Royal Spanish Football Federation

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Royal Spanish Football Federation
UEFA
Short nameRFEF
Founded29 September 1913 (29 September 1913)
HeadquartersLas Rozas de Madrid
FIFA affiliation1914
UEFA affiliation1954
PresidentPedro Rocha (interim)
Websiterfef.es

The Royal Spanish Football Federation (Spanish: Real Federación Española de Fútbol; RFEF) is the governing body of football in Spain. Founded on 29 September 1913,[1][2][3] it is based in La Ciudad del Fútbol of Las Rozas, a municipality near Madrid.

RFEF organizes the national cup competitions (

LaLiga. It organizes the rest of national league tiers: Primera Federación (3rd), Segunda Federación (4th) and Tercera Federación
(5th).

It is also responsible for appointing the management of the

youth national football teams, the futsal and beach soccer. As of 2022, the federation has 30,052 registered clubs and 1,137,651 federated football players.[4]

History

Origins

The Federación Española de Clubs de Football (FECF) was established in

The discussions to decide the venue of the 1913 Copa del Rey ended up causing another split, with Barcelona and España de Barcelona announcing their departure in the assembly held in May 1912, along with the Gipuzkoan clubs of Real Sociedad and Vasconia, and on 29 November 1912, these clubs founded the "Spanish Union of Football Clubs" (UECF) in San Sebastián, and again two parallel tournaments were held.[7]

Both the Spanish Federation of Clubs (FECF) and the Spanish Union of Clubs (UECF), tried to become the representatives of Spanish football. Both organizations had a monarch as parents, them being

Madrid FC was a founder of FIFA in 1904, but after that it did not take part in any congress or meeting and it lost its membership, so there was no Spanish representative affiliated with FIFA between 1905 and 1913.[5]

The RUECF try to gain recognition by holding an international match against a Ligue de Football Association team (LFA was part of the French CFI, which was a member of FIFA), held on 25 May 1913 at the

Hondarribia. José Berraondo performed the functions of the Spanish coach and refereed the match. The game ended in a 1–1 draw with Spain's goalscorer being the captain Juan Arzuaga.[12] According press, after that match Alfonso XIII called Juan Padrós, president of the FECF, to inquire about what is happening and ask him to find a solution to the existing problem, and also Daniel Burley Woolfall, president of FIFA, contacted Carlos Padrós, former president of Madrid FC, to ask him about these new federations.[8]

The

San Sebastian at the end of July to meet with the representatives of the RUECF and negotiate a definitive agreement with them.[20] An agreement was reached to merge both federations and provisionally constitute four regional federations (east, west, north and center), whose delegates would attend the constitutive assembly of a new entity on 1 September 1913 at the headquarters of the Real Aero Club de España, in Madrid.[19][21][22]

Foundation

On 1 September 1913, the constitutive assembly of a new federation began as planned, choosing the name "Royal Spanish Football Federation" (Real Federación Española de Football) and granting the honorary presidency to King Alfonso XIII.[19][23][24] During this assembly it was recorded in the minutes that it was the constitutive assembly of a new federation completely different from the RFECF and the RUECF.[1][23][25][26] In addition, a board of directors was appointed under the vice-presidency of Ruiz Ferry, with the authority to designate its president, in accordance with the honorary president.[23][27] This board of directors took office on September 18.[28] Alfonso XIII officially granted the title of "Royal" to the RFEF on 25 September 1913[9] and accepted the honorary presidency.[29][30] Historically, it has been considered the RFEF was officially established on 29 September 1913,[2][3][31][32] although other sources place the date of foundation at 1 September 1913, when the first session of the constitutive assembly was held.[1][9][19] Also on 29 September 1913, the RFEF was accepted as a provisional member of FIFA, formalizing the federation's full entry into FIFA at the assembly held in Oslo on 27 July 1914.[8] The RFEF presented its statutes for approval and registration in the Associations Register on 16 January 1914. However, as was usual at that time, the process was delayed and the approval was not effective until 16 September 1921.[33] The appointment of Francisco García Molinas as president of the RFEF was reported in January 1914.[34][35] Lastly, the RFECF was dissolved on 18 October 1913[1][36] and the RUECF disappeared[37] on 5 February 1914.[11]

In order to put an end to the disputes that had marked the last editions of the Copa del Rey, it was agreed, among other measures, to form a championship for each regional federation (the country was divided into ten regions), which would serve as the qualifying stages for the tournament. The

final. After their foundation in September 1913, one of the first initiatives taken by the Royal Spanish Football Federation was to promote an inter-regional championship that would serve as the first major "showcase" of Spanish football, and consequently, as the bases for the formation of a Spanish team that could compete with other international teams;[38] and thus, in 1915, they launched the Prince of Asturias Cup, which was sponsored by King Alfonso XIII, who donated the trophy which his son, Alfonso, Prince of Asturias, had to deliver, hence the name of the tournament.[39]

National team

On 21 May 1920, the General Assembly of the RFEF approved the creation of the

Luis Argüello (Treasurer of the Federation) joined the expedition.[40]

On 28 August 1920, the first official match of the Spanish national team was played, held at the La Butte stadium (now Joseph Marien Stadium) in Brussels, in front of some 3,000 spectators. Spain wore a red shirt, white shorts, black socks and an embroidered lion on the chest. The match ended with a 1–0 victory against Denmark, with a goal from Gipuzkoan Patricio Arabolaza in the 54th minute.[41] In their maiden international tournament, Spain returned from Belgian lands with the silver medal after beating the Netherlands in the decisive match.

