Spain’s soccer world champions are taking to the barricades against the national association RFEF and its controversial president Luis Rubiales: The 23 players who won the World Cup final in Sydney last Sunday no longer want to play for their country under the current leadership of the association.
“Following everything that happened at the Women’s World Cup medal ceremony, all players who have signed this text will not honor a next call-up if the current lead is maintained,” the world champions wrote in a statement released Friday The letter was circulated by the players’ union Futpro and they unanimously supported Jennifer Hermoso.A total of 81 current and former Spanish players signed the letter.
The offensive player Hermoso also vigorously contradicted the association’s statement on Friday that the kiss with Rubiales at the award ceremony was consensual. The RFEF had spread this a few hours after the final – and quoted the 33-year-old verbosely.
“Not agreed at any time”
On Friday, her quotes read completely differently. “I want to be very clear that at no point did I agree to the kiss he[Rubiales; ed.]gave me, nor did I try to approach the President,” Hermoso explained via Futpro: “I will not allow my word to be questioned, much less invent something I did not say.”
Rubiales apologized the day after the final, but declined to take any further action. At an extraordinary general meeting of the RFEF on Friday, the 46-year-old refused to step down from the presidency despite global outrage. At the crisis meeting in Madrid, he presented himself as a victim of a “hunt” and vehemently refused to resign.
Speech at the General Assembly of the Spanish Football Federation: Luis Rubiales : Photo: AFP
Then there was sharp criticism and outrage, the world association FIFA initiated disciplinary proceedings. Spanish politicians and football representatives reacted with sharp criticism. “Mr Rubiales still does not know where he is or what he has been doing. He’s not up to date. He must resign immediately and spare us further embarrassment,” Acting Deputy Prime Minister Yolanda Díaz wrote on the platform formerly known as Twitter.
Sports authority wants to apply for suspension
The highest Spanish sports authority CSD announced that it would apply to the Tad Sports Court for the suspension of the football association boss. The authority will initiate this on Friday, said CSD boss Víctor Francos at a press conference in Tarragona in northeastern Spain. “Today we will file a complaint with the Tad so that they can assess whether there has been serious misconduct,” Francos said. He asked the Sports Court to meet on Monday.
The incumbent Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez had described Rubiales’ behavior as “unacceptable” days ago, but at the same time admitted that the government had no direct influence on the RFEF. Whether Rubiales should remain president of the Spanish Football Association is not up to him, stressed Sánchez. The association is not controlled by the government.
The head of the league, Javier Tebas, was particularly harsh on Rubiales. “Insults, boasting, blackmail, threats, espionage and persecution, fraudulent use of association organs, we suffer from many things and have denounced many things. The list of women and men harmed by Luis Rubiales over these years is too long and this has to stop,” Tebas wrote on X. “It is impossible to attribute his misogynist and despicable behavior to an absurd conspiracy when the reputational damage for is already inevitable in all of Spanish football,” added Tebas.
Players’ union Fifpro also called for “immediate disciplinary action” against Rubiales and welcomed FIFA’s disciplinary process. In addition, the players’ union wrote to the European Football Union to investigate the UEFA vice-president.
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Meanwhile, Borja Iglesias no longer wants to play for the national team in protest against Rubiales as head of the Spanish football association. “As a player and as a person, I don’t feel represented by what happened,” the Real Betis striker wrote on Network X on Friday not go unpunished”. The two-time international added that he was acting “for a fairer, more humane and more decent football”.
