Nearly a month after Spain’s World Cup-winning women’s national soccer team was thrown into turmoil over a forcible kiss, the players have agreed to come back and play their scheduled high-profile matches in the coming days.
The players’ participation had been in doubt after many of them demanded an overhaul of Spain’s soccer federation to guarantee a “safe place where women are respected.” In addition to the furor over the kiss, by Spain’s top soccer official, Luis Rubiales, after the team’s World Cup victory in Australia on Aug. 20, the players had voiced longstanding complaints of sexism and of unequal treatment compared with their male counterparts.
Mr. Rubiales has since stepped down over the episode, and the team’s coach, Jorge Vilda, was fired amid complaints of outdated training methods and controlling behavior.
But the players continue to push for more changes within the federation as well as demands like equal pay and better-quality sports facilities.
On Wednesday morning, after a meeting of players, government officials and soccer federation bosses that went on through the night, the president of the state-run National Sports Council said that 21 of the 23 players on the roster for U.E.F.A.’s Nations League matches against Sweden and Switzerland over the coming week had agreed to play.
Persons:
Luis Rubiales, Rubiales, Jorge Vilda
Organizations:
soccer, Spain’s, Sports Council, U.E.F.A, Nations League, Sweden
Locations:
Australia, Switzerland