After the victory in the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup, alongside with the 2010 FIFA World Cup title by the men's side, Spain became one of the two countries (with Germany), to win both men and women world championships.[42] Besides, together with their youth teams, Spain became the current world champion in all three female categories (U-17, U-20 and senior level), unprecedented in the women's game.[43]

National league

On 30 June 1926, after a long process, the clubs approved the first professional football regulations, thus, following the English model, the sport of football become professional in Spain. This would lay the foundation for the founding of the "Campeonato Nacional de Liga" (La Liga), in 1929.

The first league edition ran from February to June 1929, and was played by ten clubs. Six clubs were selected for being Copa del Rey winners (Real Madrid, Barcelona, Athletic Bilbao, Arenas Club, Real Unión and Real Sociedad —as the successor club of the Club Ciclista), another three as runners-up (Atlético Madrid, RCD Espanyol and CE Europa), and to decide the tenth place, an eliminatory tournament between ten clubs was organized, which Racing de Santander won after beating Sevilla in the decisive match.[44] Barcelona was proclaimed champion of the first league edition with 25 points, closely followed by Real Madrid at 23.[45]

Competitions

RFEF national competitions:

Honours

National football team

Men

  • Winners (1): 2010
  • Fourth place (1): 1950
  • UEFA European Championship
  • Runners-up (1): 2013
  • Third place (1): 2009

Women

  • Semi-finals (1): 1997

National youth teams

Men

  • UEFA U-21 Championship

Women

  • UEFA Women's U-19 Championship
  • UEFA Women's U-17 Championship

National futsal team

Men

  • Winners (7):
    2016
  • Runners-up (2):
    2018

Women

Territories

The RFEF consists of 19 regional and territorial federations, comprising the different Autonomous communities and cities in Spain.

Presidents

President Term
Francisco García 1913–1916
Gabriel Maura 1916–1920
David Ormaechea 1921–1923
Gabriel Maura 1923–1924
Julián Olave 1924–1926
Antonio Bernabéu 1926–1927
Pedro Díez de Rivera (Marqués de Someruelos) 1927–1931
Leopoldo García 1931–1936
Julián Troncoso 1939–1940
Luis Saura 1940–1941
Javier Barroso 1941–1946
Jesús Rivero 1946–1947
Armando Muñoz Calero 1947–1950
Manuel Valdés 1950–1952
Sancho Dávila
1952–1954
Juan Touzón 1954–1956
Alfonso de la Fuente 1956–1960
Benito Pico 1960–1967
José Luis Costa 1967–1970
José Luis Pérez-Payá 1970–1975
Pablo Porta 1975–1984
José Luis Roca 1984–1988
Ángel María Villar 1988–2017
Juan Luis Larrea (interim) 2017–2018
Luis Rubiales 2018–2023
Pedro Rocha (interim) 2023–present

References

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    .
  2. ^ a b "Villar borra la fecha de nacimiento de la RFEF" [Villar deletes the date of foundation of RFEF]. Marca (in Spanish). 9 October 2009.
  3. ^ a b Real Federación Española de Fútbol. Anuario 1926–1927 [Yearbook 1926–1927] (in Spanish). p. 10. España. Real Federación Española de Football (29 Sept. 1913)
  4. Ministry of Culture and Sport
    . May 2023. pp. 121–13.
  5. ^
    IFFHS. "Todos los campeonatos nacionales del mundo, sus equipos campeones y sus mejores goleadores 1901–10: Explicación, bases y comentarios" [All the world national championships, their champion teams and their best scorers 1901–10: Explanation, regulations and comments] (in Spanish). Archived from the original
    on 14 April 2009. Retrieved 30 April 2023.
  6. ^ "Spain – Cups 1910". RSSSF. 13 January 2000. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
  7. ^ "Spain – Cups 1913". RSSSF. 13 January 2000. Archived from the original on 8 April 2022. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
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  10. ^ "La Real Unión y la Federación en relación con la F.I.F.A." [The Royal Union and the Federation in relation with FIFA] (PDF). Vida Sportiva (in Spanish). No. 29. 15 March 1913. pp. 3–5.
  11. ^ a b Vicent Masià (June 2011). "La Federación Española de Fútbol (I)" [The Spanish Football Federation (I)]. La Futbolteca. Retrieved 30 April 2023.
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  45. ^ "History of the Spanish League: The first years (1929–1936)". www.rfef.es. 22 July 2015. Retrieved 24 July 2022.

External links