Spain's Superior Sports Council (CSD) will require the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) to return €8M ($9.1M) "from the 1% of the revenue from quinielas -- a football-based Spanish lottery game -- that the Federation has received" from '10-13, according to Marco Ruiz of AS. The RFEF was ordered to return this money "for not being able to justify with receipts what it spent." The money was supposed to be allocated to youth football and its infrastructures. The "same incident" took place in '02 after a report from Spain's Court of Auditors. The RFEF challenged that ruling, but "ended up paying" €3.6M (AS, 2/4).
AID FOR ATLÉTICO?: Ruiz reported in a separate piece an audit by accounting firm BDO found that the RFEF provided Atlético Madrid with a total of €11M from '12-13. The payments were admitted by the RFEF "because it was advancing to the club part of the revenue that it earned from participating in European competition, money which is sent by UEFA to the clubs through the RFEF." This "arbitrary action was strange," as RFEF President Ángel María Villar "has not done the same with any other club in recent years" (AS, 2/4).