- Jorge Vilda to be Fired Amid Scandal
- RFEF Board Terminates Vilda’s Contract
- Compensation and Player Opinions Considered
Spain’s football federation (RFEF) source told Reuters that Jorge Vilda will be fired for refusing to quit after a scandal. Vilda confronted a player revolt to lead his team to World Cup victory.
The 42-year-old face anger after RFEF president Luis Rubiales kissed Jenni Hermoso on the lips during the final presentation. The RFEF president, Luis Rubiales, gave Jenni Hermoso a peck on the lips during the presentation after the final.
A source said Vilda’s contract will be terminated by a new RFEF board after Fifa suspended Rubiales. The board is also negotiating the return of female players who went on strike over the Rubiales case.
Rubiales has little support after regional RFEF leaders turned against him and urged him to resign. Vilda, who has supported Rubiales, is himself a controversial figure in women’s football.
His tenure as coach of the women’s team since 2015 was publicly questioned for the first time in 2017 when 15 players informed the RFEF that they would no longer play for Spain as long as he was in control. The RFEF made modifications to working conditions in response to the players’ complaints but supported Vilda. And the team participated in the World Cup without the majority of the boycotting players.
A source says the board is considering Vilda’s severance compensation, which will equal his €160,000 (£137,000) annual remuneration.
The RFEF did not comment on Vilda’s status as women’s team head coach. He claimed at the World Cup that the federation’s backing made the team’s achievement possible.
Thursday, Uefa passed over Vilda for the women’s coach of the year award, which instead went to Sarina Wiegman. The England coach remarked, “This team deserves to be celebrated and listened to.” men’s Champions League draw ceremony.
In a Friday address to federation members, Rubiales refused to resign over the kiss controversy, claiming that “false feminists” were to blame. He commended Vilda for presiding over the World Cup victory and offered him a new four-year contract with a €500,000 annual compensation.
Vilda was among those who applauded Rubiales’ refusal to resign the most enthusiastically, although he later issued a statement saying, “I deeply regret that the victory of Spanish women’s football has been harmed by the inappropriate behavior that our until now top leader, Luis Rubiales, has engaged in and that he has acknowledged.”
After the medal ceremony in Sydney, when Rubiales deposited a kiss on Hermoso’s lips that Hermoso claimed was non-consensual, Spain’s top female players stated that they would not return to play for the national team under the current leadership.
The RFEF source stated that players were being surveyed to determine if the removal of Vilda would alter their opinions. The federation has also requested the reinstatement of Rafael del Amo, the former president of the national committee for women’s football, who resigned in protest of Rubiales’ refusal to resign. Del Amo has been nominated to address the players regarding the RFEF’s promise to renew the team’s personnel.
