Spanish women win FIFA Women's World Cup while men celebrate inappropriately

This post was edited several times on 23 August 2023 at after being originally published on 22 August 2023 to include additional information.  These updates appear within the article to assist in a narrative flow based on the time the events occurred, and do not appear at the end of the article.

On Sunday, the Spanish women won the FIFA Women's World Cup in Sydney, Australia by defeating a talented English side 1 - 0.  The team's lone goal was scored by 23-year-old Real Madrid player, Olga Carmona.

This was a team that was not highly favored to win the tournament, despite the depth of talent on the squad and possessing the current balon d'or winner because of behind the scenes issues that saw fifteen players send a letter to the Spanish football federation, RFEF, in September 2022 to say they did not want to be selected for the national team until reforms were made to team management.   At the time, the women did not intend the letter to become public, but the RFEF published the private letter anyway to retaliate against the players and then threatened the players publicly with additional consequences.  Behind the scenes, the players had a few specific complaints.

This included that the coach, José Vilda, required players leave their hotel doors unlocked until midnight so he could inspect their rooms and monitor their activities, that their bags were often checked and searched for no reason, that he was controlling, cold and condescending.  They also had specific footballing complaints like Vilda was not prepared tactically, that his training sessions were poorly run, that the training facilities were not up to modern footballing needs, that they chose to take long bus trips instead of shorter flights which left players tired and exhausted and less ready to play, and that they had made previous complaints which the RFEF had ignored.  Privately, there were also issues with team selection with accusations of favoritism with some of the best players being left off the squad.

While the players had not specifically called for Vilda's resignation, it was clear that they were trying to force him out.  His ability to lead, or not lead, had been an issue for many fans of women's football in Spain and #VildaOut often trended on X, formerly known as Twitter, in the past two years whenever the Spanish team was in action.

This created a tense atmosphere inside the Spanish locker room and inside the community of supporters of Spanish women's football.  This was overlaid onto a culture of club factionalism inside Spain, where the count of how many players from which clubs often has been a huge issue as Spain can sometimes be a country where it is club before country, unless the Spanish team is going to win a major tournament.

All this tension meant the expectations for the Spanish women going into this tournament were reduced.  Only three of nine of The Guardian's women's football writers predicted Spain would make it to the final.  Those three had Spain meeting Australia, Brazil and the United States with Jonas Eidevall, Jeff Kassouf, Kieran Pender all having someone win other than Spain.  Kassouf even mentioned the issues as a potential hinderance to making the final, saying, "In Spain’s case, they have to overcome dysfunction at the federation level".

Spain's victory was amazing because of everything that happened behind the scenes. Spain celebrated like it was 2010, except less prepared because of the heat wave and because local governments underestimated the huge amount of interest Spanish fans had in the team.

There was always a feeling in Spain, and certainly among the more diehard supporters, that the women could win it and it would matter but what came after would be the real story because it would be a moment of reckoning related to all the things that occurred inside the RFEF, including the previous women's coach, Ignacio Quereda,  being fired after years of complaints for doing things like pinching players butts. and saying things like, "Let's see if you take care of yourself: you're fat," and "What you need is a man".  If Spain won, the fear was this day of reckoning may never come.  If Spain lost, that would be sad considering the generational talent Spain has and how much work the women have put in on the club level and through their protests, with four of the original fifteen having made the decision to not make themselves available for team selection because they did not see changes having been made. Among them Patri Guijarro and Mapi León, who should be balon d'or nominees even if they are not going to win but likely lost that chance by sticking to their principles.

It turns out the moments of reckoning did not even need for the game to end before they took place, though some of this would occur later.

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Vilda grabs the breast of Spain's second trainer

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During the match, appearing live on Spanish public television's RTVE Channel 1, national team coach Jose Vilda grabbed the breast of the team's second trainer in celebration of a good moment on the pitch.  While he went on to touch some of the male trainers, he did not touch or linger on their nipples nor did he grab their testicles.

