U.S. women’s national team star Megan Rapinoe expressed her support for the Spanish national team in a message posted Thursday to her Instagram.

Fifteen players on Spain’s national team asked not to be called up to the squad until their concerns were addressed.

The Spanish federation claimed the players had resigned the team in refusal to play under coach Jorge Vilda, but the players took issue with that characterization. In any case, the Spanish federation threw its support behind Vilda, taking a hard-line approach.

“The RFEF is not going to allow the players to question the continuity of the national coach and his coaching staff, since making those decisions does not fall within their powers,” the Spanish soccer association said.

Rapinoe added her voice to the player protest, backing the Spanish team on social media.

“You got a 16th standing with you in (the United States),” Rapinoe wrote. “This many players together like this is so powerful. We should all listen.”

The USWNT is scheduled to travel to Spain for an Oct. 11 friendly in Pamplona.

The U.S women’s national soccer team will travel to Pamplona, Spain, to take on the Spanish national team on Oct. 11 at El Sadar Stadium.

The fixture, announced Monday, is part of a two-match European swing. The USWNT first will face off against England at Wembley Stadium on Oct. 7.

The October friendlies come after a landmark 2022 UEFA Women’s EURO tournament, with England charging to the championship after knocking out Spain in the quarterfinals.

“I know Spain fell short of their goals at the Euros, but they are a fantastic team, one of the best in the world, with world class players all over the field and as a coaching staff, we are really looking forward to the challenges these two games will present for our team,” USWNT coach Vlatko Andonovski said. “Away matches against England and Spain are among the most difficult and high-profile friendlies a team can play and having those experiences will be valuable in many different ways for our continuing preparations for the World Cup.”

The USWNT and Spain have met three times before, with the United States pulling out three tight victories, including a 2-1 win in the 2019 World Cup’s round of 16.

Spain is one of nine European teams already qualified for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, while the USWNT qualified for both the World Cup and the 2024 Paris Olympics after their Concacaf W Championship run.

Sarina Wiegman was named the UEFA Coach of the Year on Thursday after helping lead England to its first Euros title, while Spain’s Alexia Putellas is the UEFA Women’s Player of the Year for the second consecutive year.

Since taking over the England post, Wiegman has been on a tear. The team has yet to lose a match during her tenure and players like Beth Mead have thrived. Mead won the Euros Golden Boot, which goes to the tournament’s highest scorer, and finished as one of the top two runners-up to Putellas for the Player of the Year.

This year brought the first Coach of the Year award for Wiegman but her second Euros title. She also won in 2017 as manager for the Netherlands.

“It’s really nice to receive this very great award and I’m very honored,” Wiegman said. “This award really is for everyone involved with the England team. The FA, the staff and of course, all the players. Since I started in September, things have gone really well. We’ve really enjoyed it and we’ve performed at the highest level. Our fans have been very great too, so thank you.”

Putellas becomes the first women’s player to win the award in back-to-back years.

A star for Barcelona, she played in 26 matches in the Primera División in 2021-22, scoring 18 goals and adding 15 assists. In the Champions League, she notched two goals through nine matches.

The midfielder is also up for the Ballon d’Or after winning it last year.

Alexia Putellas could not join Spain on the pitch for the team’s UEFA Women’s Euro opener after tearing her ACL days before the start of the tournament.

The Ballon d’Or winner, however, made her presence known, cheering on her teammates from the sidelines.

After falling behind Finland early due to an excellent first-minute finish from Linda Sällström, Spain rallied, much to Putellas’ delight.

Putellas was brought to her feet after Irene Paredes pulled Spain level in the 26th minute behind a well-executed header.

Aitana Bonmati added to Spain’s lead just before the break with another sublime header. After her go-ahead goal, the 24-year-old ran to captain Putellas to celebrate.

Spain rode their escalating momentum into the second half, notching two more goals to put Finland away 4-1.

The two teams played in front of a crowd of 16,819 in Milton Keynes, a tournament record for a non-host group stage matchup.

Spain will play Germany on Tuesday in the team’s second contest of group play.

Spain will be without one of its star players for the UEFA Women’s European Championship after Alexia Putellas tore the ACL in her left knee.

The Spanish team announced the injury Tuesday. Earlier in the day, the team revealed that Putellas had sustained a knee sprain during a training session, but the extent of the injury was not known.

Putellas is widely regarded as one of the best players in the world, and recently was named the best player in the world by ESPN. The midfielder also has the most caps on the Spanish team, having made 100 international appearances and notching 27 goals.

Jennifer Hermoso, who is the top goalscorer in Spanish national team history with 45, ranked eighth on ESPN’s list. The team will be without Hermoso as well, however, as she was ruled out of the tournament in June with a knee injury.

The reigning Ballon d’Or Féminin winner, Putellas was also named the UEFA Women’s Player of the Year in 2021. During the most recent Champions League season, Putellas finished as the top scorer with 11 goals. She also was named the Best FIFA Women’s Player.

The Spanish women’s national team is coming off of a 1-1 draw in a friendly with Italy last Friday, in which Putellas was the lone goal scorer for Spain. Spain is scheduled to begin its group stage campaign at the Euros against Finland on Friday.

