Calm, at least provisionally, has settled in the concentration of the Spanish national team in Seville, where they are preparing for the next Nations League game against Switzerland, tomorrow, Tuesday. The players recognize the Federation’s progress and the future seems clearer every day. This was recognized by Alexia Putellas, two-time Ballon d’Or winner, who assured that “steps forward have been made in the Federation”, and admitted that she is “more calm” because she believes “the foundations have been established” to “find solutions”.
The Barça footballer gave several examples of how the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) did not treat them as elite athletes for a long time. “They made us travel 6 or 7 hours by bus when the rival traveled comfortably by plane. We had to get up at 3 in the morning to catch a plane and these schedules are not for athletes. We need structural changes, because women’s football has not been on the list of priorities”, he explained. The players are asking for improvements, but they are clear that “those who don’t want to understand it don’t want it”.
Putellas did not hide when explaining once again the position of the players after the non-consensual kiss of Rubiales to Jenni Hermoso. “I think everything is clear. Zero tolerance for what everyone saw. And zero tolerance towards what hasn’t been seen and what can’t be talked about and it happened”. In addition, regarding the return of the 15 to the national team, he clarified that they are “the first ones we want to be there, but we wanted zero tolerance to be at the front”, he assured. And the Federation fired back: “We think the system failed. The Federation failed and the country failed”. The players’ complaint focused “on a type of attitude and behavior that cannot be accepted in any work environment. And they listened to us.” The meeting was “a turning point. We are better”, he certified.
About the situation in which Jenni Hermoso finds herself, Alexia, a close friend of the striker, said that she could “imagine what Jenni has suffered. But what was in our hands was to support our colleague and report these situations. We couldn’t leave her alone, we had to get strength from wherever she was. I was in a complicated situation and as the days went by it got even bigger. We had to empathize with her and we needed the strength and energy to prevent this from happening again. We would have done the same with any colleague”, he pointed out.
Finally, he clarified that “the departure of – Jorge – Vilda”, the coach with whom they were world champions, “has been decided by the Federation”, so that “it was not a question” that the group of players ” transmitted whether it was valid or not”. “I don’t know why they throw Jorge out. Many things are said on the street and in the media. We convey the feeling of the players, to him first. Everything was transferred to the Federation with what happened, from there they make decisions”, he concluded.
Irene Paredes, who is once again captain of the national team, explained with some discomfort what it was like to return to a call: “We didn’t want to come, it’s true. Then we came and had several meetings. We let Montse know. There was some misunderstanding”, he remarked. And she was clear when she explained that “we cannot give all the details and point out people because there is an open judicial process, but we cannot tolerate what happened. We want it to serve as a positive precedent. We have been treated like children and we are all adults”, he criticized.
Athenea del Castillo, another of the protagonists this week, said that she supports “Jenni. From here, not wanting to come to the national team was not part of my plans. apart? No. The atmosphere was as always. Freedom of expression is like that. They supported my opinion, and I supported theirs”, he assured.
For his part, Cata Coll emphasized that “the waters are calm”, but he criticized the attitude of a part of the environment. “They told us that we were capricious, that we didn’t want to play…, and we told them ‘dumb and in the cage’. The worst thing was that if he didn’t come, he could stop playing football. I saw the end of my career at 22 and it can’t be”.
