Jorge Vilda Led Spain To Their First Women’s World Cup But Has Now Been Fired

Jorge Vilda was sacked as Spain Women’s lead coach on Tuesday September 5. The 42-year-old was criticized for applauding the suspended president of the Spanish FA, Luis Rubiales, as he led Spain to victory over England in the World Cup final on August 20.

He received a lot of criticism from the general public for his actions including regional presidents of the Spain Football Association calling for Luis Rubiales’ immediate resignation. However, Vilda claims that he has been unfairly fired.

Jorge Vilda, has been dismissed by the Spanish Football Federation. He has branded his sacking as Spain Women’s head coach only weeks after winning the World Cup as “unfair”.

Vilda, who led Spain to a 1-0 win over England in the World Cup final on August 20, was excused by the Spanish Football Organization (RFEF) with Montse Tome named as his replacement.

The ongoing repercussions of suspended RFEF president Luis Rubiales’ behavior during the on-field celebrations following Spain’s victory in Sydney led to Vilda’s departure.

In an interview with Cadena SER, Vilda stated,

“I am as well as you can be having being fired after being world champion 10 days ago. I believe I have been fired unfairly”.

“In sporting terms, I am going to accept all criticism, but on a personal level, I believe it has been unfair.

“It has been a special year, I’ve seen it as a Master’s degree. Nothing has ever been said directly but indirectly things have been said that do not sit well with me. Things have been said that are not true.”

He added of his dismissal: “It was a brief meeting with Pedro Rocha and the vice president of Equality. The explanation is that there have been ‘structural changes’.

“After everything I’ve achieved, after having given my 100 per cent, my conscience is clear. I don’t understand the firing, I didn’t think I deserved it.”

In response to the ongoing crisis surrounding Rubiales, who was pictured kissing Spain forward Jenni Hermoso on the lips, all 11 of Vilda’s backroom colleagues had already resigned.

Spain Beat England To Emerge Champions Of The World

Vilda himself experienced harsh criticism for cheering Rubiales’ phenomenal remarks during an ensuing public interview, in which the RFEF president more than once wouldn’t leave and hit out at “fake women’s activists”.

Meanwhile, sources claim that 15 players wrote to the RFEF recently threatening to boycott the team if Vilda was not fired. Their dissatisfaction was centered on how Vilda managed injuries, the atmosphere in the locker room, his selection of teams, and training sessions.

Semra Hunter, a Spanish football expert, claims that there are concerns about how players will even react to Tome’s appointment.

“It’s great that, for the first time, a woman is holding this position, but if you listen to a lot of the people who are in the know, players themselves who know Montse Tome, they will tell you they have very serious doubts and they are not quite sure she is the right person for the job.

“She doesn’t have experience level, she’s never been a first-team head coach and she has been the assistant to Vilda since 2018. So she is a continuation of the philosophy and the methodology that were already put into practice, even if she was one of those 11 that resigned after Rubiales gave his speech.

“The thing is, there are a lot of questions about how the players themselves are going to take this, because they haven’t said anything as of yet.

“The Spanish media are saying the players, more or less, got along with her quite well over the last few years, then others are saying no because she was very much on the side of Vilda when everything went down a year ago with those 15 players sending the email to the federation. The rifts and the fractures are still very much there among a lot of these players.

“Yes, it’s great to have a woman take up the role, but this would have been a brilliant opportunity to find the right person, male or female, somebody who was qualified, with the credentials to take up the position of now leading the best women’s team in the world at present. It will be interesting to see what the response is.”