Women's General Football Discussion

BREAKING NEWS

FIFA Disciplinary Committee has opened disciplinary proceedings against RFEF President Luis Rubiales following his actions at the #FIFAWWC final. pic.twitter.com/F6y5b6RzII

— ata football (@atafball) August 24, 2023

Really good op-ed on this situation as well. This change is long overdue and hopefully it leads to a MeToo movement in Spain. It badly needs one.

Tanto tiempo pidiéndoles explicaciones, lo que querían, lo que no... y resulta que Rubiales se explica mejor que las "chantajistas".

Orientar portadas, dirigir el relato, amedrentar a los periodistas… Pero una imagen es incomprable. Mi opinión. https://t.co/mpJShdtq8c

— Sandra S. Riquelme (@SandraRiquelme_) August 24, 2023

Saw this news and could not believe my eyes about what i was reading. What are you doing dude

I'm pretty sure in many countries that would be some sort of criminal offense. Anyways out of decency he should have already resigned by now.

He's doing what he's always gotten away with. The only difference now is that winning the World Cup has put the spotlight squarely on him and he thought that same behavior would just be allowed to continue.

Basically: He fucked around and is finding out.

Warrior wrote:Saw this news and could not believe my eyes about what i was reading. What are you doing dude

I'm pretty sure in many countries that would be some sort of criminal offense. Anyways out of decency he should have already resigned by now.

Spanish gov officials have made it pretty clear that it was sexual assault, he will be prosecuted criminally

56 Spanish players have signed the statement, including ALL 23 World Cup winning players. pic.twitter.com/DcMfW9MS5g

— Attacking Third (@AttackingThird) August 25, 2023

This is definitive from the World Champions.

The men's team really should be showing solidarity here with them. Borja Iglesias already has, but the reality is he's not a key player for them. The potential starters need to step up. They're silence is deafening.

A strong statement by the players of Spanish National Team.

The players will no longer play with the national team if the same leaders remain in place.

The statement is signed by 81 players including the current and veteran players from Spain. pic.twitter.com/P28eV3NWY0

— ata football (@atafball) August 25, 2023

Full list of the 81 players who are boycotting NT callups until Rubiales leaves.

I think the guy refuse to leave because it will look better in a court of law if he did not publicly admit any wrongdoing

Surely he's expecting to be sacked anyways

He doesn't really have to admit anything. Shit is all on video for the world to see. And then there's Hermoso's exposure of RFEF making statements on her behalf without her knowledge, Vilda pressuring her family to get her to support Rubiales.....and then there's her teammates who witnessed all of this as well as experienced some of it.

One only withholds an admission of guilt to protect one's self when there's no evidence of wrongdoing. That's not the case here and if Rubiales thinks so, he's even more coked up than he appeared to be when he made that idiotic speech.

Who cares about his admission of guilt! Your honor, there were no witnesses except a 100 broadcast cameras and millions of viewers from various countries, where did I go wrong??!

I expected him to double down knowing the maggot that he is but that presser was quite unhinged, with many in the room clapping and Lucho defending him... A lot of masks have been uncovered today

With regards to the first revolt against the coach. One of the issues was he insisted they keep their doors unlocked at all times, even at night. Rumor here is there were 2 or 3 couples on team and he didn’t want any sex before games (as is requested supposedly sometimes in Men’s nTs. Apparently he would check on them at night to ensure they were alone. Can’t believe I’m hearing this. So many things wrong with this!

And Rubiales came down on coach’s side of this. Plus coach had a video of him during game with his hand on asst. woman coach’s breast. Yet Rubiales gave him a huge public raise today during his ‘I will not trsign’ rant.

Don’t know how this will end up, but at least these two need to be put away.

