Jenni Hermoso, Alexia Putellas and the rest of the Spanish women’s national team will not play for their country until more changes are made within the Spanish football federation (RFEF).

Luis Rubiales resigned as RFEF president as a result of the backlash to his forced kiss of Hermoso at the 2023 World Cup final, and controversial head coach Jorge has been fired. But those changes “are not enough for the players to feel safe, where women are respected, where there is support for women’s football and where we can maximize our potential,” the players said in a statement.

The players are demanding the restructuring of the women’s football organization, the presidential cabinet and general secretary, the communications and marketing department and the ethics and integrity department.

Head coach Montse Tomé, who took over in the wake of Vilda’s firing, is set to announce her first squad Friday. The World Cup champions are set to play in Nations League games against Sweden and Switzerland on Sept. 22 and 26.

“The players of the Spanish team have, at all times, been open to dialogue, seeking to convey clear and well-argued reasons that we believe are necessary to be able to carry out our work at the highest level with the respect we deserve,” the players wrote. “The specified changes to the RFEF are based on zero tolerance for those people who, from a position within the RFEF, have had, incited, hidden or applauded attitudes that go against the dignity of women.”

Before Rubiales stepped down earlier this week, he had vowed not to resign in a meeting of the RFEF. Many in the audience at the meeting applauded Rubiales, though some have since apologized, saying that they felt pressured to do so.

At the time, players said they would not play for Spain again “if the present leadership continues.” They also asked for “real structural changes that help the national team continue to grow.” Though Vilda and Rubiales are out, the players want to see more systemic changes.

“We firmly believe that strong changes are required in leadership positions in the RFEF and specifically, in the area of women’s football,” the players wrote. “We want to end this statement by expressing that the players of the Spanish team are professionals, and what fills us most with pride is wearing the shirt of our national team and leading our country to the highest positions.

“We believe that it is time to fight to show that these situations and practices have no place in football or society, that the current structure needs changes and we do it so that the next generations can have equality in football and at the level that we all deserve.”

Alexia Putellas and the rest of the Spain women’s national team are aiming to inspire change beyond soccer as the fallout from their World Cup controversy continues.

Luis Rubiales resigned as president of the Spanish soccer federation (RFEF) earlier this week as the result of mounting pressure from his behavior at the 2023 World Cup final. Following Spain’s 1-0 win over England, Rubiales kissed star midfielder Jenni Hermoso, a gesture which she has maintained came without her consent.

Hermoso’s teammates have stood with her in the wake of the incident, which created an international uproar and has led to multiple investigations into Rubiales.

So when FC Barcelona Femení became the first sports team to win the Medal of Honor from the Catalan parliament, Putellas used the platform to call attention to their fight for change.

“We are the first men’s or women’s team to be distinguished with this Medal of Honour — this would have been unthinkable five, 15, 20 years ago, but it has happened,” she said in her acceptance speech Wednesday. “This has not been achieved from scratch, so I would like to thank all those pioneers who, before our arrival, promoted women’s sport at Barca or in other organizations. This medal also belongs to them, we are very aware of that.”

Launched in 2000, previous winners include recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize, former presidents and soccer manager Pep Guardiola, the only previous winner related to sport.

Barcelona received the award for their success as four-time Spanish league winners and two-time Champions League winners, but also because of the impact that they have had on sport in Catalonia. Twice, the team has filled Camp Nou and broken women’s attendance records.

“At Barca, we are helping to build a fairer, more equal society with more opportunities through football. Our efforts and our victories are making us a point of reference for many children, young people and adults,” Putellas said. “Our commitment to women’s sport and society is unquestionable, but we need more help to keep growing, so that this is not just a fad. And here, if I may, I would like to demand more support for women’s football, more and better facilities, more pitches and more investment at grassroots level.”

Noting that women in sports are “here to stay,” Putellas also noted a commitment to “help those that come after us.”

