Jorge Vilda has led his team to World Cup glory after victory over England in the final - but the behaviour of RFEF President Luis Rubiales has overshadowed the teams' achievements
Captain Olga Carmona struck in the final last Sunday as La Roja defeated England 1-0 to claim a memorable first major trophy. But the teams' celebrations were marred by the latest incident in an ongoing civil war between the players and the Spanish FA - the Royal Spanish Football Federation .
But on Wednesday Spain's record goalscorer demanded - via the FUTPRO union - that Rubiales “did not go unpunished” for the kiss. Rubiales still attracted widespread criticism for the incident with further imagery of the 46-year-old kissing Carmona after full-time later surfacing. FIFA announced they had placed him under investigation and that he would be subject to disciplinary hearings.
Reaction has been swift. Spain's World Cup-winning team have said they will not play any matches for the country until Rubiales has been removed from his job. "The RFEF and the President, given the seriousness of the content of the press release from the Futpro union, will initiate the corresponding legal actions."
At that point, a golden generation of Spanish talent looked to have been destroyed. For record, the 15 individuals were: Aitana Bonmati, Mariona Caldentey, Ona Batlle, Patri Guijarro, Mapi Leon, Sandra Panos, Claudia Pina, Lola Gallardo, Ainhoa Moraza, Nerea Eizagirre, Amaiur Sarriegi, Lucia Garcia, Leila Ouahabi, Laia Aleixandri and Andrea Pereira.
But Ana Alvarez, head of women's soccer at the federation, said players could only return to the setup if they apologised, adding that "the federation comes first". And, despite the chaos, the team found form going into the World Cup, winning 11 from 13 games. Throughout the World Cup, Rubiales continued to back Vilda at every opportunity. After the semi-final win over Sweden, he said: “What we have endured is a lot. The questions have been asked of Jorge Vilda, who is a hard-working man, a world-class coach, who has turned down other federations that have offered more money and stayed with Spain.
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