So its shown time n again pretty much these top ppl in many sports industry worldwide are just basically mafia bosses like Not too surprised, more surprised is how he lost control so publicly... I mean wait till backstage to do these kinda things u idiot XD He deserves all the shit coming to him, another powerful idiot who thought he really became kind n can do anything whenever

Strong words from Xavi:

“Firstly, unconditional support for Jenni & players in the women's game. Secondly, condemn the behaviour of the RFEF president, which was totally unacceptable. Thirdly, I express sadness that it has taken away from the historic World Cup win.” pic.twitter.com/8DoA8kQFCO

— ata football (@atafball) August 26, 2023

He stopped short of calling for Rubiales' resignation, but this is encouraging. Xavi is perhaps the most high profile person on the men's side to say something thus far.

The entire staff of Jorge Vilda, the national team's coach has resigned in solidarity with the players:

And here it is!

The entire coaching staff of Jorge Vilda unanimously RESIGN.#LuisRubiales #RFEF pic.twitter.com/hxIM0Vagzp

— Semra Hunter (@SemraHunter) August 26, 2023

Utterly delusional:

RFEF has tripled down and published an absolutely bonkers statement on their site using a series of still photos from the World Cup awards ceremony and bizarre descriptions of body positioning to claim that Hermoso is lying about Rubiales https://t.co/WqCr0XgWFf pic.twitter.com/RsIRAAj5Di

— Steph Yang | Horrible Soccer Goose (@thrace) August 25, 2023

Finally FIFA has acted.

FIFA Disciplinary Committee under article 51 of the disciplinary code has provisionally suspended Luis Rubiales from "all football-related activities at national and international level" for 90 days. Rubiales and RFEF must refrain from contacting Hermoso. pic.twitter.com/Sfl47eO7ih

— Steph Yang | Horrible Soccer Goose (@thrace) August 26, 2023

Nothing from UEFA. Not even a statement.

Newest news on Luis Rubiales; his mother has locked herself in a church and is on a hunger strike because of the “hunt” of her son

She’s asking Jenni Hermoso to “tell the truth” https://t.co/h4QL42KhJ6

— Alex Ibaceta (@alexibaceta23) August 28, 2023

She's a shitty mom. I don't care.

Comunicado oficial de la Comisión de Presidentes Territoriales de la RFEF.

https://t.co/aSkWOmcvrz pic.twitter.com/oa9xYxUnuA

— RFEF (@rfef) August 28, 2023

Basically:

- They're asking Rubiales to resign.

- They're announcing a restructuring of how they operate to allow for new management, which was triggered by Rubiales' suspension by FIFA.

- They're requesting that Rubiales' VP, Pedro Rocha, use his power as acting President to withdraw the request to FIFA to withdraw from UEFA in protest over Rubiales' suspension.

- They want to do all of the above in order to focus on hosting the 2030 World Cup.

My take: They're fucking weak, spineless and delusional if they believe any of the above is enough to fix what is very clearly a deep-rooted systemic problem within Spanish football.

For true change to come, all of them need to go. Whole thing needs to be burned down and rebuilt from the ground up......by women.

In other news, Trinity Rodman is out here doing this to 2-time World Champions:

Trinity Rodman Dragback Nutmeg Filth 🪄 Bringing Mixtape Moves to the home of Dag Nasty and Mambo Sauce. [Via @david_schwab]pic.twitter.com/qyFLZdShmi

— Men in Blazers (@MenInBlazers) August 27, 2023

Rubiales' mother on hunger strike

The mother of Rubiales has locked herself inside a church and announced a hunger strike in protest at his "inhumane treatment" following his unsolicited kiss on Hermoso.


Rubiales 46 years old

At this point just take the jail time ffs

It's quite simple. He disrespected Hermoso's physical integrity, and it was done in public without response, it's also an attack to her dignity. In what could have been a memorable day in her life. Resign and apologize without crying, that was the best way for him to save face. But now it's too late, it turned into a circus involving even his mother, would you believe...

I'm not suprised that mother raised a vile, repulsive and shameless sexual harasser. Locked herself in a church too, indicating she's very religious, no surprise there either. Probably thinks sexual harassment is wholesome

A little late on this, but:

Jorge Vilda sacked as Spain coach amid continuing fallout over Rubiales kiss https://t.co/C4edYYaZLX

— Sid Lowe (@sidlowe) September 6, 2023

Great news, but not nearly enough.

