A revolution 40 years in the making: how the Spanish women's soccer team fought back

Asystematic issue rooted in Spanish women’s football has come to light on a global scale for the first time. What has been seen is only minuscule in proportion to everything that has occurred since 1988. It has taken 35 years for the players to be truly heard and supported, and for action to be taken against those in power.

All it took was for the women’s national team to win the World Cup and have cameras on Luis Rubiales, the president of the Spanish federation (RFEF), to show him simply being himself. To give a taste to the world of what has been going on behind the scenes for decades at the Spanish federation.

Fifa has now provisionally suspended Rubiales from all football-related activities for an initial 90 days while their proceedings against him are open. The Spanish government also began legal action against Rubiales on Friday afternoon, which could see him suspended from his position in the federation as soon as Monday, when Spain’s tribunal administration of sport (TAD) and its supreme council of sport (CSD) will regroup on the matter.

While Rubiales left Las Rozas confident after his speech declaring he was not going to resign, he has been unassailable since coming into power in 2018. The players won the media battle on Friday, giving Rubiales a blow that he was not expecting by declaring their intention to strike while he remains in post, but he has a history of making troubles disappear.

After Spain crashed out in the Euro 2022 quarter-final against the eventual champions, England, 15 players stepped away from the national team in September “until changes were made”. Although they never directly stated that they wanted Rubiales nor the unpopular manager, Jorge Vilda, gone, it was implied that Spanish football had not given the players the confidence, will and desire to play. Rubiales and the federation happily cast out those 15 players, calling them “extortioners” and “brats”, and moved ahead with a “new national team” with the players who agreed to be called up.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2023/aug/26/spain-luis-rubiales-football-federation-president-jenni-hermoso

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