Spain's Women Footballers Set to Resume Play as Federation Pledges Reform.

Victorious Resolution: Spain’s Women Footballers Set to Resume Play as Federation Pledges Reform

In OLIVA, Spain,Early on Wednesday, Spain’s World Cup-winning players agreed to end their boycott of the national team after the country’s football body (RFEF) said it would make “immediate and profound changes” to its structure.

After more than seven hours of talks at a hotel in Oliva, an hour from Valencia, with the players, RFEF officials, the National Sports Council (CSD), and the women’s players’ union FUTPRO, the choice was made around 5 a.m. (0300 GMT).

The players said they wouldn’t play for Spain until there were more changes at the federation. This made the problem that started when former RFEF boss Luis Rubiales kissed Jenni Hermoso on the lips during the World Cup introduction event even worse.

“To follow up on the agreements that will be signed tomorrow, RFEF, CSD, and the players will form a joint commission,” CSD President Victor Francos told media.

“The players are worried that the RFEF needs to change a lot, and the organization has promised to make these changes right away.”

Neither Francos nor Rafael del Amo, head of the RFEF group for women’s football, would say much about the changes that would be made. They only said that they would be revealed “soon.”

“The players see it as a coming together of points of view. FUTPRO President Amanda Gutierrez told reporters, “This is just the beginning of a long road ahead of us.”

“Once again, they’ve shown that they can make decisions that make sense, and the vast majority of them have decided to stay because of this agreement.”

Most of the Women’s World Cup winners were picked for upcoming games. In a joint statement, the players said they would make the “best decision” for their futures and health after looking into the legal consequences of being on a team list when they had asked to be left off.

They said that the union can’t make them show up because the call-up wasn’t done according to the rules set by FIFA, the organization that runs soccer around the world.

Spain’s Sports Act says that if the players had turned down the call-up, they could have been fined up to 32,000 euros and had their federation license taken away for two to fifteen years.

Twenty players who said they weren’t going to play for the team were called up by the new coach, Montse Tome. All of them showed up for practice on Tuesday, but two of them left for “personal reasons” on Wednesday.

Both players would not be punished, and it was decided that their names would not be made public.

“The first thing they were told here was that if they weren’t comfortable or didn’t feel strong enough, neither the federation nor the CSD would punish them,” Francos said.

After Spain won the World Cup, Rubiales, who used to be the head of the RFEF, kissed forward Hermoso on the lips. This made the players angry.

She didn’t believe him when he said the kiss was mutually agreed upon. This started a national conversation about macho culture in sports and led to Rubiales’s retirement.

Hermoso’s name wasn’t on the list of players that was released on Monday. He said that the RFEF was trying to separate and control the players.

Spain will play their first game in the Women’s Nations League on Friday against Sweden in Gothenburg. On September 26, they will play Switzerland in Cordoba.

The Nations League will decide which European teams get to go to the 2024 Olympics in Paris.

The RFEF said that after the players rested, they would eat breakfast late and have their first drill on Wednesday afternoon. On Thursday morning, they would leave for Gothenburg.