29/08/2023 and las 19:46 CEST
The president of the Catalan Football Federation (FCF) has responded as follows to the statements of the Government spokesperson, Patrícia Plaj
“I don’t know her at all, I don’t even know who she is and, therefore, I’m not going to say anything she says or asks the FCF,” Soteras said.
The president of the Catalan Football Federation (FCF), Joan Soteras, has affirmed this Tuesday that the government of the Generalitat de Catalunya “is nobody” to say if he should resign or not from his position, alluding to the statements of the Government spokesperson, Patrícia Plaja.
Plaja urged the president of the FCF on Tuesday to resign, considering that “he is not the right person” to continue leading that institution after his initial positions on the Rubiales case. “I don’t know Mrs. Plaja at all, I don’t even know who she is and, therefore, I’m not going to say anything she says or asks to the Catalan Football Federation”, assured Soteras, who recalled that “the FCF is a private entity”.
The last friday, Soteras presented his resignation as vice president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) after showing his support for Rubiales, alleging that his explanations about what happened with the soccer player Jennifer Hermoso were “credible” and that the kiss was “consensual”, facts that the player later denied.
Asked about this decision, he stated that the fact that Rubiales supported him in his worst moments at the command of the FCF “strongly” influenced his first assessment, although he later issued a statement confirming that the conduct that occurred in the celebration of the women’s World Cup final “were not the most correct from a moral or protocol point of view.”
“He helped me a lot when they massacred me alive here, but after two days I thought that this was punctual,” Soteras pointed out.who added that what happened during the World Cup “should never and should never happen again” and that such behavior “must be censored.”
Asked about the decision that Pedro Rocha relieve Rubiales of his duties, the president of the Catalan Football Federation has reiterated that at last Monday’s extraordinary meeting of the territorial federations, all the presidents supported the new top leader of the RFEF.
Regarding the situation of the women’s coach, Jorge Vildahas opined that “there must be some structural changes in the selection”, but insisted that “we must review whether, after they have been world champions, they should continue to lead the selection or not”.
And in this sense, he has insisted: “We must be on top of everything that could destabilize women’s football at this timeand if someone should not be there, then they should not be there.
The president of the FCF has denied that Rubiales urged him to veto a friendly match between the Catalan team and Venezuela that was going to be played during the first fortnight of November 2022, a time when they coincided with two matches for the Spanish team against Japan and Argentina. “Everyone must remember and, at that time, there were much more serious problems and, for this reason, it was suspended”, pointed out the leader of the highest Catalan football body.