The commitment obtained on Wednesday morning at the Oliva conclave, drawn up and signed before the Superior Sports Council (CSD), was essential for the footballers to agree to stay and give a vote of confidence to the Federation. So far, the president of the Federation, Luis Rubiales, the selector, Jorge Vilda, and the general secretary of the federation, Andreu Camps, have left, but they will not be the only changes. The Federation was receptive yesterday in terms of the will to reform, it acknowledged mistakes and apologized to the footballers through a statement: “The RFEF reiterates its apologies for what happened after the victory at the World Cup to each of them and, in particular, to Jenni Hermoso, immersed in a situation that she did not create. We will always support them.”
“We understand that the players need to feel that the Federation is their home, a safe environment in which to show their professionalism”, could be read in the statement, which also assured that “the RFEF has always sought this goal”, and admitted that had failed to create “until yesterday a climate of trust with the internationals”.
The federation’s good intentions to “start a new stage” will not have to stop here, and the Management Committee created after Rubiales’ farewell know it. The Manager, under pressure from the Government, has already committed to speeding up the changes demanded by the footballers, which affect managers in four areas. People, all of them, who are directly involved in one way or another with the pressure that Jenni Hermoso suffered after the non-consensual kiss of Rubiales.
Rubén Rivera, marketing director of the Federation, went to Ibiza together with a group of internationals who had gone to the island at the invitation of the Balearic Government, among whom was Hermoso. The footballers have reported that they received pressure for Hermoso to come out in defense of Rubiales.
The communication department, responsible for the Federation’s announcements in which statements attributed to Hermoso that the Pachuca player has denied having made, is also noted. The statements were sent by the RFEF to the press. Yesterday it was also learned that Rubiales and her father pressured the press officer of the women’s team, Patricia González, to lie and say that the player had given consent to the dissemination of the statements. At that meeting was Miguel García Caba, Director of Integrity and another of the managers who want to leave.
Another of the areas in which they are asking for changes is in the organizational chart of women’s football in which names such as Ana Álvarez (director of women’s football) and Rafa del Amo (president of the Women’s Football Committee) appear. The last one is one of the least controversial figures of all. “As far as possible, he has always been close to the footballers”, explain sources close to the players. De l’Amo was the first to resign after Rubiales’ controversial assembly after the World Cup, a gesture recognized by the female footballers. Also in the spotlight is Francis Hernández, national team coordinator and one of Rubiales’ trusted men. His support for the former president has always been complete and he has not hesitated to point out Jenni Hermoso as the culprit of the entire crisis in his Las Rozas circles.
Where movements have already been made is in the Presidential Cabinet. José María Timón was relieved on September 7 and interim president Pedro Rocha replaced him with Elvira Andrés, vice-president of the RFEF, who will now also share the general secretaryship with Alfredo Olivares.
Yesterday the Federation, as an example of change, announced that, from now on, the men’s and women’s teams would be under the single brand “Selecció Española de Futbol”, so that the feminine part of the name would be removed. “Beyond a symbolic step, we want it to involve a change in concept, and the recognition that football is football, practiced by whoever practices it”, explained Pedro Rocha.
