The RFEF organizes a World Cup of ‘youtubers’ with a Spaniard who pays taxes in Andorra

“As you can see, I am not in my room or in my comfort zone. We are in Las Rozas, the sports city of the Royal Spanish Football Federation“. The camera turns on and appears ‘TheGrefg‘, one of the most followed ‘streamers’ in Spanish in the world, along with two footballers from Luis Enrique’s squad, Pedri and Marco Asensio. The direct is titled “The most important announcement of the year” and in it, the famous Spanish communicator makes public a piece of news that will revolutionize the Twitch and YouTube community and will infuriate a large number of football fans on Twitter: the creation of the first World Cup in football history among youtubers, with eight teams (Spain, France, Portugal, Germany, Mexico, England, Argentina and Brazil) and which will take place between November 19 and 20 at the Benito Villamarín in Seville.

So far everything normal… if it weren’t for David Cánovas Martínez (Alhama de Murcia, 1997), better known as ‘TheGrefg’, he left Spain to avail himself of Andorra’s tax benefits five years ago and has bragged about it over and over again ever since. “This is a clash between morality and legality, of course, but donate half of what I earn because ‘I love my country’… I don’t see it. I would love to set an example by paying my taxes in my country, but I have to look out for myself“, assured the famous ‘streamer’ in an interview with ‘The World’ four years ago, although there are dozens of examples in their live performances and different interviews.

“From a legal point of view I have nothing to object to if you live and pay taxes there, but in terms of ethics and morals, this collaboration is totally indecent“, says the member of the RFEF, Miguel Ángel Galán. “It cannot be that you go to another country to pay less and then wear the shirt of Spain and the Royal Spanish Football Federation as a defender of both. It is incoherent that the Federation maintains this type of commercial relations when it boasts of values“, points out who denounced the president of the institution, Luis Rubiales, and Gerard Piqué, for a total of five alleged crimes derived from their efforts to sell the Spanish Super Cup to Saudi Arabia: corruption between individuals, corruption in business, unfair administration , administrative prevarication and bribery.

At the moment, the Court of First Instance and Instruction number 4 of Majadahonda opened preliminary proceedings last June to investigate whether Rubiales and Piqué were able to irregularly collect commissions for the celebration of the Super Cup in Saudi Arabia and if the federative leader made improper use of the institution’s funds.

The Royal Spanish Football Federation began collaborating last July with ‘TheGrefg’, when the famous character was one of the two visible faces at the presentation of the National Team’s first kit. Already by then the criticism flooded the social networks of the communicator, as well as of the Spanish National Team. The other was the also Spanish ‘streamer’, ‘DjMaRiiO’, whose real name is Mario Alonso Gallardo. The latter, however, is taxed in Spain and is one of the most recognizable figures in the soccer world. on Twitch and YouTube, while ‘TheGrefg’ has opted throughout his career for direct shows focused on games like ‘Fortnite’ or ‘Clash Royale’.

“It has a negative impact on the fiscal behavior of its followers”

This time, however, ‘DjMaRiiO’ has not participated in the announcement because he had spent months preparing another event: the first Spain against France for ‘youtubers’. Now the first, with 17 million subscribers on his YouTube channel and more than 10 million followers on Twitch, step on him unceremoniously. ‘DjMaRiiO’ has not wanted to publicly add fuel to the fire, although the news has made him feel very bad and he is disappointed, as this newspaper has learned. This has been decided by the RFEF in an election that has raised dust among the community to the point of raising the issue to ‘Trending Topic’.

“He pays the taxes in Andorra, but he represents Spain. Hypocrite“, “an Andorran captain of the Spanish soccer team. To pay taxes here no, but to get money yes, right?“”, “it’s unbelievable disgusting that the RFEF gives so much hype and help to a guy who doesn’t pay taxes in Spain” or “I feel an enormous shame” are some of the hundreds of comments that followed the announcement of the Andorran ‘youtuber’… and they are still kicking.

El Confidencial speaks with the general secretary of the Treasury Technicians Union, José María Mollinedo, about the impact that the RFEF agreement with ‘TheGrefg’ may have https://www.elconfidencial.com/deportes/2022-09 -22/rfef-rubiales-thegrefg-mundial-youtubers-djmariio_3493793/.”It is paradoxical that a citizen who resides outside our country is chosen and makes a show of going to Andorra so as not to pay taxes here. The Spanish Football Federation is a private associative entity of public utility and has a responsibility”, comments Mollinedo. “One of the many ‘streamers’ residing in Spain could have been chosen. This is not the best measure to make your followers aware and It is not a success from the tax point of view”, adds the Gestha representative.

Andorra, the version of the workers: “There they squeeze you and return you to your country”

Alfred Paschal

Along these lines, Mollinedo remarks that “although they are issues of tax awareness and we cannot blame the RFEF for this, any Spanish entity must ensure to avoid this type of behavior that negatively affects the tax behavior of citizens”. For his part, the member of the RFEF, Miguel Ángel Galán, stresses that “if I were president of the Spanish Football Federation, I would never let him wear the National Team shirt. You have the right to go to another country, but this is not the best image to represent Spain in a World Cup. Patriotism is not flags or t-shirts, but generating employment, paying Social Security and corporate tax.”

Something in which the general secretary of Treasury Technicians agrees: “He left for economic reasons, I do not enter into that. But his friends and family stayed here. The same ones who will have received a generally public training, will have gone to public health and whose elders receive a Social Security benefit or a retirement pension. Let everyone judge as they see that a young person with large incomes leaves Spain to avoid paying taxes while his relatives make use of the system “.

Getaway to ‘youtuber’ Andorra: 24 hours with internet idols who run away for money

William Cid. Andorra Photography: Fernando Galindo

Finally, Mollinedo underlines two key aspects that should be remembered: “Fundamentally, one of the great sources of income for these professionals are the followers of our country, not those who live in Andorra. ‘TheGrefg’ or any of those who are leaving choose Andorra and not France or Italy because it is a place with a softer tax regime than our environment. Andorra is not a tax haven by law, but it is in fact“. In addition, the taxation expert adds that “these people address a good part of the population that has been trained in public schools, that is in public universities and that even, on some occasions, have difficulties reaching the end of their month or receive the minimum vital income and… he brags about leaving to avoid paying taxes.”

“As you can see, I am not in my room or in my comfort zone. We are in Las Rozas, the sports city of the Royal Spanish Football Federation“. The camera turns on and appears ‘TheGrefg‘, one of the most followed ‘streamers’ in Spanish in the world, along with two footballers from Luis Enrique’s squad, Pedri and Marco Asensio. The direct is titled “The most important announcement of the year” and in it, the famous Spanish communicator makes public a piece of news that will revolutionize the Twitch and YouTube community and will infuriate a large number of soccer fans on Twitter: the creation of the first World Cup in football history among youtubers, with eight teams (Spain, France, Portugal, Germany, Mexico, England, Argentina and Brazil) and which will take place between November 19 and 20 at the Benito Villamarín in Seville.