2023-08-18 16:24:21
Luis Rubiales (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 1977) has been accompanying the Spanish team in New Zealand and now in Australia since the day they debuted in the World Cup, against Costa Rica. He arrived a couple of days later because he had flight delays and before leaving he went to visit a good friend with health problems. “I got here and I connected quickly, a very nice bond has been created with the players,” he confesses.
The president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation attends SPORT and Prensa Ibérica at the Sydney hotel where the ‘Red’ is concentrated, two days after playing the most important game in its history, the World Cup final, in a year in which it has suffered its greatest crisis.
Spain is in the World Cup final. What does the president of the Federation feel?
A lot of emotion, a lot of joy. And also nerves and that uncertainty, although I have a lot of confidence in this team.
It landed on the day of the debut. Did you expect to get here?
I have always trusted them and I have told them so. I think that Jorge and his ‘staff’ have done a magnificent job, that the players have great quality and great confidence in themselves. And I think that in recent games there has been an increase in competitiveness in the fight, in the fight, which is something that perhaps did not characterize this team before.
They have done a sensational job, too, on a tactical level against Sweden, they are a team that has tremendous danger from set pieces and they were practically neutralized. I think that all the issues that have to be given so that we reach the final are occurring at the best psychological and physical moment.
You were at the 2019 World Cup. What changes have you seen at the sporting level?
There are issues that do not depend solely on the changes that one makes, but on the fact that very good players from two or three generations come together, and here they are.
But apart from this, a great effort has been made to listen to Jorge’s ‘staff’, for everything they asked of us, also to the players. I think we have been adapting, we have been pioneers, as in this family reconciliation agreement.
Several players highlight their closeness. How is your involvement in this concentration?
Saving the distances, I still feel like a footballer and it goes in that direction. Joking with them, also talking about the game, the families, how they are. I ask them above all how we can improve, and there have been proposals that we have taken into account. I also notice them very close, a very nice bond has been created. I connected quickly.
He said that the federation you are making a great effort. What exactly does this effort consist of?
When I arrived five years ago, less than three million euros were dedicated to women’s football. Now we are at 27. The coaching staff were not professionals, there were contracts for days. We have gone from two to four physiotherapists, we have a doctor and a nutritionist here. The hotels and training camps were not the same. We have implemented the family conciliation plan, which is one of the things that the players value the most. We have drawn up a savings plan for them, we have created the equality observatory…
We also had a concentration problem because the Palmerston field couldn’t hold up and we decided to talk to FIFA and it was an investment, an added cost, that we had to assume, because otherwise that muddy field increased the risk of injury. I remember the last meeting we had when I asked them what else we can do and they told me there was nothing else.
Now, I think that’s a very small percentage. That helps, yes, but the high percentage is their quality and professionalism, and they are very close to being world champions on their own merits.
Beyond the selection, have you also talked about competitions organized by the Federation?
It has improved a lot, before few teams participated and now many more participate. I think that we only have to see the commitment to the stadiums, how we take seriously everything that happened after that misunderstanding with the awarding of medals. We put on a tremendous show, with top-level artists. And they do appreciate all of this and return it in spades.
How do you explain that Spain has reached the final with everything that has happened?
Because we are probably the ones who have talked the least about what could happen. There are the footballers who are always one hundred percent committed to this shirt and also those who, after thinking about it, decided to talk to us and we have listened to them. I think we have managed it well, we have tried to respect and understand, to listen to criticism in order to improve. And the result of this is that in this concentration we have gone further every day.
Here we have all the top-quality footballers who have wanted to be involved with the national team, either always 100 percent, or some who, after reflecting on it, have wanted to talk to us, have listened to it and who are 100 percent one hundred engaged I think we have managed it well, we have tried to respect and understand, to listen to criticism in order to improve.
I think we have managed it well, we have tried to respect and understand, to listen to criticism in order to improve.
President of the RFEF
We have twenty-three top-level footballers, who have a wonderful relationship between them, who respect the coaching staff, who respect what their role is and what is that of the coaching staff, that of the president or that of the kit men. Perhaps what has been wanted to sell by certain sectors was not reality. Now we have the best Spanish team in history and we are close to being able to win a World Cup. And I am convinced that we can achieve it.
In a conflict, each party does things right and also wrong. Has there been self-criticism? Will players who ask for improvements still be heard?
Of course they do, but the players are the first to know that before I became president there was no women’s department, they charged forty euros for a diet, they had no bonuses, they had no image rights. Now they have all this and the reconciliation of the best Federation in the world, because the second best is the English one. They have put 11,000 euros and we, 15,000. And we have bet again, more relatives will come for the final.
