MADRID (AP) — Rayo Vallecano coach Iñigo Pérez is stepping down, two days after the modest Spanish club lost the Conference League final.
Pérez led Rayo, a small neighborhood-based club from Madrid, to its first major final where it fell 1-0 to Crystal Palace.
Rayo president Martín Presa confirmed Friday in a press conference that Pérez was not going to sign a new contract, with his current deal set to expire.
The 38-year-old former player was an assistant under former Rayo coach Andoni Iraola, who left in 2023 to take over Bournemouth. Pérez became its head coach in January 2024 and quickly impressed with his composed demeanor and the pressing style he instilled in his team.
In 2024-25, Pérez led Rayo to an eighth-place finish in La Liga, which was good enough for its first European berth in two decades.
Pérez has not said where his next job will be. He has been linked with a move to Villarreal, which will play in the Champions League next season.
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Rayo's head coach Inigo Perez watches from the side line during the Europa Conference League final soccer match between Crystal Palace and Rayo Vallecano in Leipzig, Germany, Wednesday, May 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Rayo's head coach Inigo Perez, center, and his players react after the Europa Conference League final soccer match between Crystal Palace and Rayo Vallecano in Leipzig, Germany, Wednesday, May 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
Rayo's head coach Inigo Perez passes the trophy of the Europa Conference League after the final soccer match between Crystal Palace and Rayo Vallecano in Leipzig, Germany, Wednesday, May 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Kenyan police arrested eight female students on suspicion of arson, authorities said Friday, after a fire destroyed a dormitory at a boarding school, killing 16 children and injuring dozens of others. The motive remains under investigation.
The girls were arrested for planning and carrying out a suspected arson attack at Utumishi Girls School in central Kenya, according to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, or DCI, a department of the national police.
In addition to the deaths, the blaze on Thursday morning left 79 others injured. Police spent the whole day Thursday questioning 30 students at the school and asked their parents to head home without the girls and come back on Friday morning.
“Investigators have conducted extensive interviews with students, teaching staff and other witnesses, while forensic teams carry out a detailed review of available CCTV footage,” DCI spokesperson John Marete said in a statement.
Education Minister Julius Ogamba said Friday the school's board of management had been dissolved and the principal would face disciplinary action for failing to comply with the safety manual.
“In particular, there was congestion in the dormitory and one exit door was locked, contrary to the prescribed safety requirements,” he said.
Two teachers who were aware of planned unrest that may have led to the suspected arson will also face disciplinary action.
On Friday morning, parents remained in limbo at the school with no clear information on when the rest of the students would be released.
“We have not even been told about the eight that police have arrested,” a parent, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of fear that her daughter could be victimized, told The Associated Press. “We are just here and no one is giving us any information,”
At the Naivasha hospital morgue, 28 kilometers (8 miles) from the school, anxious parents waited for DNA tests to identify their children.
A distraught father, John Muiruri, said they were being given conflicting information about the location of the bodies.
“They have just been doing some sideshows, trying to prevent us from knowing the truth but the reality we have come to know is that we have lost our children. We have come to terms with reality. What we want to know is where are the remains of our daughters,” he said.
The motive of the arson attack wasn’t yet known.
“Detectives continue to record statements and analyze all available evidence to reconstruct the sequence of events, establish the full circumstances of the incident and determine the motive,” Marete said in a statement.
The bodies of the 16 students were taken to a government hospital morgue on Thursday, and were undergoing DNA testing to ascertain their identities.
Fires at schools have long been a cause of concern for education officials in East Africa, where classrooms and dormitories are often crowded, and there’s usually no firefighting equipment in place. The fires are sometimes attributed to electrical faults but are also sometimes caused by students burning down schools because of disciplinary issues.
——-
Associated Press journalist Zelipha Kirobi contributed from Gilgil, Kenya.
An injured student is evacuated following an early morning fire outbreak at Utumishi Girls School in the Gilgil area, central Kenya, Thursday, May 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Kasuku)
Red Cross members recover the bodies of students who died in the fire at the Utumishi Girls School in the Gilgil area, central Kenya, Thursday, May 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Kasuku)
