The summer of 2023 should be remembered as the year in which the Spanish team became world champions, but it will go down in history as the year of the biggest scandal in Spanish women's football. The kiss that the then president of the Spanish Federation (RFEF), Luis Rubiales, planted without prior notice on the Spanish international Jenni Hermoso overshadowed the celebration. A kiss that the former FC Barcelona player would later admit was not consensual and is now in court. The images spread like wildfire and were reproduced in newspapers and television stations around the world. The international repercussion made it impossible to hide a scandal that was growing by the minute. Rubiales' response, calling those who criticized the kiss “idiots” and “assholes,” only worsened the crisis.
Although Jenni Hermoso stated from the beginning that she had not liked the kiss, Rubiales insisted at all times that it had been a “mutual gesture” and “totally spontaneous.” A message that he would repeat in a video recorded at the Doha airport on his return to Spain. The judge handling the Rubiales case is now investigating whether during the flight there was pressure on Jenni Hermoso and her entourage to try to convince her to appear with him in that video that was intended to calm the waters. He didn't get it. As the hours passed, the crisis only grew before the astonished international gaze and more images emerged of the embarrassing behavior of the then president of the Spanish Federation. The kiss was not the only example, although it was the most serious, of his inappropriate behavior during the World Cup celebration in Sydney. From the presidential box, where Queen Letizia and Infanta Sofía were also present, Rubiales celebrated the Spanish victory by grabbing his genitals in a gesture directed at coach Jorge Vilda. Once on the pitch, he went overboard in his gestures with the soccer players, hugging them energetically, carrying them on his shoulders, grabbing their heads or planting kisses on their cheeks, like the Englishwoman Lucy Bronze, a FC Barcelona player.
Rubiales was in the eye of the hurricane and the Federation had to call an extraordinary assembly. Everyone thought he would resign. But not. She surprised by reaffirming her position with a controversial speech in which she attacked feminism and justified her behavior. Rubiales was applauded by the vast majority of the room, which included all the presidents of the regional federations and the national selectors, sitting in the front row in a far from casual staging.
The federation leader was reluctant to leave office, but, suspended by FIFA, Rubiales had no choice but to end up resigning. Theirs was not the only fall: the coach Jorge Vilda, the general secretary of the RFEF, Andreu Camps... One by one they left the Federation. That August 20, the Spanish women's team won much more than a World Cup, it achieved something that no one had achieved before: shaking up the Federation's patronage system. The worst crisis in the history of this institution ended with Pedro Rocha as interim president, calling elections in early 2024 and with Rubiales facing a trial for sexual abuse. One of the only survivors has been Montse Tomé, who took over the reins of the national team after Vilda left. The early morning agreements sealed in Oliva (Valencia), with the mediation of the Higher Sports Council, allowed peace to be signed between footballers and the Federation. The arrival of Markel Zubizarreta to the sports management of the RFEF hopes to serve to regenerate the institution, but there is still a lot of work to do.
The Spanish team overcame all obstacles and overcame a deep crisis with the Federation to end up becoming world champions for the first time in its history.
Olga Carmona's goal in the final against England will be part of the collective imagination for a long time. The Andalusian, heroine of the final, had lost her father during the tournament, although her family would not confess it to her until they returned to Spain.
The red team had never gone past the round of 16, but one by one they went through the rounds: Switzerland, the Netherlands, Sweden... until the grand final against England. A year earlier, in the Euro Cup, the Lionesses sent home Spain in the quarterfinals, but in Sydney they took revenge and printed their first star on the shirt.
With a questioned coach and without some of the best soccer players, who had given up the World Cup in their fight to demand improvements in the Federation, Spain gave the bell. The internationals were able to turn around a locker room that had been in conflict since the 15 crisis broke out. They managed to become a united group capable of achieving the greatest feat in the history of the national team. The next challenge, qualify for his first Olympic Games, this summer in Paris.
