World Cup hero Olga Carmona has left it up in the air as to whether she or the rest of her Spain teammates will return to action next week, as their next clash against Sweden fast approaches.
Including Jenni Hermoso, 80 players signed a statement saying they would not play for Spain again until there were significant changes to the way the Spanish Football Federation was being run.
Since, RFEF President Luis Rubiales has resigned, Manager Jorge Vilda has been sacked and his assistant Montse Tome has been appointed to the role. Yet she still has no staff, and there is no sporting director in place either.
“There have been several changes. We have a new coach, but first of all we have to wait for the next squad and see what happens. Rubiales’ resignation is very recent and we will have to talk amongst ourselves and see what happens,” Carmona told El Hormiguero, via Marca.
Carmona revealed that during the World Cup, Spain did have many of the professional aspects of the game that they were asking for. However that will need to be maintained now.
“Really what we want, we have just seen, with the example that we have been world champions. What we want is to continue that line of growth that women’s football is having. We want to be given the conditions, which in this World Cup I believe we have had, and we have been very comfortable because the Federation has bent over backwards, and I think that has also helped us achieve what we have achieved. So we have to continue along that line of growth and improvements to be able to develop our profession at the highest level.”
No doubt amongst the 80 players who declared strike, and the 23 who will be called up, finding a consensus will be tricky. It is not yet clear whether those who held out from the World Cup squad will become available either.
The next Spain squad is due for Friday, with Tome set to announce her first squad for the following Friday and then Tuesday fixtures against Sweden and Switzerland in the Nations League.