They know that it can be improved, they push us to the maximum, they let us know, but they also know where we come from and right now there is no team in the world that offers a staff in better conditions. It is fair to recognize that there has been an important change because we believe in women’s football and we are committed to it.
Before the Eurocopa you decided to renew Wild. Do you think he could feel bad for the moment it was done?
No, because we drew up a strategic plan where all the areas were covered, including what we wanted for women’s football. We saw that we could be capable of being World and European champions in all categories, also in the absolute, but we set ourselves some deadlines. So, for this it was essential that Jorge Vilda take on the challenge of being able to get these championships in lower categories, which is why he took over the sports management in addition to being a coach. We set ourselves the challenge of being able to be in the semifinals or final of a World Cup with the absolute between 2024 and 2026. We are in 2023, we have arrived earlier than we had planned, and that is a sign that things are getting even better than what we expected.
So, does the Federation continue to trust him to be the coach for the next few years?
He has one year left on his contract, but he doesn’t want to talk about it. He now has the most beautiful challenge of his life. There are 23 players with the most beautiful challenge. Those girls who had practically no rights when they started playing because it seemed like a man’s sport, are now breaking this concrete ceiling and we have to thank them. They are a role model, a mirror to look at themselves in, so we are going to give them everything they ask for.
From then on, people don’t have to know about our strategic plan, but when they ask about it, I explain it. Those were the deadlines and for this we trusted a person in the medium or long term, who was Jorge Vilda. He has been building the whole ‘staff’, clearly he must have been right, if we have won four of the last six European Championships and three of the last four World Cups. And in the other we were second. I think he has done a great job in the youth categories and now he has reached a final. We must admit him, Jorge has a lot to do with the successes of the inferiors and in the current one. Let’s see if we are champions and it will be milk.
Vilda has one year left on her contract, but he doesn’t want to talk about it. He now has the most beautiful challenge of his life.
President of the RFEF
I ask now about Alexia. He does nothing that returned from a serious injury. Beyond sports, what does he bring to the group?
A lot. I think that there are many players and that perhaps some of you would be surprised by what they contribute, because the outside world is more anonymous. But in the case of Alexia, it’s not just what she brings to the group, it’s that when a rival sees her on the field she says ‘my goodness, that’s Alexia’, and we know that. She is an incredible player, she has quality and a bestial gift, and what I liked the most about her is that she has come to add. It is frustrating sometimes knowing that she has arrived with few minutes and recently recovered from an injury. She is well. She helps with everything, she is sincere with her words and she is a source of pride for us and tremendous luck that she is Spanish, like the other twenty-two. There are players who are having a fantastic World Cup.
One of them, Aitana Bonmatí. Does she see her as Alexia’s successor in the Ballon d’Or?
It’s just that I don’t want to get into these issues [ríe]. Aitana is an exceptional player, Tere, Ona, Jenni, Cata… Misa was also very good in the matches she played. Look at Olga’s goal… Pff, what a great pick to get us into the final. You start looking player by player and we have a great team. The central defenders are fantastic, Mariona is also phenomenal, Alba, whether she’s up front or on the right wing, Eva Navarro when she comes out…
And then there are girls who come in at nineteen or twenty, like María, or what can I tell you about Salma. She is breaking it. We go through the airports and everyone wants to see it. The secret of this team is that they all know they can play. All of them have played except Enith, who is a tremendous goalkeeper and is having an exemplary behavior, and I am very proud as the head of Spanish football that they wear the shirt of the Spanish team.
As a former player, have you talked these days about how you live the days before a game like this?
It’s just that I never played a World Cup final [ríe]. No way. I have enjoyed a lot and I have felt a special emotion these days. It was hard for me to fall asleep. It had never happened to me, I discussed it this morning with Esther. We are very excited, excited, and I repeat it, grateful. I am sure that it must have happened to you as a great soccer fan that you are, that when we got into the final, when Olga scored the goal… I could not contain myself in the box. The voice, I have it fatal because I can’t stop cheering. All I can tell you about them is to fall short.
Is there a promise from the president if they win the World Cup?
They have had everything they have asked us to get here and it has been consistent. Then, all economic issues and others are closed, above all we have turned to the issue of family reconciliation, food, rest and training camps. And the greatest prize for them is arriving in Spain with a star on their chest and raising a glass that they deserve more than anyone.
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Is it going to be celebrated well, if it happens?
Let’s go if it’s going to be celebrated. Hopefully we can. We have to keep our feet on the ground and be humble. But, of course, all of Spain is revolutionized with them.
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