Spain to replace arrested soccer federation boss

[July 22, 2017]    MADRID (Reuters) - The Spanish state is to seek to suspend soccer federation boss Angel Maria Villar, who is under arrest as part of a corruption investigation, a government spokesman said on Friday.

Spain's football federation (RFEF) president Angel Maria Villar is led by Spanish Civil Guards during a raid at the Spanish Soccer Federation headquarters in Las Rozas, outside Madrid, Spain, July 18, 2017. REUTERS/Juan Medina

Villar, his son Gorka and two other soccer federation executives were detained on Tuesday on allegations of collusion, embezzlement and falsifying documents. Villar has denied all the allegations.

A judge ordered on Thursday that Villar, a FIFA vice president, should be remanded in custody as he presented a flight risk.

The Spanish state's sports body, the Consejo Superior de los Deportes, will meet on Tuesday to discuss Villar's replacement at the top of soccer federation RFEF, government spokesman Inigo Mendez de Vigo said.

"Our aim from the outset was to ensure that everything is working normally at a time when the president and vice-president (of the RFEF) are in custody," Mendez de Vigo told a news conference after the government's weekly cabinet meeting.

(Reporting by Alba Asenjo; Writing by Sarah White; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)

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