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Balearic Football Federation in Spanish FA corruption investigation

The Spanish FA building in Madrid, raided by the Guardia Civil yesterday. | Chema Moya

| Palma |

Guardia Civil investigators from Madrid came to Majorca yesterday to requisition documents from the Balearic Football Federation and the regional branch of Mutualidad de Futbolistas - the footballers' mutual society. The officers were specifically interested in various invoices and contracts with certain companies.

The Guardia Civil action in Majorca and in other parts of Spain followed yesterday morning's arrest of Ángel María Villar Llona, the president of Spain’s football association, Real Federación Española de Fútbol (RFEF). Villar Llona, who is also a senior vice-president at Fifa and Uefa, was arrested along with his son and three other federation executives as part of an anti-corruption investigation.

The Guardia Civil said in a statement that Villar Llona, his son Gorka, and three other football officials were detained while raids were carried out at the federation headquarters in Madrid. The other three men were Juan Padron, the federation vice president of economic affairs, and both the president and the secretary of the regional federation for Tenerife. Padron, it is understood, has companies which are under investigation.

Spain’s minister of education, culture and sport, Íñigo Méndez de Vigo, said moments after the raids that "in Spain the laws are enforced, the laws are the same for all, and nobody is above the law". Uefa said in a statement it was aware of the reports regarding Sr. Villar Llona. "We have no comment to make at this time."

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