Spain suspends football president Angel Maria Villar after arrest

Madrid, Jul 26: Spain's highest sports authority has suspended the president of the Spanish Football Federation a week after his arrest in an anti-corruption investigation.

The Higher Council of Sport removed Angel Maria Villar from the federation presidency today, pending the outcome of the investigation which had landed him in prison without bail and rocked Spanish soccer.

Council president Jose Ramon Lete says Villar and vice president Juan Padron, also arrested last tuesday (July 18), were suspended for one year.

Lete says their suspensions could be revised "depending on the facts that come out."

Villar's uninterrupted 29-year-reign of the federation ends one week after he, his son Gorka Villar, Padron, and another football official, Ramon Hernandez, were detained by police during raids of the national federation headquarters and other properties.

AP