David Aganzo (Leganés, 1981) appears in front of Gaizka Toquero in the first AFE elections (next April 9) after four years in office. He replaced Rubiales in the position in 2017 after playing for Real Madrid and 11 other teams. He goes to reelection after part of his Board wanted to present a kind of censure motion (this figure does not exist in the union's statutes) and Morientes threatened to fight him for the position. Now their rivals are the same but with another leader. With more than 14 million euros of budget and the achievements of the women's agreement, the tests and the fight against the ERTE in the middle of the pandemic, the union is also the focus of attention for the internal struggles and the 36 valuable votes that the players have in the RFEF Assembly.
In all the harshness of this year, can you say that it has been a positive year for you? AFE has stuck its head out and you, a risk person, are still healthy …
Thank God yes, and knock on wood. I remember the first day I went out in The beach bar With the mask, they called me exaggerated and unfortunately we had a serious problem. There has been a lot of work and I am proud of the four years that we have been working and much more proud of how the union has reacted at this time, at the level of ERTEs, non-professional football and professional football, at the level of all protocols that we have done (concentrations, aid to classmates of 2nd B, 3rd, Female, the modest categories) and above all that obligatory nature of the tests that we imposed from the union that were mandatory every week, in addition to the occupational risk prevention plans.
They are your first picks. How do you deal with them?
They are also the first of AFE, there have never been two candidacies. I am happy with the team that I have and with the support that I am receiving.
Are you happy because a democratic process is opening or are you afraid that someone might win you?
There is no fear, the other way around. We have the option of all soccer players in Spain to be able to choose their representative. It is a process that I want to be clean, with a secret and independent vote, without any type of pressure from the Federation and LaLiga. Information was already reaching me that federation members were calling club presidents and these presidents were in turn intervening in this vote and we want footballers to vote freely.
What does a candidate and trade unionist do in the campaign? How does it work?
From my side, what we have done is explain what has been done for four years, what has been worked on, explains the independence of the union since 1978 when it appeared. They are projects that come from before and we want to endorse our objectives.
When talking about the electoral process, everything leads us a bit to politics and politicians are always discredited. However, they do have debates. Would you like to have one here, on AStv, with the other candidate, Toquero, on election week?
I do not care. I know that the information is held by colleagues. In the end is to present your candidacy, what is going to be done, what not, the objectives (clearly objectives that can be met), you can sell one hundred and fifty million pairs of boots so that people can vote for you but you have to be respectful with the budget that there is, with the acts that you have to fulfill. You are going to be president of a union that is very important at the international level, which is very important at the national level and has a budget, objectives … We want to improve in many aspects.
In what?
Have AFE sessions for women who do not have equipment. The historic women's agreement has to help to make this professional women's football league really be. The CSD has taken the glove and for next year it will be exactly the same as Second B. We have to regulate the Third in many aspects, there are colleagues without a contract, charging in any way, without being registered with Social Security … You have to sit well, you have to try to ensure that your colleagues have decent conditions.
Speaking of politics, in a past interview he told me that he had found more politics than sport in football. Are you still thinking about it?
I confirm it. There is a lot of politics in the world of sports and I don't like it much. I like to promise the things that I can fulfill. And all that has been done in the mandate is to fulfill what was promised. What has been worked with women's football, the salary guarantee fund, a historical fact, what has been done with the ERTEs to defer those payments from Barcelona and Betis so that their teammates would not have losses. In the end, as you know, LaLiga has had financial problems, many clubs have the same, and they wanted to take money from their teammates, we have worked with them so that this can be fixed. We have been very close to them. In a global pandemic we have shown that we are great professionals and that footballers have a good union.
If you had a golden minute, what would you say to a footballer to vote for you?
I would tell you about the work we have done for four years. Realize that they are not stupid and they know who can be behind each candidacy, they know exactly what the union is. Giving votes is not a union. The goal of a union is for any co-worker who is in trouble or getting laid off, or in trouble, to automatically have a union to help him. That is what David Aganzo and his Board are looking for. A Board with important names in the world of football (Jordi Alba and Camacho in front), in all categories. They are people who go to work for footballers without receiving anything in return. David Aganzo's Board of Directors will not charge, they are all active. That is what soccer players need in this country.