WE SAID HOLY DEBINHApic.twitter.com/t9VrWDzGa0

— Diaspora United Pod (Crystal Dunn’s Lucky Charms) (@DiasporaUtdPod) September 17, 2023

Debinha is a menace. What a strike.

So 20 (out of 23 total) players that Spain's new coach, Montse Tome, called up expressed that they do not want to play for this team again until the structural rot that enabled the abuse under Rubiales, Vilda and others is removed and the organization rebuilt. RFEF, instead of trying to listen and make those changes, instead threatened these players with a $30K fine and a 2-15 year suspension of their playing licenses, which would prevent them from playing not just for the NT, but club football as well. Apparently Tome tried to tell the press that she had spoken with these 20 and had secured their permission to call them up, but all of them have gone public calling that a lie. It should be noted that Tome was Rubiales' final appointment before he resigned as RFEF president. She was also Vilda's assistant. It could be said she's complicit in the abuse both men (among others) subjected the players to, but I would say it's more likely she simply enabled it by not speaking up and has since been rewarded for her silence with this post. And yet she has already lost the locker room before the 1st training session.

As of today, the players are meeting up at several separate camps all over the country. Some, including Real Madrid keeper Misa Rodriguez and Barca attacker Alexia Putellas have said they are not happy with having to attend these camps. Most of the players have visibly looked unhappy as well. One of their opponents, Sweden, has already signaled solidarity with the Spanish players, should they decide to boycott their match.

The players who were called up for Spain that were in Madrid have appeared to travel to their training camp.#RealMadrid goalkeeper Misa Rodriguez declared she was not happy to be there. pic.twitter.com/FlSfwZAhYF

— Football España (@footballespana_) September 19, 2023

It should be noted that these players have to show up to several different camps because RFEF called them up with virtually no time for them or their clubs to secure proper travel accommodations. And then there's the matter of the pitch at the Valencia camp having no working floodlights so the players can't train in the evening, which is needed due to the face that the weather is pretty hot there right now. The match against Sweden is in 3 days. These training conditions are simply not good enough.

The Class of 2023/24

Introducing the 16 #UWCL group stage contenders

All eyes on Friday’s #UWCLdraw! pic.twitter.com/61PPtViuxe

— UEFA Women’s Champions League (@UWCL) October 18, 2023

Group Stage set for the Women's Champions League and some big names are already missing.

Paris FC took out both Arsenal and Wolfsburg (just today) in the group stage qualifiers. They're honestly not a big name in this competition, but Manchester United also didn't make the cut either. They were eliminated by PSG. France's Sandy Baltimore scored this excellent goal:

HOW

Sandy Baltimore warping space in her favor to put PSG 3-1 up against Manchester United!

Watch live https://t.co/1nI0SQf9TC#UWCL pic.twitter.com/ligdY6GmhE

— DAZN Football (@DAZNFootball) October 18, 2023

Arsenal have had a bad start to the season anyway so they weren't really favorite, but Wolfsburg were actual finalists last year so that's the bigger upset to me.

That essentially make Barcelona the decisive favorites this year. Chelsea might be able to challenge them, but it's too early in the WSL season to know for sure. Lyon are always favorites in this comp, regardless of their domestic form. Real Madrid have improved in virtually every way possible so this might be the year they take the next step in their growth as a club. PSG are kinda in this same boat, but a little further along. They need to perform more convincingly in the knockouts though. They have a similar problem to the men's side when it comes to that.

With them having the label of giant killers this season, can't rule out Paris FC at this point. We might see a Cinderella run from them. That would be dope. That's a team full of ballers.

Yes, Emma Hayes to #USWNT.

With @David_Ornstein at @TheAthleticFC https://t.co/lTHzkOTCYB Emma Hayes to leave Chelsea at end of season; set to take USWNT job

— Meg Linehan (@itsmeglinehan) November 4, 2023

Seismic news here. Hayes is one of the best coaches in the women's game. Probably the one coach that could realistically bring the US forward after that disappointing WC.