Spanish football players continue their “strike” on the national team and refuse the call

This Monday, the Spanish national team players confirmed in a statement their “desire not to be called up for valid reasons” to the national team, hours after the new selector announced a list of 23 names for the upcoming games.

The World Cup champions’ players stress that their previous statement “made it clear and left no room for any other interpretation”, rejecting Montse Thome’s call for Nations League games to take place as “the statements remain fully valid”.

They add that “within a few days of this announcement” they want to “bring to the attention of the public that nothing else has been communicated to anyone who is part of the RFEF”, the Spanish football federation, and therefore they “expressly request that information be whatever is communicated publicly, be strict.”

“We, as elite professional players, after everything that happened today, will study the possible legal consequences that the RFEF exposes us to by including us on a list that we asked not to be included for reasons that have already been explained in more detail,” the report continues.

In this context, they consider that the call-up “was not timely and did not comply with Article 3.2 of Annex I of the FIFA Player Status and Transfer Regulations” and they therefore understand that the RFEF is “not in a position” to claim those who comply with the call-up.

“We once again regret that our federation has put us in a situation that we never wanted,” the statement from the players’ group concluded.

Last Friday, 39 players, including 21 of the 23 world champions, asked the RFEF to restructure the structure of women’s football and insisted that the changes made were “not enough” to make them feel “safe”.

They also called for the resignation of the RFEF’s interim president, Pedro Rocha, as well as a restructuring of the communications and marketing areas and the integrity department, deeming changes made since the World Cup “not enough.”

This announcement led to the call for Nations League games being postponed until today because the list included 15 players who had taken part in the World Cup but not Jenny Hermoso, the player who was at the center of the controversy that began with a kiss by then federation president Luis Rubiales.

Champion coach Jorge Vilda was also suspended and replaced by Montse Thome, but this did not “calm” the wave of protest, with 39 players calling for radical changes in women’s football in order to return to the national team.

Spain is expected to open its Nations League campaign, which will qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics, against Sweden in Gothenburg on Wednesday before hosting Switzerland in Cordoba on September 26.