The coach of Spain's FIFA Women's World Cup-winning team Jorge Vilda has been dismissed, on the same day the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) apologised to players of the national team for the "totally unacceptable behaviour" of its President Luis Rubiales.
Interim President Pedro Rocha said that Luis Rubiales' actions has "tarnished" the nobility and international prestige of Spanish society and sport. The RFEF has not given a specific reason for the departure of Vilda, who has been women's national team coach and sports director since 2015.
During Vilda's tenure as sports director the team has won the Under-17 World Cup twice, in 2018 and 2022, and the Under-20 World Cup in 2022.
"The RFEF appreciates his work at the head of the national team and in his functions as the head of sports for the women's teams, as well as the successes achieved during his time crowned with the recent achievement of the World Cup," the RFEF said in a statement.
A day earlier 11 members of the Spanish women's coaching staff had issued a statement saying they were resigning, a move which left just Vilda in post. Hours before Vilda's dismissal RFEF Interim President Pedro Rocha issued a two-page apology saying that Rubiales' action of kissing Jennifer Hermoso during the Women's World Cup final podium presentation had "tarnished" the nobility and international prestige of Spanish society and sport.Hermoso had claimed Rubiales' actions were "against her will."
"The damage caused to Spanish football, to Spanish sport, to Spanish society and to the values of football and sport as a whole has been enormous," the official statement from RFEF read.
Rubiales even accused Hermoso of lying while the 33-year-old midfielder maintained that "in no moment" did she consent to the kiss. Twenty-two members of the Spanish women's team along with Hermoso have said that they will not play for the country until Rubiales quits.
The RFEF also condemned the immediate reactions from Rubiales following the scandal, confirming it withdrew "all those inappropriate and meaningless communications" that happened without considering the statement from Hermoso.