“There is still a long way to go, as we are seeing these days with the serious situation we are facing with the [RFEF] and the changes we are all asking for so that no woman, inside or outside football, ever has to live a situation of disrespect or abuse,” she said.

“We need consensus, courage and leadership from the institutions. We will not stop here. Those who fought before us deserve it, we deserve it for the effort we make every day and all the girls and boys who today dream of being like us deserve it. We will not fail you.”

Lindsey Horan is the lone U.S. women’s national team player to receive a nomination for the 2023 Best FIFA Women’s Player award.

The 29-year-old co-captain scored two goals for the USWNT at the 2023 World Cup, tied with the team’s lone Ballon d’Or nominee Sophia Smith. No other U.S. player scored a goal at the tournament in Australia and New Zealand. Horan also starts in midfield for French club Lyon in Division 1 Féminine.

Alexia Putellas, who won the 2021 and 2022 Best Player awards, is notably absent from the 2023 list after spending the last year recovering from an ACL tear. Beth Mead and Alex Morgan, the runners-up for the 2022 award, also failed to make the cut. Mead has been out since December 2022 with an ACL tear.

World Cup champion Spain counted four nominees, including Aitana Bonmati, who won the Golden Ball at the World Cup, as well as Jenni Hermoso, Mapi Leon and Salma Paralluelo.

England tied Spain with four nominees, with Rachel Daly leading the way. Alex Greenwood, Lauren James and Keira Walsh also are nominated.

Australia star Sam Kerr received a nod, and she is joined by two fellow Matildas in Caitlin Foord and Mary Fowler. Colombia’s Linda Caicedo, France’s Kadidiatou Diani, Sweden’s Amanda Illestedt and Japan’s Hinata Miyazawa, the World Cup Golden Boot winner, round out the nominees.

Nominees for the Best Coach award include England’s Sarina Wiegman, who won the award last year, Australia’s Tony Guastavsson and Sweden’s Peter Gerhardsson. Two club coaches also received nominations: Chelsea’s Emma Hayes and FC Barcelona’s Jonatan Giráldez.

England’s Mary Earps is once again nominated for Best Goalkeeper and is looking to win the award in back-to-back years. She’s joined by Mackenzie Arnold (Australia), Ann-Katrin Berger (Germany), Christiane Endler (Chile), Zecira Musovic (Sweden), Catalina Coll (Spain) and Sandra Paños (Spain).

Luis Rubiales has resigned from his position as Spanish football federation president amid the ongoing fallout over his nonconsensual kiss of star player Jenni Hermoso at the 2023 World Cup final.

Rubiales, 46, announced his resignation in a letter published Sunday on social media, following weeks of defiance in the face of increasing backlash from the global soccer community. The Spanish federation (RFEF) confirmed that Rubiales had stepped down as president of the RFEF and as vice president of UEFA.

“After the suspension by FIFA, in addition to the rest of the proceedings against me, it is clear that I will not be able to return to my position,” Rubialies wrote, referring to his 90-day provisional suspension by FIFA. He also faces a sexual assault lawsuit from Spanish prosecutors.

“My daughters, my family and the people who love me have suffered the effects of persecution excessively, as well as many falsehoods, but it is also true that in the street, the truth is prevailing more every day,” he continued. He also said the “powers that be” would prevent his return, essentially forcing him to step down.

Later on Sunday, he gave an interview on “Piers Morgan Uncensored,” in which he said his decision to resign came after speaking with his friends and family.

“They say to me, ‘Luis, now you have to focus on your dignity and to continue your life, because if not, probably, you are going to damage people you love,’” he said.

Rubiales kissed Hermoso on the lips without her consent in the celebration following Spain’s World Cup victory over England on Aug. 20. While he has said that the kiss was consensual, Hermoso has maintained her denial of that claim in multiple statements.

Last week, Hermoso formally accused Rubiales of sexual assault. Two days later, Spanish prosecutors filed a lawsuit against Rubiales, alleging sexual assault and coercion. Under a sexual consent law passed last year, Rubiales could face a fine or a prison sentence of up to four years if found guilty of sexual assault.