Speaking of testicle grabbing, someone else did feel the need to celebrate Spain's win by grabbing testicles.

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Spain's queen in red, the princess in red with a striped top, and a man grabbing his testicles

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A man grabbing his testicles and thrusting to celebrate Spain's victory

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Unlike Vilda who went with grabbing a woman's breast, the president of the RFEF, Luis Rubiales, did feel like the moment called for testicle grabbing.  So standing very close to the Spanish queen and the Spanish princess, who is a minor, Rubiales on public television, grabbed his testicles and thrust in celebration of the success of Spanish women winning the World Cup.

The RFEF also felt like this was a moment of celebration.  They were ready on Twitter to celebrate the women's victory, a historic victory, where Spain's women won the World Cup and became only the second nation to have won both the men's and women's World Cup.

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"#VildaIn" the RFEF said in defiance of all those who criticized the federation for allowing this allegedly sexist, controlling, non-tactical coach to stay on.  It was a response to all the critics of the coach who regularly tweeted, "#VildaOut".  That did not go over well.

Vilda, meanwhile, initially celebrated on the pitch with other coaches while his team's players were elsewhere.  Then Vilda's initial comments to the media used the word campeones to describe the team, not campeonas.  Spanish is a gendered language, and his comment could roughly be translated as "men's champions".  His usage of the word was such that even the notorously sexist Real Academia Español criticized him obliquely.

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The masculine word choice reflected criticisms by others of his sexist attitudes, as calling it a victory for men by using the masculine word choice was about center Vilda and his accomplishments instead of the accomplishments of his players.

At this point, with the women celebrating, the RFEF president having grabbed his balls while standing next to the Spanish queen and princess and the coach referring to the women as men's champions in order to include himself among them, it feels like enough of a reckoning.  Except this is Spain.  And this is a federation where RFEF President Rubiales was being investigated for allegedly using RFEF funds for a private party in Granada where six to eight female escorts were hired to entertain guests. Oh, and where Rubiales had been caught criticizing the professionalization of the women's football league in Spain.  This is a country where the RFEF President did not show up to give out medals to the women's Super League winners.  Instead, players had to pick them out of the case themselves, such is the contempt of the federation for an event they hosted.

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Barça players picking up their winners medals. No one from the RFEF was there to hand them to the campeonas.

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Of course there was more. How could there not be given the level of dysfunction?

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Rubiales forcefully grabs the head of a player and kisses her on the lips.

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Rubiales grabbed most of the women and lifted them up in a "spontaneous display of emotion" after a victory in a match he did not play in.  He did this while standing next to Spain's princess.  When it came to Jenni Hermoso's turn, Rubiales went one further: He grabbed her by the head, and then kissed her on the lips.  This was a situation where there was no way for Hermoso to say no, there was no polite way to extricate herself and any sort of retaliation she took would have led to massive victim blaming.  This is a World Cup winner and a past balon d'or nominee.  She was sexually abused on the world stage, in front of cameras from around the world, by the RFEF President.

Gross. Later, Hermoso was on Instagram live and asked about the kiss, to which she said something like, "I didn't like it but what could I do [in that moment]?"

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Rubiales kissed more subordinates without their consent after the medals ceremony.

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Rubiales, the president of the RFEF was not done with non-consensual, non-mutual kissing of his subordinates on public Spanish television.  When one player had taken a camera and was filming herself celebrating, Rubiales decided to photo bomb that moment by kissing her on the cheek to.  He didn't stop to ask something like, "Campeona, ¿un beso por favor?" Nope, he just kissed Olga Carmona.

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Rubiales posing for the camera

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The only one who looked comfortable after Rubiales second unwanted kiss was Rubiales as can be seen in the after kiss picture.  She scored the winning goal.  And shortly after this, she learned from the RFEF that her father had passed away.