“My Board will not charge. If there were shitty numbers as they say, Iker, Alba or Camacho would not support me”
The other candidacy has a motto: “All the money for the footballers.” Where had the money gone so far?
To the footballers. They say 'When I come in, I'll do an audit.' The audit is not necessary. The audits are already done. The money is for any affiliate who deigns to come to Gran Vía, or at the public level they can see it in the Mercantile Registry. I have no obligation to do so, but I asked the CFO to hang up those accounts because any affiliate deserves to know what is being done with that money. It is the first thing that I did, the audit of the Association, you do not have to be president to do it.
There will be footballers who have a clear vote for Aganzo, but others who have doubts because of the noise around AFE. What do you say to those footballers?
That is where politics appears. There have been people who have tried to put all the shit possible into the union, who wanted to divide the union, they have tried to denounce the union and its president 12 or 13 times. In the end, both the union and Aganzo have won 13 lawsuits, which is said soon. Facing such a situation is very uncomfortable, but in the end the truth is proven.
What is inside a union that everyone wants to join?
Years ago it has been very good. With great salaries, with a hundred and a thousand euros. That is attractive, because in the end the work you do at the level of representations, putting a president there and all the others receiving a good salary and with zero responsibility. And that's what I don't want. For me it would have been easier to position myself on the side of Rubiales or Tebas and I have sought that independence to be able to decide, so that my colleagues know where we have to go. That's what I'm looking for, it's AFE's premise, you can't pay. I have spoken with Del Bosque, Camacho, many founders … and the objective that differentiates us is independence, that union.
Is that the best thing you have done as president, having them stiff with CSD, LaLiga and the Federation?
SOCCER 20/21 David Aganzo, candidate for the presidency of AFE, at one point during the interview with AS.
JAVIER GANDUL (DIARIO AS)
Not that they were stiff, no. It is to defend what the footballers asked of me. I cannot understand that a women's league can be suspended as it was. We are talking about equality. The league was suspended and the girls played the Champions League, the King's Cup, international matches … and it was eliminated as if it were a category at the federation level. You have to have common sense and treat everyone as they deserve, and the women's first division has not been treated like the men's. I am not going against the Federation or against LaLiga. Many times I go in favor of both. We have daily dealings with them, but really when the footballers are asking for something and I have to confront them, I have to do it.
During this time he has surely done things wrong. What would I not do again?
Maybe make decisions, I will tell you about the first year, year and a half … It is a union with more than 11,000 members and with an agreement that you get after a long time. If I went back, I would make much quicker decisions. I try to empathize with people and it is true that in many aspects you have to be more alive, you have to react before because people do not forgive and any doubts you have, they will kill you for a political issue.
Did moving away from Rubiales make you more independent?
I have always tried to have my criteria. In the end Aganzo or Toquero may have a way of looking at it, but you have to fight for what the majority wants. That majority has to decide whether it is A or B.
Rubiales was key in his arrival at AFE. What has happened to them to distance themselves thus and that Aganzo has even left the Board of the RFEF?
People are not stupid either. The interests of the Federation are not the interests of AFE. I did not come here to use the tool union. I'm not going to do it and I didn't. AFE is in contact with everyone. Another thing is that Aganzo and Rubiales do not speak or that relations have cooled, of course. He has his job and I have mine. It is true that the relationship has cooled, but each one fights for his goals.
On the day of the presentation of his candidacy, he said that Toquero was the man of the Federation. What is it based on?
I had a call from Toquero telling me that, well, they had contacted him a few days ago … He called me, we had a relationship from before because we had faced each other and I think that AFE helped him on some occasion with Zaragoza, I think I remember. The relationship exists. He calls me and tells me that he had called Rubiales, Tebas and wanted to call me as a partner. I thanked him very much for the call and without further ado, that it had been a few days since he had been informed of the possibility of being president of AFE, that they had proposed this to him and that he was going to take the step. Well great. If you take the step, perfect and for what you need, here I am. But I am not going against Toquero, because I have already found myself in that situation.
