Mapi León and Patri Guijarro leave the concentration of the Spanish team

2023-09-20 07:54:29

BarcelonaThe morning was long and exhausting at the concentration of the Spanish women’s team in Oliva (Valencia). The meetings that the players had, mainly with the president of the Superior Sports Council (CSD), Víctor Francos, and the new Spanish coach, Montse Tomé, did not end until five o’clock. Finally, 21 of the 23 footballers named in Monday’s surprising list after the vast majority had refused to be called up have shown their “willingness” to stay in the national team’s concentration and will travel to Gothenburg tomorrow to face – on Friday in Sweden at the start of the League of Nations. In fact, today at 5.30 pm they had their first training session at the Oliva Nova Sports facilities. Training where Alexia Putellas has admitted to being dissatisfied with the management of the Federation’s case. “I didn’t stay in the selection to be at ease, precisely” he said.

And, at mid-morning this Wednesday, the names of the two footballers who have declined to travel to Sweden because they are not in the right mental condition to face the call-up have been made public. They are the Blaugrana players Mapi León and Patri Guijarro, who have already left the concentration. The two footballers have remained firm in their decision not to return to the Spanish national team since a year ago the 15 they resigned from the state combine until there were changes. In fact, they both did not want to compete in the World Cup to prioritize their values ​​over possible successes.

“It is clear that the situation for Patri and for me is different from that of the rest of the colleagues. There have been neither the right forms nor the right ways to return. Now we are not in a position to do so. Everything is a process. But we are happy because little by little some changes are taking place and we support our colleagues as we have done all this time”, said Mapi León to the media at the exit of the concentration of the Spanish team. Next to him was Patri Guijarro, who assured that “it is quite difficult and hard and mentally you are not ready to be here”.

There will be no penalties

“Of the 23 players summoned, two players have asked for reasons of lack of spirit and personal discomfort to leave the rally,” Francos told the media after meeting with the players in the morning at a hotel olive And he pointed out that, as agreed between the CSD, the RFEF and the coach, Montse Tomé, it has been decided that there will be no sanctions for these two footballers. On the other hand, the president of the CSD has congratulated himself because “21 players will go to Sweden”, a “gesture” that he says he has thanked them for. “The players are in a difficult moment and I think it’s good news to be able to say that the national team will play both games with guarantees and, hopefully, with victories.”

Agreements between the CSD and the RFEF

In Oliva there have also been talks between the CSD and the RFEF which have served to reach agreements that should start being drawn up and signed by the two bodies today. “A tripartite mixed commission will be set up between the parties (CSD, RFEF and players) to be able to monitor the agreements we have reached and which have to do with various aspects,” said Francos, who then announced the that involve the CSD: “Essentially, they have to do with the development of sports law in everything that is related to gender equality policies, advancing equal pay, advancing equality in the quality of the infrastructures for sport and, in this case, for women’s football”, he specified. On the same day, the president of the government, Pedro Sánchez, spoke, stating that “we need to deploy the new Sports Law. The Spanish government and Spanish society support the female players”.

Montse Tomé is still in office, Andreu Camps is not

“Montse Tomé continues as coach because there was no problem. She met with the players privately and there was no problem,” said Rafa del Amo, president of women’s football of the RFEF, at the end of the meetings in the middle of the morning. When asked if he would also continue in the position, he answered with a resounding “Yes”, despite the fact that one of the areas pointed out by the players is the organizational chart of women’s football, which he presides over. “If I show you the audios I have of the players, you will think the opposite”, said Del Amo to a journalist who made reference to this matter. After announcing that this Wednesday the RFEF will announce some structural changes and that the women’s team will have the same structure as the men’s team, he added that “there is division among the players”.

Rafa del Amo was one of the first to move the file after the extraordinary assembly in which Rubiales said that Hermoso was lying and that he did not plan to resign. Hours later, Del Amo tendered her resignation as RFEF women’s football president, which was not accepted by the then interim president, Pedro Rocha, once Rubiales was temporarily suspended by FIFA. Thus, Del Amo is still in office despite the fact that he was one of those who put more sticks in the wheels the 15 when they gave up the selection now a year ago until there were no improvements.

Instead, it was Andreu Camps who finally fell. Yesterday, Pedro Rocha informed Camps of his resignation as general secretary. The Catalan, one of the most powerful men in the federation, was one of the names that the players wanted out of the state football organization chart. A veteran of the offices, the 62-year-old from Tortoise was secretary general of the RFEF since Rubiales assumed power in 2018. In a statement, the RFEF explained that “from this moment on, and in this time of transition until the end of the electoral process, its functions will be assumed by the director of the Cabinet of the Presidency, Elvira Andrés, in the representative field as secretary of the governing bodies and representation of the Federation.Also, the executive functions will be assumed by Alfredo Olivares , current Director of Competitions”,

“The postures have come closer”

FutPro, led by Amanda Gutiérrez, is the majority union in Spanish women’s football and is also present at the Oliva rally. Precisely Gutiérrez, on behalf of the footballers, has attended the media after the meetings to say that “the positions have come quite close” with the creation of the mixed commission in which they have agreed “some competences that cover changes that players have been calling for for a long time, such as changes to the women’s football organization chart and the women’s football strategic plan,” among others. “This is a convergence of postures. Simply, the beginning of a great task that remains to be done”, warned the president of FutPro, who also reported that right now the situation of the players “is of mental exhaustion total”. Unlike the president of women’s football, Gutiérrez has said that there is “unity” between the players and that “they have respected all the positions between them”.