The Spanish women’s national soccer team will receive equitable payment as part of a new five-year labor deal, the Spanish Football Federation announced Tuesday.

Players will receive a percentage of bonuses equal to the men’s team, and also will receive money from future sponsorships, image rights as well as improvements on the team’s working conditions. The deal will go into effect immediately.

“We have agreed with the Spanish Women’s National Team the amounts that will be allocated in bonuses and image rights during Euro 2022 and for the next five years,” the RFEF said in a statement. “Through the agreement, the bonuses received in percentages by the players are equal to those received by the [men].”

The agreement comes on the heels of the USWNT signing a new CBA that ensures equal pay with the men’s team. The U.S. teams will pool the World Cup bonuses received from FIFA and split them equally. The move counteracts the uneven payouts awarded by FIFA, which pays much more to men’s teams.

Other countries have made strides toward equal pay but have not leveled FIFA’s unequal payouts. For example, in Australia, the men’s and women’s teams receive the same percentage of the World Cup bonuses, but the men can make much more than the women because of FIFA’s payouts.

While the new deal for the Spanish national team cites equal percentages, the RFEF did not provide specific information on what that would entail.

Spain is scheduled to kick off their Women’s Euro campaign against Finland on July 8. They will also play Germany and Denmark in the group stage.

As Women’s World Cup qualifying continues in Europe through September, three teams have already qualified for the 2023 tournament: Spain, Sweden and France.

Sweden booked its ticket as the UEFA Group A winner after a 1-1 draw against Ireland on Tuesday.

Elsewhere, Spain’s Jennifer Hermoso scored twice in a 2-0 victory over Scotland to clinch a spot as the winner of Group B. Spain will be making its third World Cup appearance. France won Group I following a 1-0 win against Slovenia to seal its fifth World Cup berth.

With the three qualifications, a total of eight guaranteed spots remain for European teams in next year’s tournament, plus one spot that will be determined by a playoff tournament.

Both Germany and Norway could make a strong case, with Norway recently returning Ada Hegerberg to its national team. England will also hope to qualify in front of a hometown crowd at the UEFA Women’s Euro 2022 tournament this summer.

A total of 10 teams have qualified for next year’s World Cup out of a field of 32.

Australia and New Zealand have automatically qualified as hosts while China, Japan, South Korea, the Philippines and Vietnam have all qualified from Asia.

Alexia Putellas has been named the best FIFA Women’s Player of 2021, beating out Spanish national team and Barcelona teammate Jenni Hermoso as well as Australia national teamer and Chelsea’s Sam Kerr.

Putellas ended the year with 43 goals, helping Barcelona win the league, the cup and the UEFA Women’s Champions League for the first time in club history.

“This belongs to everyone,” Putellas said upon receiving the award. “I hope we can continue with the same or even more motivations this year and we can be very successful again.”

It’s Putellas’ third individual award in the last six months. In August, she was named UEFA Women’s Player of the Year and in November won the Ballon d’Or.

Chelsea manager Emma Hayes was named the Best FIFA Women’s Coach after winning the domestic Treble and making the Champions League final.

Barcelona has had a record-breaking start to 2022, selling out Camp Nou for the upcoming Champions League quarterfinal game.

Editor’s note: this is part of an ongoing series of photo essays by photographer Jesse Louie. You can read his introductory note here.

I was in Harrison, NJ, on March 8, 2020, for the U.S. women’s national team’s 2nd stop during the #SheBelieves Cup.

The weather was picture-perfect. A sold-out crowd of 26,500 packed the Red Bull Arena stands and ushered in chants of U-S-A at every opportunistic moment to celebrate the incredible women who occupied the field. Oh yeah, and it also just happened to be #InternationalWomensDay.

On paper, it could not have been scripted any better.

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But there was something different about this game. In the days leading up, the growing concerns over the spread of COVID-19 were quickly becoming a harsh reality. Questions about player safety were top of mind during Coach Vlatko Andonovski’s press conference the day before kickoff, players were advised to elbow and fist-bump instead of shake hands, a short video was presented to remind fans how to best prevent the spread of disease, and fans were notified that players would not be available for pictures and autographs post-game.

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And while the impact of COVID-19 was felt in-arena, the USWNT did their best to do what they’ve always done… cancel out the noise and put on a show.

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The game kicked off and started what would be a back-and-forth battle between USA and Spain. 85+ nail-biting minutes and the scoreboard flashing zeroes had fans on the edge of their seats.

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And then it happened. The ‘Hollywood ending’ of all endings.

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A perfectly served cross off of a Christen Press free kick connected with Julie Ertz’s head, sending the ball rocketing into the back of the net in the 87th minute.

*chef’s kiss*

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Sports often offer a sense of release. An escape from whatever tumultuous reality that players, coaches, and fans are currently facing. As I sit here with sports currently on hiatus, it’s never been more clear that the sense of unity that the U.S women’s national team conveys was even more present on that night.

Taking a page out of their book, I hope that these images and words can offer you a few minutes of relief while you’re safely doing your part during this pandemic. Nobody knows when sports will resume or when this team will take the field again, but rest assured that this same energy from this specific night in March will be back and better than ever when they do.

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