The previous national coach has been dismissed, a successor has been appointed – but even two and a half weeks after winning the world title, Spain’s women’s football still has no rest. The day after the appointment of Montse Tomé, 41, anonymous voices from the world champion team haunted Spain’s sports media on Wednesday, which gave a mixed echo of the active players. On the one hand, the dismissal of the long-controversial Jorge Vilda was appreciated. On the other hand, the successor solution is met with skepticism. While Tomé has a career as a professional player and youth coach, she has no experience as a head coach at the highest level. In addition, Tomé was Vilda’s right-hand man as an assistant – including the World Cup victory, which was overshadowed by the famous “kiss affair” surrounding the currently suspended federation boss Luis Rubiales.
Vilda herself was given a warm farewell by the association. His “impeccable” behavior was praised in a communiqué. The famous rebellion of the 15 national players from 2022 was not mentioned at all. Vilda herself spoke on Wednesday night on the radio station Cadena SER. “I don’t think my dismissal is fair. I didn’t expect it,” he said. He fought for the development of women’s football for 17 years, and he’s proud of that.
In the eyes of the Spanish public, Vilda had become intolerable after winning the World Cup as national coach – at the latest after the extraordinary general assembly of the association, at which Rubiales had justified himself days after the scandal on the final day and had counterattacked the feminists. Rubiales explained, among other things, that his infamous kiss on the mouth of world champion Jenni Hermoso was “consensual”. Hermoso denies this. Rubiales also stated that “fake feminism” is a scourge of Spain. And Vilda publicly offered a contract extension by four years – with salaries that should be increased to 500,000 euros a year and thus almost tripled. Vilda has now agreed with the association to terminate his contract, which runs until 2024.
80 players want to stay away from Spain’s national team until the fundamental renewal of the association
As a result, Vilda came under severe criticism – among other things, because he had applauded standing at the end of Rubiales’ speech. “When you have 150 people applauding around you, it’s very difficult to be the only one who doesn’t,” Vilda explained. But he didn’t want to applaud any macho behavior. Vilda also denied pressuring Hermoso to appear in Rubiales’ ‘apology video’ on the winning team’s flight back from Australia. “That is her truth,” said Vilda. An anonymous Barcelona player accused Vilda of hypocrisy in El País newspaper on Wednesday. He thinks the same way as Rubiales and only distanced himself from Rubiales the day after the association’s general assembly because he “wanted to secure his job”. Unsuccessful. The post is now in the hands of a woman for the first time in Spanish history.
The near future of the Spanish national team remained unclear on Wednesday. Around 80 players – including the 23 world champions – have stated in writing that they want to stay away from the team until the association has completely renewed itself. Time is running out. There is a Nations League game against Sweden on September 22nd, which also involves qualifying for the Olympic Games.
Irrespective of this, the start of the new season in the world champion country is in question due to a wage conflict. The professional representation retrospectively demands a minimum salary of 20,000 euros per season for the past season, it should increase to 25,000 euros this season and to 30,000 euros in the following year. There are also maternity issues. The League Association – the employers’ side – has announced an increase in the minimum wage to 18,000 euros a year, which should increase to 25,000 within three years. Another round of negotiations was scheduled for Wednesday evening – against the background of a strike threat by the soccer players. An agreement was considered unlikely.
