Spain federation turns over new leaf by calling in players against their will

Spain’s players began arriving to camp on Tuesday amid legal threats

It appears everything isn’t quite fixed between the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) and its World Cup-winning women’s national team.

Spain’s players have been on strike for nearly a month, calling for structural changes at the RFEF. Even after the much-maligned duo of federation president Luis Rubiales and national team head coach Jorge Vilda were forced out, the national team said last week that their strike would continue.

So when new head coach Montse Tomé called in a 23-player squad on Monday that included 20 of the striking players, there were questions over whether there had been some kind of thaw in relations between the players and the federation.

It didn’t take long to get the answer: nope.

In statements posted to social media on Monday, Spain’s players lamented the RFEF putting them in a situation “we never would have wanted,” adding that they would “study the possible legal consequences to which RFEF has exposed us by putting us on a list which we had asked not to be called up to, due to reasons which were already explained publicly and in more detail to the RFEF.”

Jenni Hermoso, who was not called up after being at the center of a firestorm surrounding an unwanted kiss from Rubiales, said in a statement that Spain’s players were all “certain that this is yet another strategy of division and manipulation to intimidate and threaten us with legal repercussions and economic sanctions.”

At issue is a law in Spain that requires athletes to accept a call to their country’s national team unless there is a circumstance that would preclude it, such as an injury.

Faced with possible legal repercussions, Spain’s players have begrudgingly started reporting to camp ahead of Nations League matches against Sweden and Switzerland on September 22 and 26.

They have made it clear that they are coming into the national team against their will.

Victor Francos, the president of the supreme council for sports in the country [CSD], has said he will act as a mediator between the players and the RFEF in an attempt to broker a solution.

“I hope that the call-up was agreed to with [the players],” Francos told Cadena SER on Monday. “If they don’t show up, the government will do what it has to do, which is apply the law, which is unfortunate for me, I assure you, and it hurts me. I would never want to do what I would have to do in that moment.

“But the law is the law, the Law of Sport says what it says. International laws for national teams say what they say, but I still trust that there could be a path to a solution.”

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