FIFA has suspended Rubiales for 90 days during its investigation, but the world soccer governing body is reportedly seeking a 15-year ban.

Montse Tomé has been named head coach of the Spain women’s national team.

An assistant coach with the team during the 2023 World Cup, Tomé will make her debut as head coach in late September. World champions Spain will compete in the UEFA Nations League, taking on Sweden, Switzerland and Italy in Group A4.

Tomé replaces Jorge Vilda, who was fired on Tuesday as part of the fallout from federation president Luis Rubiales’ actions at the World Cup.

Tomé was one of 12 Spain soccer employees who resigned in the wake of the World Cup celebrations, when Rubiales kissed star forward Jenni Hermoso on the lips. Rubiales has denied that the kiss was non-consensual and has refused to resign from his position, while Hermoso has said that she was a “victim of an impulse-driven, sexist, out of place act without any consent on my part.”

As FIFA investigates the incident, Rubiales has been placed on a 90-day suspension and Spain’s entire World Cup-winning team — plus 33 additional players — have refused to return to the national team without a leadership change.

Tomé, a former midfielder for Spain, made just four international appearances while playing for club teams Levante and FC Barcelona. After retiring in 2012, she began her coaching career and was hired as a Spain assistant in 2018.

Tomé begins her tenure as Spain’s first-ever female head coach.

Jorge Vilda has been fired by the Royal Spanish Football Federation in the wake of the scandal involving federation president Luis Rubiales. The head coach of the women’s national team, Vilda was also removed from his post as sporting director on Tuesday.

FIFA has placed Rubiales on a 90-day suspension while it investigates his behavior from Spain’s World Cup celebrations. Rubiales has denied that his kiss of Spain star Jenni Hermoso was non-consensual and has refused to resign as president.

Meanwhile, all 23 members of Spain’s World Cup-winning squad, as well as 58 other current and former players, have said they will not return to play for the national team “if the current management continues.”

On Tuesday, the RFEF issued a statement apologizing for the “totally unacceptable behavior” by Rubiales and said that it is cooperating with the disciplinary actions taken against him.

“The RFEF wants to convey to the whole of society and to the whole of world football its deepest regret for what has happened, which has tarnished our national team, our football and our society,” the statement reads. “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 federation also thanked Vilda, who came under fire last year when players first spoke out about the team’s culture. Last September, 15 players said they would not play for the national team under Vilda until significant changes were made. Three of those 15 players returned for the World Cup.

In the weeks after the World Cup win, Rubiales had backed Vilda as coach. Vilda broke with his boss on Aug. 27 to condemn the incident with Hermoso.

“The coach has been key to the notable growth in women’s football and left Spain as World Champion and second in FIFA ranking,” the federation said. But, according to ESPN, Vilda was informed of his removal shortly after the statement was released.

The RFEF also promised a “profound and immediate restructuring” of the organization. Regional presidents of the organization have called for Rubiales’ resignation.

“There have to be structural changes in women’s football,” Joan Soteras, the president of the Catalan Federation and a member of the RFEF committee of regional presidents, said last week. “One of those could be [removing] Vilda. He was at the centre of the mess with the national team [last September]. If it was up to me, I would [dismiss him]. A change would be the most convenient thing for the good of women’s football.”

Players of the Solvenian women’s national team are calling for their head coach to be fired for perpetuating a culture of harassment.

In an open letter addressed to the president of the Football Association of Slovenia (NZS) in July, signed by 31 players, they detail a toxic culture in which the coaching staff interferes in their personal lives, makes “inappropriate, homophobic, and even racist comments” in regard to their choice of partners, body and weight shames players, and more.

Some players said they had even sought professional psychological help to deal with the intimidation and bullying they have experienced from the coaching staff, headed by manager Borut Jarc.

