he is absolutely right. According to the FCF statutes, this is “a private sports company”, although it is “of public benefit”. This means that the possibilities to overthrow a president, beyond the decision of the ballot boxes in an election or a vote of no confidence, which requires the majority of managers or 15% of members of parliament to be implemented, are limited to the fact that the Catalan Sports Council has asked the Catalan Sports Court (TCE) to open a sanction file – the same step that the CSD took with the TAD for Rubiales – or a disciplinary file that the same Catalan federation would open

Open legal process for the possible re-election

On February 13, Soteras was re-elected as president of the FCF in a repeat election that took place after the Catalan Sports Court (TCE) – in a case opened by the denunciation of one of the candidates, Álex Talavera – revealed to 175 Irregularities in the voting of the May 22, 2022 elections, which Soteras also won. Now the elections have ended up in court again because two of the candidates, Álex Talavera and Juanjo Isern, rejected the election. They reported new irregularities to the TCE, which fired them and appointed Soteras president, although she raised some aspects that had been wrong during the electoral process. More specifically, Isern has taken the case to the Supreme Court of Catalonia (TSJC) to evaluate these aspects.

In addition, in recent days the ARA has explained the cases of Paquita Linares, Sandra Mora and Raquel Elola. Paquita Linares is a former director of the FCF who has denounced ex-vice president Josep Llaó, general manager José Miguel Calle and Joan Soteras herself for insults and described a seven-year ordeal. In fact, Linares’ legal representatives believe that he was sexually harassed by Llaó and Calle and harassed at work by Soteras.

For her part, Sandra Mora was dismissed as an FCF employee while she was pregnant and on leave for fear, and in a month the trial will take place claiming the nullity of the dismissal and readmission. There is also the case of Raquel Elola, who was demoted as secretary of the FCF’s Tarragona branch and subsequently fired when she was on leave because she was concerned about the atmosphere in which she lived at her workplace. Previously, Elola had wanted to run in the union elections, which Soteras did not like at all.

Soteras became president of the FCF due to Subies’ resignation

Since August 2018, Soteras, an entrepreneur in the dyes sector and president of Sabadell, has been the supreme leader of the FCF. The Valaisan, previously vice-president, came to the presidency due to the resignation of Andreu Subies, who preferred to join the RFEF as economic vice-president, coinciding with the arrival of Luis Rubiales in the presidency of the maximum state football body. The good relationship between Soteras and Subies would ultimately fail and the FCF itself was issued as a civil lawsuit in 2021 in the investigation contained in the Soule case into the possible misappropriation of FCF funds during Subies’ presidency. Subies was previously arrested by the Guardia Civil in October 2018 and resigned from the RFEF in March 2019 due to allegations of embezzlement.

Clientelistic system

The operation of the FCF’s power forces is similar to the clientelistic system of the RFEF, with the addition that everyone knows everyone better because the territory they cover is much smaller. The main decisions are made by the two higher-level management and representative bodies: the general meeting and the board. All FCF members with a minimum membership period of one year can participate and vote in the general meeting, which takes place once a year: clubs, sports associations, sports groups and other private non-profit institutions. These are the same people who have the right to take part in presidential elections take place every four years and for which there are no term limits.