Spanish women’s football coach insists he never considered quitting

Faced with mounting pressure, Spain’s national women’s football coach, Jorge Vilda, went on the offensive after dismissing all the players who opposed him when his latest international selection was announced, saying ” that they threw the stone and hid their hand.”

The previous week, the sport’s governing body in Spain, the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), released A declaration in which they claim “to have received 15 emails from 15 players of the senior women’s football team, coincidentally all with the same wording, in which they state that the current situation generated “significantly” affects their “emotional state » and their “health”. and that, “until this is reversed”, they resign from the Spanish national team.

The current situation they are referring to would be the management of women’s football under the RFEF and the tenure of Vilda, who has coached the senior national team since 2015, having previously coached Spain at the U17 and U19 levels. The fifteen players were revealed to be Lola Gallardo, Sandra Paños, Laia Aleixandri, Ona Batlle, Leila Ouahabi, Mapi León, Andrea Pereria, Ainhoa ​​Vicente, Aitana Bonmatí, Patri Guijarro, Nerea Eizagirre, Lucía García, Amaiur Sarriegui, Mariona Caldentey and Claudia. Pina.

Captain Irène Paredes and Ballon D’Or winner Alexia Putellas didn’t send the message but would agree with these sentiments, as would 2021’s top scorer, Jenni Hermoso who was replaced in Vilda’s squad for the UEFA Women’s Euro 2022 after suffering an injury before the tournament from which she claims to have recovered, stating “I don’t know if everything has been tried so that I ‘be there’.

Why the players are so unhappy has not been publicly stated, but Spain’s main newspaper reports: Sports Worldsuggests that they are unhappy with Vilda’s dictatorial style and the excessive surveillance they are subjected to during training camps, methods which are also said to have been used with national teams in younger age groups.

The next day, the players reacted by regretting that their private communication had been made public by the RFEF and constituted a response to a request from the federation. They refuted the claim that they had resigned from the national team, insisting that they seek “a firm commitment to a professional project in which all aspects are taken into account to obtain the best performance from a group of players with whom we believe that more and better objectives can be achieved.

They then clarified that they “never requested the dismissal of the coach… but that they expressed in a constructive and honest manner what we consider could improve the performance of the group”, concluding that they “will not tolerate the infantilizing tone” of the RFEF Declaration.

While a World Cup final will be played next summer, Spanish players believe that by taking a stand, they risk harming their professional and economic future. Although described as “rebels” and accused of blackmailing their federation by part of the Madrid press, they received support from other players from around the world, notably American captain Becky Sauerbruun and Megan Rapinoe.

However, ahead of highly anticipated home matches against Sweden and the USA this month, Vilda has named just ten of the players he has selected for September’s FIFA Women’s World Cup qualifiers. , plus six who have never represented the national team before, but none of the players mentioned above. players who previously formed the backbone of his team.

Speaking at a press conference yesterday, he said “the lack of clarity in the players’ message led people to believe there were non-sporting issues here. I would ask all players that I trained if anyone can say they didn’t have any problems.” I wasn’t treated well, to put it mildly.”

In response to criticism of her training methods, Vilda said “they have been the same for six years and ten months” and have attracted interest from the United States, Japan and Mexico. He expressed his “disappointment” with the fifteen players who wrote to the RFEF, saying “each time they arrived in the national team, it was with a smile on their lips” and insisting that he ” is open to dialogue with players.

Undefeated for two years heading into this summer’s UEFA Women’s Euro final, Spain entered the tournament as one of the favorites to win the trophy. After stuttering through the group stage in which they lost their long unbeaten run in a defeat to Germany, Spain led their quarter-final against England for most of the second half, before losing in overtime. England won the tournament, but Lucy Bronze admitted yesterday that the Spain match was “the only game where we were dominated”.

Vilda admitted to feeling “responsible for the mistakes that the team could have made, but in no way guilty”, pointing out that when he took office in 2015, Spain was ranked nineteenth in the world and that it “now rubbed shoulders with the greatest”. . He reiterated that “at no time did I consider resigning.”

“I don’t wish what I’m going through these days on anyone. You can’t throw stones and hide your hand. Wearing the Spain jersey is the greatest pride that can be. It’s a privilege and it’s will always be the case. It’s a farce on the world stage. It’s detrimental to women’s football. I see no other way than to look at this team and look to the future.