Sources close to the probe reportedly said Rubiales disembarked from the plane under a police escort before being questioned inside the airport.
Former Spanish football chief, Luis Rubiales, was on Wednesday arrested by the police in connection with an alleged corruption scandal at the Royal Spanish Football Federation (Real Federación Española de Fútbol; RFEF) when he was the president.
AFP reports that a Guardia Civil police spokesman said the 46-year-old former RFEF President was detained at Madrid's Barajas airport shortly after flying in from the Dominican Republic but was however released shortly afterwards.
Sources close to the probe reportedly said Rubiales disembarked from the plane under a police escort before being questioned inside the airport.
Rubiales’ arrest came two weeks after investigators searched 11 locations, including the RFEF's Madrid headquarters and Rubiales' house in the Southern city of Granada, as part of a probe into alleged corruption and other crimes.
Judicial sources said that the March 20 raids were part of an “investigation linked to presumed crimes linked with corruption in business, fraudulent administration and money laundering".
According to Spanish media reports, investigators were looking into RFEF contracts signed since 2018, including one signed by Rubiales to take the Spanish Super Cup to Saudi Arabia.
The Super Cup contracts are worth 40 million euros a year ($43.3 million) with the deal brokered by Kosmos, a company owned by former Barcelona and Spain defender Gerard Pique.
Cadena Ser radio reports that Guardia Civil police flew to the Dominican Republic and on Monday searched the premises where Rubiales has been staying, seizing a laptop and a mobile phone following an order by the investigating judge.
The Guardia Civil refused to comment on the report when AFP sought comments.
But it was reported that a day after the March 20 raids, the RFEF sacked its legal director Pedro Gonzalez Segura, head of human resources Jose Javier Jimenez and terminated its contract with GC Legal, the law firm of the federation's external legal adviser Tomas Gonzalez Cueto.
All three had been arrested by police during the raids.
Rubiales was forced to step down as RFEF president in September 2023 after forcibly kissing Women's World Cup star Jenni Hermoso following Spain's victory in the Sydney final in August 2023.
The move sparked global outrage, with Rubiales set to be tried for the non-consensual kiss which under Spanish law can be classed as sexual assault.
AFP also reports that prosecutors in 2022 opened an investigation into the Super Cup deal after audio recordings between Rubiales and Pique were leaked in which they spoke of huge commissions.
But Rubiales has always defended the legality of the deal to take the Super Cup to the oil-rich Gulf state, and in April 2022 in a short preview posted online of an interview with private Spanish television channel La Sexta recorded before his arrest which will be broadcast late on Wednesday, he denied any wrongdoing.
Rubiales was quoted as saying, "The money in my bank accounts is the result of my work and my savings."