A simmering conflict between Spain’s women’s national team’s players, head coach Jorge Vilda, and the Spanish Football Federation has definitively come to a head.
A report on Spanish radio show El Larguero said on Thursday that 15 players had contacted the federation (RFEF) to announce that they would not be interested in playing for the national team as long as Vilda stays on as head coach.
The RFEF released a statement in response, announcing that 15 players had in fact emailed them to demand Vilda’s dismissal as a prerequisite for their continued participation with the national team.
In a remarkable statement, the RFEF said it had “received 15 emails from 15 players of the women’s senior football team, coincidentally all with the same wording, in which they state that the current situation has ‘significantly’ affected their ’emotional state’ and their ‘health’ and that, ‘as long as it is not reversed,’ they will resign from the Spanish national team.”
Multiple Spanish reports say that the list of players that are known to have emailed the RFEF includes Laia Alexandri, Ona Batlle, Aitana Bonmatí, Mariona Caldentey, Lola Gallardo, Lucia García, Patri Guijarro, Nerea Izaguirre, Mapi León, Leila Ouahabi, Sandra Paños, Andrea Pereira, Claudia Pina, Amaiur Sarriegui, and Ainhoa Vicente.
The list includes 12 players (including six starters) from Spain’s 2-1 quarterfinal defeat against England at Euro 2022.
Spain’s players had in recent weeks reportedly taken their issues to RFEF president Luis Rubiales, and had also confronted Vilda directly, with the longtime national team coach insisting that he remain in charge.
RFEF lashes out at players
The RFEF’s statement made it clear that the federation is not prepared to consider the group’s position.
“The RFEF is not going to allow the players to question the continuity of the national coach and his coaching staff, since making those decisions does not fall within their powers,” read the statement. “The Federation will not admit any type of pressure from any player when adopting sports measures. These types of maneuvers are far from exemplary and outside the values of football and sport and are harmful.”
The RFEF went on threaten that any refusal of a call-up can be punished with a ban of between two and five years, before saying it will not call any player who “does not want to wear the Spain shirt.” The RFEF statement later added that the players that demanded Vilda’s ouster will only be recalled “if they accept their mistake and ask for forgiveness.”
The RFEF also declared the demand “an unprecedented situation in the history of football, both male and female, in Spain and worldwide,” a claim that seems completely indefensible given the number of player mutinies on national teams over the history of national teams playing soccer against each other. Spain in fact shares a border with France, whose men’s team refused to train during the 2010 World Cup as part of a revolt against coach Raymond Domenech.
Spain’s federation has long had issues on the women’s side of its program. Vilda’s predecessor, Ignacio Quereda, was the senior team’s head coach for a whopping 27 years from 1988 to 2015, and in 2021 allegations emerged that his time in charge had included extensive abuse, homophobia, and a general culture of fear.
The current situation is playing out with two high-profile friendlies coming up in the October FIFA window. Spain is due to host Sweden on October 7, and then the U.S. women’s national team on October 11 in Pamplona.
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