Spanish footballers Irene Paredes and Alexia Putellas, world champions, this Thursday denounced years of “systematic discrimination” against women’s football by the Spanish federation and said that the “Rubiales case” was “the straw that broke the camel’s back.”
“We have been asking people to listen to us for a long time, we have known that for too many decades there has been systemic discrimination against women’s football. We had to fight hard to be heard, and that means wear and tear that we don’t want to go through because we care about winning,” Alexia Putellas said at a press conference in Gothenburg on the eve of the Nations League game between Spain and Sweden.
“But what happened in the final [do Mundial deste ano, em Sydney] and during subsequent assembly [da Real Federação Espanhola de Futebol, RFEF] That was the straw that broke the camel’s back, and we said that this can’t happen, that we can’t continue down this path. Given this situation, we had to declare a zero-tolerance attitude toward Jenny. [Hermoso]it set a precedent for us,” he added.
On August 20, at the World Cup final in Sydney, then RFEF president Luis Rubiales kissed soccer player Jenny Hermoso in the stadium, which the player said was not consensual.
A few days later, at the federation’s general assembly, Rubiales assured that the kiss was consensual and refused to resign from his position.
A few weeks later, Rubiales resigned, facing pressure from public opinion and the Spanish government, and after FIFA suspended him from office and brought a case against him, as did the Spanish Administrative Sports Court.
The Spanish federation has since sacked the team’s coach, Jorge Vilda, but the players are demanding more changes from the federation and have even said they will not be able to return to the national team until more changes are made.
Despite this, new coach Montse Thome ended up calling up several players who said they would not be available for the Nations League games against Sweden on Friday and Switzerland next Tuesday.
Most of the summoned players eventually went to Sweden following the intervention of the President of Spain’s Supreme Sports Council (CSD), a government-controlled body that served as an intermediary between the players and the federation and which led to the RFEF’s commitment to respond to the world champions’ demands.
“We didn’t want to come, we decided that we couldn’t come, that now was not the time, we were forced, we came upset, but we came and agreed to some meetings. The meeting was constructive, agreements were reached and we believe that they are important to move forward, and from this we know that there are things that take time,” said Alexia Putellas.
The footballer also explained that they decided to remain in the national team because of the under-23 team that would be called up to replace them, leaving younger players in a difficult situation.
“The only thing we want is to play football in decent conditions and be respected. Until now this was impossible, and after the final [do mundial]impossible,” said Irene Paredes, who gave a press conference along with Alexia Putellas.
“That’s why we’re trying to make a difference. To reach the point where players are simply dedicated to the game and don’t worry about whether the system is working or not. We were without support. Now CDS has intervened. in a very powerful way, and that’s grateful, but we still felt alone,” she added.
Irene Paredes emphasized that there are things that are already being implemented and improved, “but the light at the end of the tunnel is not yet visible, it takes a lot of time.”
“We know that we have the loudspeaker to be able to do this and we have a lot of people behind us, comrades from other national teams and sports, as well as women who face similar cases, and we want this to be a turning point moment to look at each other, raise your voice and eradicate these situations,” he added.
Both players gave a press conference after new Spain women’s coach Monce Thome spoke privately to reporters in the press room.