Bad.  All bad.  But you know, when you're going down this road, well, Rubiales continued to go down this road and into the Spanish women's team locker room and have another chat with Jenni Hermoso.

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Among the topics Rubiales apparently talked to Hermoso about his how he'd love to marry her. Er.  What?  Hermoso, who had said on Instagram she didn't like the kiss, has had her body language extensively analyzed in this widely shared image.  While Rubiales has his arm around her to prevent escape, Hermoso tried to put as much physical distance using her hips between herself and the man who assaulted her on the world stage.

At this point, the story starts to really gain traction. Spain has an active feminist community and a lot of very avid football fans.  Twitter and other social media start complaining. At this point, two of Spain's major sport dailys, Diario AS and Marca, decided it was time to support the RFEF president through tweets and news stories.

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They compared Rubiales grabbing a woman's head so she cannot escape to kiss her on the lips to a consensual kiss between a player and his then journalist girlfriend after the Spanish men won the World Cup in 2010.  Iker Casillas, who at one point came close to challenging Rubiales for president of the federation, was not amused and asked why Rubiales hadn't resigned yet.

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L'Equipe was like, "What? Why are they kissing? We have no knowledge of a relationship!"

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The international media though was a lot less supportive of Rubiales engaging in grabbing the head of someone whom he has institutional power over and forcefully kissing her on the mouth.  France's L'Equipe was like, "We have no knowledge of a relationship between Rubiales and Hermoso."

This is all very, very, very bad optics for a federation dealing with accusations of corruption, of sexism, of racism. A media consultant should have said, "Stop this train wreck now." Nope.  Spain is special.

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Hey critics, Rubiales said, you're ass holes / gilipollas.

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Rubiales felt like the criticism was wrong, and then he called those who disagreed with his spontaneous display of mutual emotion over a victory, among other things, ass holes.

The RFEF shortly released a statement saying that the Hermoso and Rubiales both said it was a mutual kiss of shared celebration.

And then the Spanish contingent, all 300 of them including family members, players, coaches, staff, federation officials, got on a chartered Iberia flight back to Spain with a stop in Doha.  This flight included Rubiales, Vilda, Hermoso, Olga, Hermoso's family, the ethics person for the RFEF...

And then obviously, Rubiales got the message that this was a huge issue and it was not going to go away.  The pressure was on. Rubiales as discretely as you can on a plane with 300 people tried to get a message to Hermoso that would she please plase please please please appear with him in an apology video to be filmed when the plane stopped for refueling.  When this did not work, Vilda was sent to talk to Hermoso's family three different times to try to get her family to talk Hermoso into appearing in an apology video where mutual desire for the kiss was to be acknowledged.

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Rubiales, alone in a video

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Yeah, that did not work.  Hermoso stuck to her principles.  She was  world champion.  She wanted to celebrate this.  This was a distraction away from her and her team's well earned victory created by Rubiales.  His problem.

So Rubiales did a solo video. He did not mention that he forcefully grabbed the head of a woman over whom he has authority and kissed her.  He did not issue a personal apology to Hermoso for the distraction he created.  He did not acknowledge that despite all the video evidence he violated RFEF internal policies regarding how superiors should treat their subordinates.  He did say he made a mistake and apologized to those who were offended.

Are you still following? Did you catch that? At this point in the narrative, RFEF policy had been dug up.

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RFEF regulations specifically prohibits kissing with force.  Also, excessive touching and hugging. In the case of Vilda, it also prohibits the touching of breasts and genitals.

Rubiales apology does not go over well.  It was viewed as a non-apology aimed at trying to maintain his position, his status and minimizing damage. Women's football fans, feminists, people who don't like sexual assault were not having any of it.