Other allegations, per the letter, include coaches smuggling alcohol into camp, goalkeeping coach Danilo Sergaš sending inappropriate messages to players, and assistant coach Milomir Kondić making derogatory comments about women’s soccer in Slovenia on social media.

“You’re just taking it because you want to be part of the national team because you want to play and represent your country,” midfielder Dominika Čonč told Josimar Football. “It’s disrespectful, but you’re just taking those things because, obviously in this case, a man’s power over you as a woman is just, you know, it’s big.”

In response to the letter, NZS backed the coaching staff in a statement of its own.

NZS president Radenko Mijatović told Josimar that the federation has set up a committee to investigate the allegations.

“The players are protesting,” Mijatović said. “We are trying to find facts and then we will discuss it with them and hopefully we will find a solution.”

FIFPRO, the world soccer players’ union, declared its support for the players in a statement and urged NZS to take their concerns and requests seriously.

Slovenia is set to play in the UEFA Women’s Nations League tournament later this month, in hopes of qualifying for the 2025 European Championships. The team missed out on a spot in the 2023 Women’s World Cup after drawing Wales last September.

Slovenia’s calls for reform come amid multiple international conflicts between players and their national federations over compensation and treatment, including World Cup champions Spain.

Men’s and women’s soccer teams across Spain are uniting to condemn Luis Rubiales.

Rubiales, president of the Spanish soccer federation, has been under fire since he kissed Jenni Hermoso on the lips during Spain’s World Cup celebration. The kiss was non-consensual, Hermoso said, and though Rubiales has been provisionally suspended by FIFA for 90 days, he has refused to resign from his post.

Soccer players across Spain are now showing their support for Hermoso.

Two men’s teams showed their support. Before Cadiz’ match against Almeria, players held up a banner saying “We Are All With Jenni.” Then, Sevilla’s players donned T-Shirts that read “This is over,” before a match against Girona, echoing Alexis Putellas’ social media message condemning Rubiales.

Women’s players have gotten involved in Spain, too. After Leicy Santos scored the game-winner for Atletico against Milan on Saturday, she celebrated by holding up Hermoso’s jersey and pointing to Hermoso in the crowd.

Hermoso broke her silence of Rubiales’ actions in a statement released Friday.

“I have been under continuous pressure to make a statement that could justify Mr. Luis Rubiales’s’ actions,” she said in the statement. “Not only that, but in different ways and through different people, the RFEF has pressured my surroundings (family, friends, teammates, etc.) to give a testimony that had little or nothing to do with my feelings.

“I do not have to support the person who has committed this action against my will, without respecting me, at a historic moment for me and for women’s sports in this country,” she wrote. “Under no circumstances can it be my responsibility to bear the consequences of conveying something I do not believe in, which is why I have refused the pressures received.”

Luis Rubialies is refusing calls to resign from his post as president of the Spanish soccer federation, but that doesn’t mean he’s immune from disciplinary action.

On Saturday, FIFA provisionally suspended Rubiales from all soccer-related activities for 90 days. Hermoso has come under fire for kissing Spain star Jenni Hermoso on the lips during the team’s World Cup medal ceremony. Hermoso has said the kiss was non-consensual.

“The chairman of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee, Jorge Ivan Palacio (Colombia), in use of the powers granted by article 51 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code (FDC), has decided today to provisionally suspend Mr. Luis Rubiales from all football-related activities at national and international level,” FIFA said in a statement. “This suspension, which will be effective as of today, is for an initial period of 90 days, pending the disciplinary proceedings opened against Mr. Luis Rubiales on Thursday, Aug. 24.

“Likewise, the RFEF and its officials or employees, directly or through third parties, are ordered to refrain from contacting the professional player of the Spanish national team Ms. Jennifer Hermoso and her close environment.”

The federation issued a statement in response to the suspension.

“Luis Rubiales has stated that he will legally defend himself in the competent bodies, he fully trusts FIFA and reiterates that, in this way, he is given the opportunity to begin his defense so that the truth prevails and his complete innocence is proven.”

