Former Barcelona and Spain defender Gerard Pique has been placed under investigation by the court examining allegations of corruption at the Spanish FA during Luis Rubiales’ time as president.
The court has decided to take this action over “possible illegalities with criminal implications” regarding commissions received by Pique’s company Kosmos in the deal to move the Supercopa de Espana to Saudi Arabia.
That deal was agreed in September 2019, when Pique, now 37, was still a Barca player.
It said his company Kosmos would be paid €4million a year as commission. The Spanish FA (RFEF) earns €40m a year from the deal, which is due to run until 2025.
On March 20, Spanish police carried out a series of raids as part of an anti-corruption investigation codenamed ‘Operacion Brodie’ — after Englishman John Alexander Brodie, an Everton fan who pioneered the use of football nets in the late 19th century and worked for a while in Bilbao in the north of Spain.
Guardia Civil officers — one of Spain’s two national police forces — raided RFEF headquarters at Las Rozas near Madrid, as well as other locations across the country. Seven arrests were made — five in Madrid and two in the southern city of Granada, where a property owned by Rubiales was also searched.
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Operacion Brodie was set in motion following a legal complaint in May 2022 by Miguel Angel Galan (who in October spoke in depth with The Athletic) over the RFEF deal with Pique’s company Kosmos.
Pique and Kosmos have insisted the deal was all above board.
Rubiales was placed under investigation by the court, in Majadahonda in the community of Madrid, in April. He has strongly denied the corruption allegations, as has his replacement as Spanish FA president, Pedro Rocha.
Rocha, who took over after Rubiales decided to resign in September (having already been suspended by FIFA over his behaviour at the Women’s World Cup final the month before) was also placed under investigation in April.
(Photo by Martin Silva Cosentino ATPImages/Getty Images)