…
I already know who is behind him. If you see the candidacy, half are retired, obviously they can be, and a few others from my previous team who were in the Rubiales team, like Tito, who was vice president, just like Jesule. In the end, all that team know what they have done in AFE and I don't want that AFE, I want a transparent AFE. They have wanted to sink this union so that people could doubt and vote for it. It is good that people are friends in AFE sessions and that it is a moment in which footballers have a special situation and they are given a special affection at that moment and that image is not Aganzo, Jesule or Armindo, that is AFE. And the person who puts his face or is lucky, it is true that he has a special bond, but none of us pays it, the footballers pay it. I know what there is, how the money has been spent and how not, and I do not want that AFE, for me it would have been easier to say come on, what do you do this, what do you charge this, I stay my four years, I put myself there and Come on, I'll go with whatever you want and I'll go, in four years I've taken my money and see you later. I can not.
“Toquero called me and I thank him; he is not the problem”
It is surprising that of that opposition team that he says, Xavi Oliva and Queco Piña do not appear within the Board they present.
They are behind.
Is it the same group that worked to make the figure of Morientes appear?
They are the same group, exactly.
Have you spoken to Morientes after his feint?
No, not with Fernando. And we have a pending call. I have a lot of affection and respect for him. He has been a partner. I was very surprised by their appearance. They were looking for a reference person, known, to put it. Again they are behind the same.
What things did Morientes see to leave scared?
I don't want to imagine it, but just by looking at the people behind you, you have to see it. For years soccer players have seen all of them work, Armindo, Jesule… I want professional people. And it is clear to me that they are trying to destroy AFE and for the union to weaken. And that the footballers can doubt. It is much easier for the Federation and for LaLiga, because the footballers do not know the power they have. When you withdraw and see the bulls from outside, you realize that power. And it is very difficult to put all this together. With the women's agreement, they realized that they had many pressures and there were times when they doubted whether to continue or not. And the women, with two noses, came forward with the help of the union and they succeeded.
You didn't talk to half the Board. Have these meetings in recent months been the most unpleasant of your tenure?
It has been very unpleasant. There were 13 of us and, of them, there were nine with common sense. It was proposed to favor the female agreement … and some voted against it. They were voting against David Aganzo. It was to go after the president, to be in the newspapers.
How right is it that in those meetings you behaved like a dictator?
Impossible. I have my vote. In the Board we were 13 for that, we were odd for that, so that the president does not have a double vote in the event of a tie. There has always been a 9-4, a 7-3, an 8-4 … Do you think I can force Susaeta or Morales to vote for something? The day I do that, I have to leave AFE.
For many people, football is still mathematics: if the RFEF candidate is Toquero, Tebas will go to the death with Aganzo. This is so?
No. I have not spoken with Javier for a long time. He knows perfectly how I think, just like Rubiales knows, so I think he wanted to put a candidate to control AFE. You know perfectly well that it's complicated with me.
How do you convince a player like Jordi Alba to join your team?
SOCCER 20/21 David Aganzo (AFE candidate) and AS journalist Alfredo Matilla talk during the interview held yesterday.
JAVIER GANDUL (DIARIO AS)
I have known Jordi for a long time, when he played for Nastic. We have mutual friends, and when we proposed it to him, he did not hesitate. He said 'David, I want to help the footballers, here you have one more partner for whatever you need, I don't want them to use my image for this, I really want to help the teammates of this country, visit the people of Second B, Third, Iberdrola League '. He told me the first day.
“The Toquero team, which is Rubiales', already wanted to sink AFE”
The usual thing is to put the image and that's it, right?
Villa or Casillas, for example, I think they did not come to any meeting. Marchena yes. I am very proud of the Board that I have presented: Alba, Morales, Toché who is in Second B… Gil, to whom I send a huge kiss for his operation, Silvia, Jade, Adrián Gonzálz, Javi López from Third Division… Noble people. And that team is people that nobody has told me how much I'm going to get paid and they don't want to get paid from the union. I have serious doubts about the other candidacy in the event that Toquero wins and is president.
If the Toquero members don't win, do you see any of them going to work at the Federation?
They already work.
Who is it?
Vicente Engonga works. Tito is teaching sports director classes … I don't know if in Las Rozas, but in other federations.
Are there internationals with options to go with the National Team who are afraid of getting wet publicly supporting Aganzo?
