Spain‘s national team has reached an agreement to play their upcoming Nations League games against Sweden and Switzerland, following hours of negotiations in Oliva, near Valencia.
The players travelled to Oliva on Tuesday afternoon, after the RFEF changed the venue of their training camp in order to escape the press in Madrid. Misa Rodriguez of Real Madrid admitted she was not happy to be doing so, with several others declaring the situation was not ideal.
However all 23 players attended in Oliva, and were locked in negotiations for some seven hours with members of the RFEF, Manager Montse Tome, Victor Francos from the Ministry for Sport, with the latter emerging in the early hours of the morning. Relevo report that negotiations were ongoing for a total of 7 hours.
The upshot is that 21 of the players in the squad will continue for their upcoming games, while two of them will leave the squad. Francos asked for maximum respect for their personal decisions, and would not reveal which players they were, although clearly that will become apparent in the coming days.
“I am honest: I think the situation is in a difficult moment, but I think it is good news to say that the senior women’s team will play the two games with guarantees.”
The two players that will leave will do so without punishment. Francos had previously said that they had a duty to apply the law, which requires national team players to attend, or face a fine of up to €30k and potentially a loss of their playing licence for 2-15 years. This was agreed with the High Council for Sport (CSD) and the RFEF.
This appears to be the first step towards improved relations, although the footballers themselves are yet to pronounce publicly since the meeting. Previously 39 players had said that they would not play again until there were profound changes in the RFEF – it seems those changes are coming.