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The plane lands in Spain with the campeonas, er campeones

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The Spanish delegation finally arrived back at Madrid's Barajas airport where the doors open and the trophy is ceremoniously taken out of the plane for the Spanish people witness.  In 2010, the trophy was brought out by player Iker Casillas.  He led the exist and did so by himself. In contrast, when the women brought the trophy out, both Vilda and Rubiales made sure they were there, at the front, flanking team captain Ivana Andrés and in all the pictures.  The football players who won the trophy were unable to celebrate it as players but instead had to be surrounded by men in the Spanish delegation.  The decision by Rubiales and Vilda to make this moment about the women about themselves did not go over well, especially given the 2010 moment.

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Rubiales touches Jenni Hermoso at the airport.

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As the Spanish delegation collected their bags and readied to depart Madrid Barajas airport for Principe Pío for a public celebration of the team, a moment was caught by television station La Sexta between Rubiales and Hermoso.  In it, Hermoso walks past Rubiales without acknowleding him at all.  Nonetheless, and despite awareness of the controversy he created that resulted in making an apology video where he did not apologize to Hermoso during the return trip, Rubiales felt the need to touch her and squeeze her shoulder.  She did not react or acknowledge his unwanted touch.  Marca, who have a history of sexist coverage of women's sports, asked what this meant on the morning of 23 August regarding the seriousness of the allegations and the nature of the relationship between the two.

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The night before, on 22 August, Radio Marca interviewed Ignacio Quereda about the Rubiales situation. Quereda, as noted above, had been dismissed from his job as the women's national team coach for inappropriate behavior towards players including telling them they needed a man and pinching their butts.

Spain's politicians on the left also began to speak out, aided by the fact that within a couple of days there will certainly be a return to a left wing government supported by regional nationalist parties.  The left wing government can afford to piss off right wing misogynists.  This included people like Irene Montero.  Rational people do not want Spain to be associated with sexually predatory men.  It is bad for women, bad for the tourism sector and bad for Spain's chances of hosting the 2030 FIFA Men's World Cup.

The calls for Rubiales to leave just continued to amplify, except among the usual actors who also supported the racists who made monkey noises at Real Madrid's Vini Jr.  (The right has issues with women's football, historical ones, finding it rather unfeminine and possibly making their daughters into lesbians.  Franco stomped it out and the right wing leanings of the RFEF always meant women's football was not supported as a result.)

Meanwhile, over in Australia, despite loads of evidence of what in Spain would legally be considered sexual abuse, the New South Wales Police Force appear to have done nothing.  There is no news about opening an investigation.  There are no Australian politicians making loud calls for the police to investigate.  To a degree, even some Australian feminists who care about women's football appear to have moved on. The chances of any criminal complaint about Rubiales assault on Hermoso appear unlikely unless she goes there and files it herself.  And even then, from the Australians I have consulted in writing this article, that likely would go nowhere. Sexual abuse is generally not prosecuted.

FIFA, UEFA, the AFC and other institutional bodies not directly representing players have also failed to issue statements or announce investigations.  This contrasts with messaging where they said they would help women in federations in places like Africa and the Americas deal with sexist federations that were not paying players or engaging in other problematic issues that almost derailed some teams like Jamaica from actually participating and where Zambia's coach was accused of sexual misconduct during the tournament by players after the tournament ended.

Sorry.  Derailed.  Jenni Hermoso stuck to her principles and didn't appear in the Rubiales apology not to Hermoso video.  And then it came out that the RFEF fabricated a quote from her where she said the kiss was consensual.  She refused to do interviews when she landed.  Her mother made one statement, which was along the lines of Jenni Hermoso was focused on celebrating her victory and being a World Cup champion, and was not going to focus on the other stuff as she didn't want to take away from the moment.

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The Relevo article in Spanish saying the quote by the RFEF from Hermoso was fabricated.

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The acting Spanish President Pedro Sánchez has spoken out against Rubiales actions this time when he greeted the team at Palacio Moncloa.  His quote was, "What we saw was an unacceptable gesture, I think apologies are not enough, and even not adequate."

