Ángel María Villar Llona (born 21 January 1950) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

. After having represented Athletic Bilbao for one decade (appearing in more than 350 official matches and scoring 11 goals), he went on to serve as president of the Spanish Football Federation for almost 30 years. Villar was a Spain international in the 1970s.

Club career

Villar was born in

Bilbao Bilbao is a city in northern Spain, the largest city in the Provinces of Spain, province of Biscay and in the Basque Country (greater region), Basque Country as a whole. It is also the largest city proper in northern Spain. Bilbao is the List o ...

, Biscay, and emerged through the youth ranks of local Athletic Bilbao, going on to make his senior debut in amateur football on loan, after which he returned in 1971. He was an undisputed starter in nine of his ten seasons with the

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

side, helping them to two

Copa del Rey The , commonly known as , or (in English) the Spanish Cup or King's Cup, and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–1936) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–1976), is an annual knockout football competition in Spanis ...

finals and winning the 1973 edition. In March 1974, during a 0–0

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

home draw against

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...

, Villar elbowed opposing superstar Johan Cruyff, as the Dutch was subject to severe man-marking by several Athletic players. He eventually received a four-match ban for his actions, but the pair later reconciled, and Villar retired seven years later with 361 competitive appearances for his main club.

International career

Villar played 22 times for

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, scoring three goals. His debut came on 17 October 1973 in a 0–0 friendly with

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

, in

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

. On 9 December 1979, his last

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. The origin of the word "cap" comes from the Old French word "chapeau" which means "head co ...

, Villar helped the nation to qualify for

UEFA Euro 1980 The 1980 UEFA European Football Championship finals tournament was held in Italy. This was the sixth UEFA European Championship, which is held every four years and endorsed by UEFA. It was the first European Championship to feature eight teams ...

, scoring in a 3–1 win in

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

. He did not participate, however, in any major international tournament. Villar also represented the unofficial Basque Country team.

Post-retirement

In 1979, still as an active player, Villar majored in law, and would practice the activity during the following years, which he accumulated with several posts in the footballing hierarchies – he was one of the founders of the Association of Spanish Footballers in 1978. Having already worked in the Royal Spanish Football Federation under president José Luis Roca, Villar was elected his successor in 1988. He was in charge as the national team won the

2010 FIFA World Cup The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010. ...

as well as the

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

and 2012 European Championships. Villar also occupied several roles within

UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

and

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

, being named the organizations' vice president, respectively in 1992 and 2002. Following Spain's controversial exit at the 2002 FIFA World Cup, he left his post at the latter, but was immediately named, amongst others, for the presidency of the Referees' Committee; also that year, he was named for that position at UEFA. Villar led the unsuccessful Spain and Portugal 2018 World Cup bid. On 16 February 2012, he was elected for his seventh term at the helm of the Spanish Federation, remaining in office until 2016. Following the suspension of Michel Platini in October 2015, Villar became UEFA's acting president. The following month, he was fined 25,000

Swiss franc The Swiss franc, or simply the franc, is the currency and legal tender of Switzerland and Liechtenstein. It is also legal tender in the Italian exclave of Campione d'Italia which is surrounded by Swiss territory. The Swiss National Bank (SNB) iss ...

s and warned by the

FIFA Ethics Committee The FIFA Ethics Committee is one of FIFA's three judicial bodies. It is organized in two chambers, the ''Investigatory Chamber'' and the ''Adjudicatory Chamber''. Its duties are regulated by several official documents, most importantly the ''FIFA ...

for failing to cooperate with the investigation into the bidding process of the 2018 World Cup. On 18 July 2017, Villar was arrested on suspicion of embezzling funds. Nine days later, he resigned from his post at both FIFA and UEFA.

Personal life

Villar's niece, María Villar Galaz, was kidnapped and murdered in Toluca, Mexico in September 2016.

Honours

Athletic Bilbao *

: 1972–73; runner-up: 1976–77 *

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

runner-up: 1976–77

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Villar, Angel Maria 1950 births Living people 20th-century Spanish sportsmen Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Bilbao Men's association football midfielders La Liga players Divisiones Regionales de Fútbol players Athletic Bilbao footballers CD Getxo players Spain men's amateur international footballers Spain men's international footballers Basque Country men's international footballers Association football executives Presidents of the Spanish Football Federation Members of the UEFA Executive Committee Presidents of UEFA