The Spanish women’s national football team coach Jorge Vilda has insisted he will not step down as coach after leaving the 15 players who staged a mutiny out of the squad for this month’s meetings with the USA and Sweden.
Vilda accused the players who led the mutiny and refused to offer them a way back, eight months before the World Cup. Vilda said he was deeply hurt and accused players of failing to explain why they wanted him out.
He said I challenge any of the footballers with whom I worked throughout my career, if they have any accusations of inappropriate behavior against him, then they can step forward.
Last Thursday, when 15 players declared themselves unavailable for selection, the crisis made. The players accused that the situation within the national team was hurting their health and emotional state.
After the mutiny, the players released a subsequent statement in which they insisted that they had not called for Vilda to resign but had become unhappy with Vilda’s methods and group management. The players said that they had told the national federation and the coach about the situation three weeks earlier.
Most of the players in mutiny sent identical emails to the federation. The federation responded by saying the players would not return to the national team unless they admitted their mistakes and apologized.
On Friday, Vilda named a squad for the national team, in which none of the players were added who were in mutiny.
In a press conference, Vilda said that he would now build a new national team with those players who are committed to the national team. He repeatedly demanded respect for the players who had not been in the mutiny and said no one should think that the players who are joining the national team now are doing anything wrong.
Vilda said At no point did I consider resigning because it is unjust with everything we have done in the past, everything we have done now, and everything that is to come. Moreover, he said, I have been working for this for many years, and we were trying to make a national team we could be proud of.
On asked what solution there could be with the 15 players who were not available for selection, Vilda said the solution is the players who are here. The solution is the 23 available players with whom we will prepare the national team.
