Coach of Spain’s Women’s Soccer Team Is Fired

The coach of the Spanish nationwide soccer workforce that received the Women’s World Cup trophy final month was ousted on Tuesday by the nation’s soccer federation, after months of complaints from gamers who accused him of outdated strategies and controlling conduct.

The firing of the coach, Jorge Vilda, comes because the destiny of one among his most ardent supporters, Spain’s soccer federation chief, Luis Rubiales, hangs within the stability. Mr. Rubiales forcibly kissed a member of the nationwide workforce at a medals ceremony in Australia, setting off a nationwide controversy in Spain and highlighting sexism within the sport.

The federation mentioned in a press release that as one of many “first measures of renewal” introduced by the interim president, Pedro Rocha, it had determined “to do without the services” of Mr. Vilda as sporting director and nationwide ladies’s coach, a task which he accepted in 2015.

The federation additionally thanked Mr. Vilda for his work with the nationwide workforce and the success throughout his tenure, topped by the World Cup victory. It mentioned it was highlighting “his impeccable personal and sporting behavior,” which “was a key piece in the notable growth of Spanish women’s football.”

The federation has known as on Mr. Rubiales to resign, and Spanish prosecutors have opened an investigation into whether or not he could possibly be charged with committing an act of sexual aggression. Players have mentioned they might not take the sphere for the nationwide workforce until modifications had been made on a managerial degree. And FIFA, soccer’s governing physique, has suspended him for 90 days.

Mr. Vilda, who was employed in 2015 after one among his predecessors was ousted amid accusations of sexism, had lengthy been the topic of complaints from gamers concerning unequal pay and what they known as his controlling conduct, in addition to a basic tradition of sexism. Last yr, 15 star Spanish gamers staged a protest, refusing to play on the nationwide workforce until Mr. Vilda was fired.

That revolt drew a stern rebuke from the Spanish soccer federation, which backed Mr. Vilda. Not solely would it not not hearth him, the federation mentioned, however the gamers should apologize for his or her actions earlier than they might be allowed again on the workforce. The standoff ended with a lot of the mutinous gamers returning to the sphere.

Mr. Rubiales backed Mr. Vilda on the time. In an interview with the Spanish newspaper El País in October 2022, Mr. Rubiales related the success of the ladies’s workforce to Mr. Vilda’s teaching abilities and dismissed the accusations of sick remedy. In a speech final month, he doubled down in his help for the coach, vowing to extend his wage to 500,000 euros ($543,000) after the World Cup win, Spain’s first within the ladies’s match.

Mr. Rubiales has been on the heart of a maelstrom over sexism in Spanish ladies’s soccer since he grabbed and kissed Jennifer Hermoso, a member of the nationwide workforce, through the medals ceremony after Spain beat England, 1-0, within the closing in Sydney, Australia.

After the compelled kiss, gamers once more issued an ultimatum. The complete ladies’s workforce and dozens of different gamers signed a press release saying they might not play for Spain “if the current managers continue.” Alexia Putellas, who’s well known as probably the greatest gamers on this planet, coined the hashtag #seacabo, or “it’s over.” Some individuals protested within the streets of Spain. On Monday night, the Spanish males’s workforce captain, Álvaro Morata, flanked by his teammates issued a joint assertion rejecting “the unacceptable behavior of Mr. Rubiales.”

Some commentators have described the episode as a watershed second in Spain’s #MeToo motion, highlighting a divide between the nation’s traditions of machismo and more moderen progressivism that has put Spain within the European vanguard on problems with feminism and equality.

Mr. Rubiales has denied doing something flawed, arguing that he has been a sufferer of “social assassination” and even suggesting that Ms. Hermoso had initiated the encounter, which she has strenuously denied. His mom went on a three-day starvation strike in a church in his hometown, Motril, in southern Spain, demanding that Ms. Hermoso “tell the truth.”

Ms. Hermoso, for her half, has mentioned that “at no time did I consent to the kiss that he gave me.”

As the scandal mushroomed, the federation, generally known as the Royal Spanish Football Federation, known as an emergency assembly. Mr. Vilda was one of many many males within the room who gave Mr. Rubiales a standing ovation.

Later, nevertheless, Mr. Vilda tried to distance himself from Mr. Rubiales, saying that he regretted his boss’s “inappropriate conduct.” The Spanish males’s coach, Luis de la Fuente, additionally apologized for applauding. But the harm was executed.

The firing of Mr. Vilda comes on the identical day because the Spanish authorities printed the awarding of a Gold Medal for Sporting Merit of the Royal Order to your entire ladies’s workforce, together with Mr. Vilda.

But with a match towards Sweden set for Sept. 22, and with none of Spain’s star gamers apparently keen to compete, the soccer federation lower Mr. Vilda free.