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Second-tier Spanish side Malaga suspended coach Victor Sanchez del Amo on Tuesday after a sexually explicit video of him appeared on social media.
The 43-year-old ex-Spain midfielder said on his Twitter feed that he had been the victim of harassment and blackmail and the matter was being dealt with by police.
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He added that sharing or disseminating such content without the individual’s consent was a crime.
— Víctor SánchezDelAmo (@Victor_SDA) January 7, 2020
“I want to say that I’m being subjected to a crime against my privacy, with harassment and extortion,” Del Amo said.
“The matter is in the hands of the police and I’m obliged to follow their instructions. In any case I want to say that sharing or publishing any person’s intimate content without their consent is also a crime, whether it be via social media or any other means, under article 197 of the Penal Code, with penalties for those who share personal content without the consent of the person affected.
“Thank you for your understanding and support.”
The club said in a statement: “In relation to the events that have recently been discovered, and which have not as yet been verified, Malaga CF immediately suspends coach Victor Sanchez del Amo from his duties until a full investigation is carried out.
“We will disclose further information once the facts have been clarified.”
Malaga are 16th in the second division table after 22 matches, a point above the relegation zone. The club also have major financial issues which have threatened to see them go out of business.
Coach Del Amo has been in open conflict with the club’s owner Sheikh Al-Thani, while sporting director Jose Luis Caminero was sacked earlier this season.
“We have been deceived from the beginning” Del Amo said in a news conference last Saturday, referring to Malaga’s off-the-field planning.
Malaga have been unable to field a full match day squad at times due to financial constraints, with just five players on the bench for a league game in October.
They announced the signing of forward Shinji Okazaki last summer but were forced to let him go without playing a single game, as he could not be registered without breaching Malaga’s La Liga-imposed salary cap.
Meanwhile, Spanish Football Federation president Luis Rubiales has come out in support of Del Amo. He said: “A great professional like Victor Sanchez del Amo has all of my support. Intimacy is an inviolable right. To use illicit means to break it is immoral and criminal. That a third party takes advantage of it has no name. Moreover, to broadcast it is a crime.”
Information from Reuters was used in this report.