If money were no object , where would you go on holiday? Well, Luis Rubiales, the Chairman of the Spanish Football Federation, chose little-old Salobreña.

Late last year, Rubiales, plunged Spanish football into scandalous waters. And not only because the national team was sent packing embarrassingly early from Qatar.

No, back in April, the Spanish newspaper, El Confidencial, published its Supercopa Files: a week-long series on ‘the dark side of Spanish football.’

The first blow to Rubiales came when the newspaper released documents showing how he had negotiated the terms of a new ‘Spanish Super- cup,’ with the former footballer, Gerard Piqué. The terms that were set up so he could directly and financially benefit from them.

Afterwards, Whatsapp messages were published, revealing Rubiales “felt sorry” for teams like Valencia CF and Atlético because of how badly they performed. Then, in December, documents showed Rubiales had spent thousands of RFEF’s euros on holidays in Salobreña.

This latest Salobreña scandal was investigated by his uncle, no less, Juan Rubiales.

J. Rubiales, who is leading an RFEF anti-corruption drive, has lodged cases against seven directors (all male) and discovered his nephew funded these Salobreña holidays with three different types of company credit cards.

So where in Salobreña did Rubiales splash the corporate cash? Well, according to El Confidencial, Rubiales frequented Restaurante Marisquería El Barco on several occasions. This seafood restaurant, located quite close to the Peñon, is known for its distinctive blue-&-white, mosaic, window frames and high prices. It is also somewhat of an apparent favourite of Rubiales, with some reporting he spent up to €590 there on seveal different occasions.

He allegedly also ‘worked from home’ at a recently built chalet on Monte de Los Almendros. The rental price tag of 3,000 euros was all paid for using RFEF credit cards. The chalet reportedly hosted eight to ten young women on multiple occasions during house parties, described as veritable “orgies.”

Rubiales has fought these allegations against him, claiming the time he spent in Salobreña were “official work days.” Maybe he was trying to get more Andalusian females interested in football?

In any case, despite Rubiales’s flexible standards around what is considered a good use of company money, he still continues as the Federation’s Chairman.

As it turns out, this is not the first scandal to rock the shores of Salobreña… In 2019 a former Icelandic Prime Minister, Jón Baldvin Hannibalsson, was accused of sexual harassment, apparently committing some of those crimes in his second home in Salobreña.

In 2018, 40 luxury houses were allegedly built on the adjacent land to Monte de Los Almendros to launder bribery money from PP ex-politicians as uncovered in the police operation, El Caso Gürtel.

So is it something in the water? Or, maybe bad people are just attracted to good places!

(News: Salobrena, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia – published in this month’s paper edition)