Spain’s Women’s Team Demands Full Reorganization of National Federation

Shortly earlier than the roster was as a result of be introduced for the Spanish girls’s first worldwide soccer match since their World Cup victory, the Royal Spanish Football Federation postponed the occasion till additional discover.

It turned clear why 5 minutes later, when Spain’s star gamers made public an inventory of calls for for a top-to-bottom reorganization of the federation, Spain’s soccer governing physique.

The occasions got here the identical day as a restraining order was granted in opposition to Luis Rubiales, the previous head of the Royal Spanish Football Federation, the nation’s governing physique. Mr. Rubiales, who appeared in courtroom Friday on expenses of sexual assault in opposition to a star ahead, Jennifer Hermoso, whom he forcibly kissed after the group gained the World Cup in August, should keep 200 meters, or greater than 650 toes, away from the participant whereas the investigation continues.

“We believe that it is time to fight to show that there is no place for these situations and practices in our football or our society, and that the structure needs to be changed,” the gamers’ assertion stated.

The assertion, whose signatories embody 21 of the 23 members of Spain’s victorious World Cup squad, known as for adjustments “in the leadership positions of the Royal Spanish Football Federation.” According to the assertion, the gamers’ calls for are based mostly on “zero tolerance” towards members of the federation who’ve “had, incited, hidden or applauded attitudes against the dignity of women.”

The group had revealed an earlier checklist of calls for in August. In that assertion the gamers threatened to not play for Spain until their calls for have been met. It was unclear what would occur if the brand new calls for weren’t met.

The high-stakes standoff between Spain’s star gamers and the nationwide soccer federation comes because the tumult continues over that postgame kiss, which he stated was consensual and she or he stated was completely not. The kiss additionally precipitated widespread indignation and dropped at gentle claims of deeply rooted discrimination and sexism within the Spanish recreation.

Mr. Rubiales resigned on Sunday after weeks of agitation for him to take action. Jorge Vilda, the coach of the nationwide group, was fired final week. He had been accused final yr of controlling and sexist habits by group members. Mr. Vilda has been changed by Montse Tomé, a participant and coach and the primary lady to carry the highest job in Spain. She is about to make her teaching debut subsequent week in Sweden.

Over the previous few weeks, complaints of sexual assault and coercion have been filed in opposition to Mr. Rubiales by Ms. Hermoso, accusations have emerged of chauvinistic remedy by employees towards gamers and a strike has been staged by league gamers over low pay.

The federation has taken measures to pacify its star gamers, who overtly demanded adjustments in administration in a press release revealed by their union on Aug. 25, simply days after their World Cup victory in opposition to England at a recreation performed in Sydney, Australia.

Though Mr. Rubiales resigned, he stays defiant. In his courtroom look on Friday, he denied any wrongdoing, based on a press release from public prosecutors.

Since the World Cup win, girls’s league gamers have additionally gained floor and known as off their strike. On Thursday morning, after days of “tough” talks, based on league boss Beatriz Álvarez, an settlement was reached with gamers to boost minimal pay to 21,000 euros, or about $22,400, from 16,000 euros.

Despite the elevate, feminine gamers will nonetheless make far lower than male gamers in Spain’s prime division. According to A.F.E., the primary soccer union in Spain, the minimal wage for first-division male gamers is 180,000 euros, or $192,000.

The nationwide group stated it was not persuaded sufficient had modified, saying the federation nonetheless had work to do.

Their assertion refers back to the kiss and the standing ovation given to Mr. Rubiales by members of the federation when he refused to resign, and says that members of the group have attended a number of conferences with the soccer affiliation, expressing “very clearly” the adjustments the gamers imagine are essential “in order to advance and become a structure that does not tolerate or form part of such degrading acts.”

On Friday evening, the soccer federation posted a press release on its web site, apparently in response to the calls for revealed earlier by the ladies’s group, and reinforcing “its commitment to the world champions, for whom it feels enormous pride.”

Describing the current flip of occasions as “a particularly atypical scenario,” the interim president, Pedro Rocha, says, “a lot is at stake,” and, “to guarantee the future of Spanish football, it is essential to undertake transformations progressively and recover the dignity and credibility lost after the events of the World Cup.”

Both the gamers and the federation have rather a lot to lose.

If the Spanish group doesn’t present up for the primary match of the UEFA Nations League in Sweden subsequent week, all hopes of competing within the Olympic Games in Paris in 2024 might be dashed.

The sports activities commentator Guillem Balagué defined that Spain will blow its probability of an Olympic ticket if the gamers boycott the match. Only “the two finalists of the Nations League will, together with the French squad, be in Paris 2024,” Mr. Balagué stated.