While Spanish federation president Luis Rubiales remains in office following his kissing scandal, coach Jorge Vilda has been relieved of his duties.
Spain’s controversial national women’s football coach and World Cup winner Jorge Vilda (42) has been relieved of his duties in the wake of the Rubiales scandal. This was announced by the Spanish federation RFEF on Tuesday. Vilda had worked for the federation since 2015.
His successor is the former international Montserrat Tome (41), the first woman to hold the post. According to the association, Tome’s appointment is part of the reform measures announced by interim president Pedro Rocha.
Tome, a former Barca player, was co-coach under Vilda from 2018 and will make her debut on 22 September in the Nations League home match against Sweden.
In a farewell message to Vilda, the RFEF praised his “impeccable personal and sporting conduct” for playing “a key role in the remarkable growth of women’s football in Spain”: “During his long tenure, Vilda was a promoter of the values of respect and sportsmanship in football.”
Federation also apologises for Rubiales
Earlier, the RFEF had apologised for the behaviour of federation boss Luis Rubiales, who had kissed player Jennifer Hermoso on the mouth against her will during the award ceremony after the World Cup triumph against European champions England. It seems possible that the head of the association will also have to go sooner or later.
Most of Vilda’s coaching staff had already resigned, and the world champions are also on strike. Vilda and Rubiales have been considered close allies since 15 players went on strike against Vilda in September 2022 to protest the coach’s methods.
Vilda had recently criticised Rubiales’ behaviour, but applauded Rubiales’ incendiary speech at an extraordinary general assembly of the RFEF. The president of the federation had also refused to resign, as demanded by large sections of Spanish politics.
Rubiales’ kiss had triggered worldwide outrage. The world governing body FIFA suspended him for 90 days. Eleven staff members had resigned from the functional teams of the women’s national teams, including Vilda’s assistants.
Prior to Vilda’s separation, the federation said that the RFEF planned to take a whole series of measures in the coming days “to improve the governance of the federation and to repair as much as possible the damage caused”, it announced.
Spanish federation wants to “repair the damage”
It remained unclear what concrete consequences the kissing scandal might have for the federation or Rubiales. He wanted to apologise sincerely to the football institutions, wrote interim president Pedro Rocha in the letter published on Tuesday, which he claimed to have already sent to the relevant addressees. Rubiales’ behaviour did not reflect the values of Spanish society and had caused “enormous damage” to it and to Spanish football.
It is now the responsibility of the association to ensure that such a case does not happen again, Rocha affirmed. In addition, the RFEF supports FIFA and the Spanish sports judiciary in reaching a decision as quickly as possible “to repair the damage”. The national sports administration court TAD and the public prosecutor’s office are also dealing with the case. Spain’s regional federations refused to follow Rubiales.
Rubiales had been elected president of the Spanish federation in May 2018. The official also sits as vice-president on the Executive Committee of the European Football Union (UEFA).