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"What we saw was an unacceptable gesture, I think apologies are not enough, and even not adequate"

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The ceremony at Palacio de Moncloa involved acting President Sánchez standing in a receiving line.  Every Spanish football player got a traditional Spanish double cheek greeting kiss.  Many of the women leaned in first for this.  No lip contact made.  Culturally appropriate greeting. In contrast, Rubiales stuck his hand out first to prevent that traditional kiss from happening.  Rubiales also did not wear the traditional attire of a federation president, a suit and tie, and instead chose to wear an outfit that made him appear as part of the technical delegation, like those of the coaches and trainers.

Other cabinet members have also spoken out.  With Rubiales, Vilda and the RFEF all making clear no personnel shakeups are imminent, it seems increasingly likely that these complaints will be passed along to the CSD and action may be taken to avoid continued international embarrassment over women's rights, a topic Spain is already sensitive to given issues related to the Yes is Yes law resulting in a number of rapists having their prison sentences reduced.

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Every Spanish women player got a traditional double cheek kiss greeting.

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And back to the sexual abuse aspect.  Spanish lawyers were also analyzing the situation, and writing a number of well thought out pieces about it in various media publications.  It turns out that because this situation occurred between two Spanish citizens who are residents of Spain, because of the sexual abuse aspect and the abuse of power aspect, Spanish courts can legally charge Rubiales for sexual abuse despite the fact that this alleged crime that was occurred on Spanish public television happened in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.  Will the courts actually do that? Unlikely, but they can.

Another question remained.  How do you get rid of Rubiales? The RFEF itself has the mechanisms to do so but appears unwilling to do that.  Their ethics guy refused to address the issue after he got off the plane and has refused to comment to Spanish media since then.

The other option is that the Tribunal Advo. del Deporte (TAD) can force him out if charges are forwarded to them by Consejo Superior de Deportes (CSD).  Charges had previously been brought the CSD against Rubiales, but the government had not referred those charges on to TAD.  It became a waiting game to see if that would happen, if people would bring charges to the CSD related to the Hermoso kiss and Rubiales other activities including the Carmona kiss, the marriage reference and the Vilda's touching of the second trainer's breast.  If charges were brought, then the CSD could pass them on to the TAD who could then force Vilda out.

Vilda at this point this afternoon, 22 August, was still talking about how he was staying in power.  As he makes €1850 a day in his role as the president of the RFEF, Rubiales has every reason to stay as many days as he can.

The others trying to force Rubiales out option via TAD and the CSD appears to have started. Escuela nacional de entrenadores de fútbol (CENAFE) President Miguel Galán, the guy in charge of the national school to train coaches, has formally denounced Rubiales to the CSD.  His complaint was given the number 3905/2023. Then later in the day, former First Division referee Xavier Estrada Fernández also filed a complaint with the CSD against the RFEF over Rubiales actions.  That is two complaints.

In the afternoon of 22 August, the Asociacion de Futbolistas Españoles (AFE) also published a statement condemning the actions of Rubiales and said they were going to submit a formal denouncement to the Consejo Superior de Deportes.  This would make them the third if they did so.  They also demanded that the government enforce the law that prohibits that sort of touching of players, especially if Rubiales did not resign immediately.

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The AFE letter.

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The left wing populist political party Sumar became the fourth group to formally denounce Rubiales to the Consejo Superior de Deportes later the evening. They cited the serious breach of RFEF Protocol against sexual violence by Rubiales. Sumar also stressed that Spanish law, Article 105 of the Law requires Federations and Leagues, requires all federations to  have protocols for prevention and action against situations of harassment, abuse and discrimination.  The law is in place for specifically situations such as that one.

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Marca's 23 August cover even acknowledges the avalanches of petitions to the CSD

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Liga Femenina de Fútbol President Beatriz Álvarez Mesa made her own statement in the afternoon on Tuesday about Rubiales, adding to some of the institutional pressure coming from within Spain's football community towards Rubiales and Vilda.  Her letter said in part, “I feel ashamed of the world image that Spanish football is giving because of the unacceptable behavior of the President of the Royal Spanish Football Federation. I am receiving innumerable calls and messages from soccer players, coaches, managers and colleagues, even from other world leagues, who are scandalized by what happened."

