The Spanish women’s footballers who boycotted the country after former Spanish FA president Luis Rubiales kissed the country’s forward Jenni Hermoso, have ended their boycott.
The country’s secretary of state for sports, Victor Francos, made this announcement earlier today, September 20, after over 7 hours of deliberations.
Recall that the country’s new head coach, Montse Tome, selected 15 players from the 2023 World Cup-winning squad for the 2023 Women’s Nations League games.
After learning that the boycott was still in place, the players issued a statement claiming that they had been “put in a position we never wanted to be in.”
They said they intended to look into any possible legal repercussions of being summoned without their will.
Tome intentionally left Hermoso off the squad “to protect her”, but the 2023 World Cup winner reacted angrily, saying the decision to invite boycotting players to the squad proved “nothing has changed” at the country’s FA.
Two women out of the 23 players invited for the Women’s Nations League campaign have reportedly opted out of the squad even though other boycotting players have reportedly agreed to end the boycott.
Amidst that, Francos claimed that the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) had promised “immediate and profound changes”, and also promised not to punish the boycotting players.
He added, “It is good news to be able to say that the team will play the next two games with guarantees.”
He claimed that following “friendly” discussions in Valencia between the players, RFEF representatives, CSD, and women’s players’ organization Futpro, all parties involved agreed to end the boycott.
“A joint commission will be created between RFEF, CSD, and players to follow up on the agreements, which will be signed tomorrow,” Francos said.
“The players have expressed their concern about the need for profound changes in the RFEF, which has committed to making these changes immediately.”
In the 2023 Nations League, Spain is scheduled to play Sweden on Friday and Switzerland on Tuesday.
