“Spain is proud of you,” the acting President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, assured the players of the women’s soccer team. The team was received at the Palacio de la Moncloa this Tuesday after winning the World Cup for the first time by beating England in the final, held in Sydney (Australia).
A reception that began at 09:00 in the morning, with hardly any time to rest for the Spanish delegation after the massive party last night in Madrid Río after their arrival and which lasted until the wee hours of the morning. With tired and happy faces, the team, coaching staff and the delegation, headed by Luis Rubiales, president of the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) were received by Pedro Sánchez.
The president of the RFEF became one of the protagonists of the morning, after finding himself at the center of controversy in recent days for his controversial non-consensual kiss to the player Jennifer Hermoso during the medal delivery of the World Cup final.
The player acknowledged that she had not liked Rubiales’ attitude in a live show that she carried out on her social networks, to later reduce it to a “gesture of friendship and gratitude” before which she asked that “no more thought” be given to it. For her part, Rubiales began by declaring in an interview that the kiss was nothing more than “a peak of two friends” and that everything else was “nonsense.” However, she ended up recording a video in which she apologized for “the commotion that has been created” and stating that “I was surely wrong.”
Perhaps because of all this commotion, his attitude was more than tense. Upon his arrival, Rubiales shook hands with the acting President of the Government, starring in a cold greeting in which the sports delegate makes his discomfort clear.
A greeting that did not manage to dampen the enthusiasm of the PSOE leader, who thanked the players “everyone, from the bottom of my heart, in the name of Spain, for what you have done, how you have done it and how you have made us enjoy”.
The acting President of the Government, who received a shirt signed by the internationals, stressed that they have the “eternal gratitude of society” which has “enjoyed and vibrated” with the team for how it has done in the World Cup. “In 2010 we said, we are world champions, now, in 2023, we say with great pride, we are world champions,” Sánchez continued, adding that “this is a success that logically belongs to you as a generation, without a doubt, but that It also pays tribute to other generations of players and also to the technical team that have preceded you and that have worked in a very anonymous way” and that now “see themselves reflected” in this success.
He considered that the world title “will be the beginning of many good things that will happen for women’s football and women’s sport” and predicted that both areas have “a bright future ahead” that he intends to support from the administrations. Furthermore, the Acting President of the Government announced that the Council of Ministers to be held today will approve the award to the players of the Gold Medal of the Royal Order of Sports Merit awarded by the Superior Council of Sports (CSD) and the gold plate for the team.
Ivana Andrés, defender of Real Madrid and first captain of the team in the World Cup, assured that the team attended the event to “show a cup of great effort, much sacrifice” that culminates “the dream since we were little of the entire team, of all those who make up this piece of selection”. Andrés also wanted to thank the Government and the Federation for their commitment “to women and sport” and dedicated the title “to all Spaniards: “We are world champions!”.
