Sports

Jorge Vilda dismissed as coach of the Spanish women’s soccer team

Madrid, Sept 5 (EFE).- The Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) announced on Tuesday that Jorge Vilda has been dismissed as coach of the Spanish women’s national team, who were crowned world champions in Sydney just sixteen days ago.

Vilda, the fourth coach of the women’s team, had been in charge since July 30, 2015, when he replaced Ignacio Quereda and still had one year left on his contract.

On August 25, after the events of the World Cup final, when the president of the RFEF, Luis Rubiales, touched his genitals in the officials’ box and later kissed Jenni Hermoso on the mouth, 23 world champions and another large group of footballers announced their resignation from the national team.

“After everything that happened during the Women’s World Cup, we want to state that all the players who sign this letter will not return calls for the national team as long as the current leadership continues,” the club said in its statement.

However, Rubiales remained president, after refusing to resign and offering to extend Vilda’s contract during the RFEF extraordinary general assembly.

On August 26, eleven members of the Spanish women’s national team coaching staff, including Jorge Vilda, offered their positions in support of Jenni Hermoso and the rest of the team.

Vilda was left alone with Rubiales, who had supported him at times, but without the coaching staff and players. This situation, along with the criticism he received for applauding Rubiales’ speech at the assembly, led to his departure.

Pedro Rocha, who was appointed by the RFEF on an interim basis following Rubiales’ suspension by FIFA last week, said he would “do without the services of Jorge Vilda as sporting director and coach of the women’s national team” and called it “one of the first renewal measures”.

“The RFEF recognizes his work at the helm of the National Team and in his duties as the top sporting manager of the women’s teams, as well as the results achieved during his time, crowned by the recent achievement of the World Cup.” Said Rocha’s.

“We appreciate his impeccable personal and sporting conduct, which has been key to the remarkable growth of women’s football in Spain. During his long tenure, Vilda has been a promoter of respect and sportsmanship in the game,” the statement continued.

Rocha added that Vilda led La Roja through 109 matches during his time at the federation and that he had given Spanish women’s football “a remarkable boost that is reflected in the great results achieved.

He led the U-17 team to two titles and the U-19 team to one, culminating in the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, Vilda’s greatest achievement.

According to Rocha, when he became national team coach in 2015, he was “far from the elite,” in the 19th position in the FIFA ranking, and “now he occupies the second.”

Vilda made his debut on September 18, 2015 in a friendly in Weinan against China, with a 1-0 victory, with goals from Ruth García, then captain, Amanda Sampedro and Silvia Meseguer. Jenni Hermoso, Irene Paredes and Alexia Putellas were also on the team.

The first six matches of his tenure were victories, and there was no defeat until a friendly match against England in Guadalajara in October 2016.

The progress, the good results have been consistent, even with the painful eliminations at Euro 2020 against Austria, against the United States at the 2019 World Cup and against England at Euro 2022.

The federation’s statement also recalls that as sports director, Spain has won the U-17 World Cup in 2018 and 2022 and the U-20 in 2022, as well as two U-19 and two U-17 European Championships.EFE

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