Luis Rubiales, president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation, sat on the sofa of Viajando con Chester in its delivery on Tuesday, March 7. Risto Mejide reproached him that he had not fulfilled a promise that he had made before the World Cup in Qatar.
The Cuatro space rescued a previous interview in which the sports leader had shared: "FIFA is going to do something, which will announce it. It is going to promote a lot and it is going to make visible that, indeed, football is in favor of human rights , just as UEFA is already doing with the Respect bracelet... UEFA has already taken that step and I think FIFA is going to take it decisively. The Spanish Federation is in negotiations that have not yet crystallized. I promise you that I'll call you and tell you 'it was this and I couldn't tell you'. You'll understand me. I think our commitment to the LGTBI collective, to children, to women in the world of football...".
The guest pointed out: "Didn't I call you on the phone? I forgot. We did do the other thing." The presenter asked: "What has been done for the LGTBI collective? What has been done for the children and for the women in the World Cup in Qatar? What negotiations were you doing?"
The former soccer player recounted: "We made a presentation at the Las Rozas headquarters with the United Nations, where we revealed a series of agreements, where we defended the 17 points that are defended with the United Nations, among them also the right for each one to have their own sexual option".
The driver of the format questioned him again: "But what did the Spanish team do in the World Cup?" He replied: "We went out onto the field, put on our kit and played a game. What are we going to do? Every time there is a chance to give support publicly, it is given."
Risto recalled in Traveling with Chester that the German team protested the threat of sanction for wearing a rainbow bracelet in Qatar and its players posed for a photo covering their mouths. "It went around the world. Wouldn't you be more proud of a team that did that than one that just goes, plays and leaves, doesn't care about human rights, how homosexuals are treated and the death penalty?" , raised the visibly upset Catalan.
Rubiales expressed his disagreement and recalled that the death penalty exists in many countries. The presenter pointed out: "Yes, but for loving a person of the same sex? That you go to jail?" The interviewee stated: "The only way to change places where these issues exist is by flooding, as happened here in Spain. We had a dictatorship where the death penalty existed not so long ago."
Mejide interrupted him: "Don't compare." He complained that he wouldn't let him explain himself. "You speak as if you were at a press conference," released the driver of the format. "You put a lot of labels and I think you're wrong sometimes," replied the president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation. "The only way in which sport can help due to its transversality is by fully entering society, participating in a World Cup and taking what is done in other countries. You cannot put us on the Spanish team, that we are football, in the situation of fixing the world", said the guest.
The driver of the format was not convinced by his explanations and snapped: "It seems cynical to me...". The manager added: "It seems cynical to me that it seems cynical to you. It seems to me a demagogue."
Rubiales insisted: "The way to change all these behaviors is with tourism, with sports... When there is an ancestral culture, where religion also has a lot to do with it and has been deeply involved since ancient times, you have to understand that you cannot change things in a day. And between changing slowly and doing nothing, I prefer the first option."
Risto stressed that the Spanish team had done "absolutely nothing" in the World Cup in Qatar, but the interviewee contradicted him again: "We have done a lot... The only way to move forward is to go and try, respecting certain issues, involve people so that those who are in charge there see that, of course, things can be done differently. It will arrive. The only way to do nothing is not to go". The Catalan opined: "I think we would have done very well not to go."
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