“Were forced to come here”
Spain’s national team feels blackmailed by the threat of punishment
September 19, 2023, 11:46 p.m
The threat of harsh punishment is working: Spain’s footballers travel to the national team even though they actually want to boycott their next games. Mapi Leon from FC Barcelona makes it clear that the fight for change is by no means over.
Most of the Spanish national soccer players are in the world champion’s training camp against their will. Barça defender Mapi Leon made this clear to reporters after arriving at Valencia airport before traveling to the team’s headquarters.
“We were forced to come here. But if they want to punish us, then we just have to come,” said the 28-year-old, who was not part of the victorious World Cup team: “We can discuss at length whether we should be here are in a safe place when we were forced to be here.”
Because of their strike due to the grievances in the association, which escalated with the Rubiales affair, the national players are facing the threat of harsh sanctions. “If they don’t come, the government would have to apply the law. The law is the law,” said Victor Francos, president of the top sports authority CSD: “The government has the duty to intervene. We will do everything we can to solve the problem. “
Due to the uncertain (sports) legal situation, the players, including more than a dozen world champions from Sydney, traveled to the national team’s training camp before the upcoming Nations League games amid major protests. Leon is not one of the world champions – she had given up the World Cup trip in protest, which had no negative consequences for her.
World champion Jenni Hermoso was kissed on the mouth by the now resigned Spanish association president Luis Rubiales without her consent at the award ceremony after the final in Sydney. The incident triggered a wave of international outrage and shook the Spanish association to its foundations.
Hermoso, who was not nominated, and 20 other world champions declared in an open letter on Friday that they wanted to stay away from the national team – the measures taken were not enough for them. The new national coach Montse Tome still called up the majority of the players.