The former women’s national coach, Jorge Vilda, has spoken for the first time before a media outlet since the Rubiales case broke out, until now he had only spoken through a statement, and after his official dismissal this Tuesday. He did it tonight before the microphones of El Larguero, from the Ser chain.
Vilda has assured that “she does not understand her dismissal, it is unfair.” “After 17 years in women’s football, winning everything, leaving my skin as one more worker of the Federation, I don’t understand it and I don’t see it as fair.” The former coach wanted to point out that he has “gone from being as good as you can be after being world champions and be renewed to be laid off”. Precisely, he has revealed that “the contract was already perfected with the president after the World Cup. [Rubiales] He announces it in the Assembly, but it was already agreed upon.”
In this sense, Vilda has explained how the moment in which she was informed of her dismissal was like. “They have told me that it has been due to structural changes”, in a brief meeting held this Tuesday with Pedro Rocha, current president of the RFEF, the vice-secretary and the vice-president of Equality. “In the end you always have the illusion and the hope of the good treatment that I have always received. I saw myself with strength for playing in the League of Nations and the Olympic Games,” said the Spanish coach, who said he knew what the world of football is like.
The Spanish coach also spoke about his applause, standing up, for Luis Rubiales, in his Assembly speech in which he refused to resign. “I will never applaud anything sexist. I didn’t know very well what I was going to that Assembly for. I thought there was going to be a resignation.”
His relationship with Rubiales. “I haven’t spoken to him since the assembly.” Live he commented that he did not know if he had written to him today “I have more than 500 messages to review.”
Vilda has spoken about her relationship with Jenni Hermoso, that since this controversy began, and after arriving in Spain from Australia, Vilda has not spoken with Jenni Hermoso. “I’ve seen her turn professional. I’ve known her for 16 years and I’m very proud of what she’s done at the World Cup.” He adds that he has not been able to talk to her about what happened, but he is aware “that she is having a bad time”.
He has congratulated Montse Tomé, his heir on the bench of the women’s team. “She is qualified to do it and was chosen by me.” As far as he is concerned, “the greatest legacy” she can leave behind is “the recognizable style of the team.”
“I think it is impossible to achieve the results that have been achieved if we do not create a group from the beginning of these last two months. There was a very good ‘feeling'”, he added about whether he had the support of the players. In this sense, he remarked that the footballers who had announced their resignation to return until there were no changes in the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) have not “communicated” anything to him and that he did not feel “alluded to” in that statement because he doesn’t feel “leader”. “Publicly, it has never been said that they ask for my head, one of the captains said it directly,” he declared.
Vilda, did make her position “available” to the Federation after sending an email to 15 soccer players asking not to be called up if there were no changes, but after speaking with the captains and the players and that they also told her that she professed them ” exquisite treatment”, Rubiales told them that “there were no reasons for him not to continue”.
“I hope that all this has served for something. The victory of the women’s team will be valued more over time and everyone will be rewarded for what they have achieved,” Vilda said at the end of the interview.
The departure of the coach and his replacement by Montse Tomé has not yet unraveled the return of the internationals, since Rubiales has not been dismissed.
The Spanish women’s soccer team won the World Cup held last August in Australia and New Zealand. In the final, they beat England 1-0, thanks to a goal from Olga Carmona.
