Casillas' football

Win, win, win. Luis Aragonés motivated the players in his own way. He did not do badly. A European Cup and a team that worked hard for Del Bosque to put the icing on the cake with another European Cup and a World Cup. And Casillas was on that team, he knows a lot about winning and very little about losing. 

With Angel María Villar now deactivated to preside over the RFEF forever, the armchair in Las Rozas becomes the most desired object. Up to the presidency of the Government. All kinds of interests are set in motion to reach the throne in the spring or autumn elections of 2020. La Liga, AFE, Rubiales himself, characters in the shadows and even Pedro Sánchez's entourage move to impose their criteria.

We don't know if Iker Casillas would be a good president for Spanish football. The office is poisoned. Since the days of Pablo Porta and his nocturnal whip José María García, no one has ever come out of that office unscathed. Decades have passed and we still don't know what profile a football president should have in Spain. Villar was a footballer, just like Luis Rubiales or Iker Casillas, if he came to office. They were both in the football bosses. But also Mariano Rajoy has sounded, with a managerial profile -he has managed Spain, which is not little- or Mateu Alemany, eternal candidate to lead football. 

Who is behind Casillas' candidacy? Everyone and no one. Those who would like to get Rubiales out of football, but also those who would like to try to manage "their" candidate when he gets into office. And no one if in the end he doesn't run because he is not sure of winning. A whole plot that verges on the mafia and that leaves aside the most important thing: what candidate is good for Spanish football? Because the basis of this sport is the one that most needs a president who protects them and does not strut about through boxes and events. 

Grassroots and local football, women's football, indoor football, beach soccer, sponsors... there are many fronts and many votes. Casillas will have to assess what he can do to improve what Rubiales is doing. It would be a mistake to think that he is going to win because of the name and because he is taking a handful of former top players like Hierro or Torres. 

Don't be fooled by the controversy. The embarrassment of Lopetegui, the lies about Robert Moreno, the grotesque return of Luis Enrique, the dismissal of the ethics committee for wanting to sanction Busquets or his bad relations with Javier Tebas are not going to decide the elections. 

Federation football doesn't care too much about the tip of the iceberg. It cares about what's underneath. The money, the subsidies, the agreement of the failed women's football, that Garcia will stop the conflict between futsal and the federation... few media fronts that require commitment and few debts to pay when he arrives at the position. Something nearly impossible. 

Luis Rubiales came into office in the midst of Villar's stormy departure. The Soule case is about to be sentenced. If he's guilty, there'll be disbarment or jail time, but what if he's innocent? The media trial has already delivered its verdict but, fortunately, the judge will only rely on the evidence and not assess whether Villar was unsympathetic or did not talk to the press. 

From 1988 to 2010 Gerardo González Movilla was the president of the AFE. In 22 years he had no rival. Until Rubiales arrived, the player from Levante who threatened Spanish football with a strike in 2008 because the team had not been paid for months. He won and took the reins of the players' union for seven years. His next target was another manager in a tight-knit armchair. Villar and his nearly 30 years as president of the RFEF. 

The path from the EFA to the RFEF is straightforward. Villar was the founder of AFE and president of the RFEF, and Rubiales was president of AFE and is president of the RFEF. Casillas was appointed by Rubiales to the AFE Board of Directors in 2010 along with David Villa and now values being president of the federation. Because the former Real Madrid and Spanish national team goalkeeper is not going to run for office. Nothing of the sort.