Spain dismisses Jorge Vilda from the women’s national team – 05/09/2023 – Sport

The RFEF (Royal Spanish Football Federation) published two communiqués this Tuesday (5). In one, he apologized for the “unacceptable” behavior of his ousted president, Luis Rubiales, who forced a kiss on a female player. In the other, he announced the resignation of the team’s coach, Jorge Vilda.

The measures were disclosed by the interim president of the association, Pedro Rocha. He assumed the presidency of the organization after Rubiales was removed for 90 days, determined by Fifa (International Football Federation), precisely because of the episode in the final of the women’s World Cup.

After the decision was over, with a 1-0 victory for Spain over England, Rubiales held midfielder Jenni Hermoso’s head and kissed her on the mouth. The leader said that the gesture was “consensual”, but the player’s version was different, and, even with the world title, a crisis was installed in the federation.

The letter signed by Pedro Rocha says that the RFEF “considers it essential to ask the most sincere apologies to world football as a whole, to football institutions, to football players, especially to national team players for the totally unacceptable behavior of its highest institutional representative during the final”.

According to the interim president of the federation, “the damage caused to Spanish football, Spanish sport, Spanish society and the set of values ​​of football and sport was enormous”. He further pointed out that “Mr. Rubiales’ actions do not represent the values ​​defended by the Spanish Federation, nor the values ​​of Spanish society as a whole”.

In the second statement of the day, the RFEF warned, “in one of the first renewal measures announced by President Pedro Rocha, who decided to dispense with the services of Jorge Vilda as sports director and women’s national coach”. The text, unlike the previous one, praises the coach’s work.

But Vilda, 42,’s relationship with the national team players was quite complicated. After last year’s Eurocup elimination, 15 of them signed a manifesto against the coach’s methods and the structure offered by the Royal Spanish Federation. Others did not sign the paper, but said they supported what it said. And the federation, then chaired by Luis Rubiales, put its foot down.

Only three of the protest signatories returned to the team, and the atmosphere of tension was constant. The players did not celebrate with the coach their many goals scored at the World Cup, held in Australia and New Zealand. Not even the cup mitigated these issues, and the new command of the federation decided to make changes.