In another statement from RFEF released Saturday, the federation doubled down on its condemnation of Hermoso.

“The facts are what they are and, no matter how many statement you put out to distort reality, it is impossible to change what happened,” the statement read. “The peck was with consent. Consent is given at the moment with the conditions of the moment. Afterwards you can think that you have made a mistake, but you cannot change the reality.”

After widespread reports that he would resign, Spanish soccer president Luis Rubiales delivered a spirited rant Friday in which he refused to do so.

Pressure is growing for Rubiales to step down as president after an unsolicited kiss of Spain player Jenni Hermoso during Spain’s World Cup celebrations. FIFA opened disciplinary proceedings against Rubiales on Thursday in connection to the incident.

On Friday, Rubiales defended his behavior and said he will “fight to the end” during an emergency meeting of the Spanish federation’s general assembly. The Spanish government later started the legal proceedings necessary to suspend Rubiales.

“Do you think this [incident] is so serious that I should go, after the best management in the history of Spanish football?” he said. “Let me tell you: I’m not going to resign. I’m not going to resign. I’m not going to resign.

“I’ve come under a lot of pressure. Perhaps somebody will look to remove me on Monday. But we live in a country of laws. Is a consensual kiss enough to remove me? I’m going to fight until the end. I hope the law is followed, and that as there’s no reason to [remove me], it won’t happen.”

Rubiales downplayed his actions, which included grabbing his crotch in the presence of Queen Letizia of Spain and her daughter immediately after Spain’s first-ever Women’s World Cup win. He apologized to the queen while attempting to justify the gesture.

“In a moment of euphoria, I grabbed that part of my body,” Rubiales said. “I was looking at [coach] Jorge Vilda. We’ve been through a lot this year. People have wanted to do the same to [Vilda] that people are doing to me, with a false narrative. We’ve suffered a lot. I got very emotional and lost control. … I must apologize to the Queen, the Infanta and the Royal Household. My sincere apologies.”

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Rubiales was seen kissing Spain star Jenni Hermoso during the World Cup medal ceremony. (Noemi Llamas/Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images)

But in regards to the kiss, Rubiales, who has served as RFEF president since 2018, said he did not see any wrongdoing.

“My desire in that moment was exactly the same as if I’d have been kissing one of my daughters,” he said. “No more or less. Everybody understands that. It was a spontaneous kiss, mutual, euphoric and consensual. That’s the key.

“[Hermoso] had missed a penalty. I have a great relationship with all the players. … In the moment that Jenni arrived, she lifted me up off the ground. We almost fell over. We hugged. I said, ‘Forget about the penalty, you’ve been fantastic, we wouldn’t have won the World Cup without you.’ She said: ‘You’re great.’ I said, ‘A kiss?’ And she said: ‘Yes.’

“From ‘no big deal’ and all that, then the pressure starts, the silence of the player and a statement [from Hermoso] that I don’t understand. Justice isn’t being done here. This is a social assassination of me, they’re trying to kill me.”

On Wednesday, Hermoso spoke about the incident for the first time through the players’ union, calling it “unacceptable” and said the actions “should never go unpunished.”

Rubiales has faced growing pressure from multiple sides, including Spain’s Liga F, Spain’s acting prime minister Pedro Sanchez, and high-profile players and coaches. On Friday, he called his critics “false feminists.”

“We must know the difference between truth and lies,” he said. “I’m telling the truth. False feminism doesn’t look for justice or truth, it doesn’t care about people. … [Various politicians] have used terms like sexual violence, assault. What will women who have been sexually assaulted think of that?

“These people are trying to assassinate me and I’m going to defend myself. The false feminists destroy people. … The press, in the majority, will keep killing me, but I know the truth, and what my family and the people who love me think. The truth is the truth.”

The fallout comes in the wake of multiple Spain players refusing to play for the team until their concerns about the federation and Vilda as coach were addressed. Of the 15 players who sent a letter to the federation last fall, three returned to play on the World Cup-winning team.