Many. In our Board of Directors last year there have been these situations. Of 'be careful with what you vote in case you don't go to the National Team …'.
It's tough what he says.
But it has been so. I am not going to give names, but there have been very difficult situations where they have called Board members telling them that I had stolen. My luck is that these people see what we do, see the transparent numbers and there is nothing else. David Aganzo neither eats children nor is he a scoundrel nor has he done anything illegal because I would have to go.
“Aganzo neither eats children nor is he a scoundrel nor has he done anything illegal”
Another of those who has publicly supported him has been Casillas. Does this mean that AFE would have supported Casillas if he had presented himself to the RFEF?
I told Iker when he was running for the Federation candidate that he had no problem. I told him, ‘You come as Rubiales or the candidates are going to come and you talk to the footballers’. They are the ones who have to vote. And as president of AFE I believe that footballers have to have all the information on all the candidacies. This is what AFE and the president have to do. What if he's a friend of mine from many years ago? Yes. What if I've been lucky enough to play with him? Yes. Iker has been vice president with Rubiales at AFE and he knows perfectly everything that is in AFE and for me it is a pride that Iker gives you that strength like many other colleagues. In this job there are no hours, the phone is ringing all day. I am proud to represent the footballers of this country. It has its pros and cons.
Knowing Iker, do you think he is still excited to present you to future RFEF elections or do you already see him out?
Iker is a fighter. And a constant uncle. On a personal level, life has given him hard times, where the health of his family and hers has been affected, and I can't tell him. As a friend, I don't know how to tell him. What will be close to football? I already told him that yes, he is now at Real Madrid, which I think is a total success. It has to be formed little by little to take steps.
Today a colleague by profession told me that the image that will help him the most is not that of Casillas or Jordi Alba, but that of Camacho, because he represents independence better than anyone after that team in Madrid. Do you see it like this?
I am very proud of the whole team, but it is clear that the coach has been an important point for me because of what he says: he does not marry anyone. He has seen the existence of AFE in danger, all the changes that took place … and in the end what is needed is to have independence in order to survive. If he had any kind of doubts, the numbers were bad or shit as they say, Camacho did not get into the AFE. Maybe these people who have their lives resolved did not get involved in these “scrubs” that could put their name in question, but it is a wonderful group that I always thank them for and because it is a delicate moment for the association. If there was something, Alba, Iker and people like that would not support me, and neither would Ruth, Marrero and the others.
There are also other more controversial names on your Board. The opposition focuses its shot a lot on Diego Rivas, but you have once again put him as the headliner.
Without a doubt. I have full confidence in Diego. It is the person who has been very close to me and what has been suffered within the union. We are different, he is calmer and I am hotter. I always put my hand in the fire for him, people who know him know that he is very good and brilliant when it comes to helping, he is a guy who never gets tired, he meets if necessary at 12 at night where be.
Another proper name is Lucas Pérez, who is not going through his best moment …
At the sporting level, he is in a special situation. I'm to death with Lucas too, I've known him for a long time. He is a very special player with tremendous quality. Let's see if we can get him back to have his best version, but in personal and wardrobe matters it is his issue that we hope they will solve it soon.
Do you have full confidence in the victory of the elections?
Yes. I believe that soccer players in this country know what they want. They have seen strange movements like in Andalusia, people who have been in locker rooms, people who in the end have promised boots, have put in veterans associations. And the people know perfectly why and I hope that the footballers know what there is.
If you lose, what are your plans?
I have my investments, my houses … I have my life more or less settled. Being linked to the world of football, I really like helping people. I know the contacts I have had in these four years, the people I have had to deal with, important people in the world of football. I have not thought about it, because I know and I am clear that the candidacy will win, but if not, something linked to the world of football.
Anything else for a jacket or tracksuit?
I'd like to try the tracksuit too. Because in the end, footballers have that football suit, sometimes we play some pachanga, but it is true that sometimes I say: 'I would love to be around'. But the job I have is very nice. That a colleague with a disability say “thank you David”, or someone who has lost their money thank you or give thanks because I have received … That is priceless. At Rayo Vallecano I have had problems, in Greece I have had problems. I have lost a lot of money because of football and this is very important. I know the situation they live in and above all I want to help them.
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