Álvarez Mesa's letter goes on to say, ""it is not only about the fact of the kiss, but about the general behavior in the delegation box, on the field, in the locker room, or when a few hours after such behavior, the president of the Federation has dared to publicly insult all the people who criticized such a disgusting attitude."

She continued, "I take this opportunity to say that I am in that honest group of "idiots, stupid, assholes, losers and assholes", as the President described us on Cadena Cope . A group that thousands of people join minute by minute, not only in Spain but throughout the world.”

Álvarez Mesa then said, "Unfortunately, I am not surprised by this attitude or the inappropriate behavior of the president of the RFEF in the ways and manner of proceeding and addressing people. It is not something isolated, much less spontaneous. Aggression, arrogance and continuous contempt have always been present in personal and institutional treatment. What has happened is that the character that many of us know in private has been seen publicly”.

She continued, saying, that Rubiales actions were "unforgivable [given] that the greatest success in the history of Spanish women's sport has been tarnished forever by the actions of the president of the RFEF, stealing the limelight from the only ones who deserve it: the soccer players . Surely the Government of Spain will understand that these actions, and not others, do damage the image of Spain and the candidacy of the 2030 World Cup”.

Álvarez Mesa concluded saying, "As the president of professional women's soccer, as a former soccer player, and as a woman, I feel obliged, responsible, and entitled to say that soccer, Spanish sport, and female soccer players deserve much more. There are limits that cannot be exceeded . And they have exceeded. This will remain for the history of world sport, and how the Government of Spain acts, too."

On the evening of 22 August, according to El Partidazo de COPE, the RFEF said that Rubiales would not be commenting further on this situation.  He was very touched by the situation, especially as it represented the biggest internal crisis of his career.

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It is official. They are going to meet to discuss Rubiales.

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Later that date, the RFEF announced plans to convene an Extraordinary General Assembly for Friday at 12 at the Ciudad del Fútbol de Las Rozas. Among the topics for discussion at the meetings were issues related to integrity of the federation and institutional protocols. The meeting came about after the Federaciones Territoriales del Fútbol Español specifically requested the RFEF hold such a meeting.  Federaciones Territoriales were particularly concerned about the allegations that the RFEF had issues false statements about Rubiales actions on behalf of Jenni Hermoso.

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El Chiringuito TV can apparently change their tune.

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El Chiringuito TV has been famous for their support of the worst of the excesses of Spanish football.  This cost them sponsors at one point when they condemned Real Madrid's Vinicius Jr. over his comments last season about racism in Spanish football and racism in Spain.  Initially, El Chiringuito TV took the stance that there was nothing wrong with what Rubiales had done to Hermoso.  By Wednesday morning, 23 August, even this program that supported Rubiales and other controversial figures had changed their tune.  This was so noteworthy that #ChiringuitoRubiales started trending on Spanish football.

They were not the only media organization who had initially supported Rubiales and the RFEF narrative to begin to change their tune and start reporting his actions as sexual abuse.  Marca also began doing the same by Wednesday, the 23rd.

On Wednesday morning, a female RFEF staff member accused Rubiales of asking her inappropriate and sexually loaded questions.

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FC Barcelona, the club with the most representatives on women's national team, not including striking players, have refused to take a position on the Rubiales situation. It came out on Wednesday morning, that their official position would be to wait and see what happens.  Barcelona was waiting and hoping that Rubiales would have a good explanation for his actions at the extraordinary session.

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FC Barcelona's refusal to act stands in contrast to that of Getafe CF.  Their president called for the resignation of Luis Rubiales as the president of RFEF.  Getafe CF were the first men's La Liga team to back the women's national team.

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Revelo again breaking the news that Getafe CF president called for Rubiales resignation.

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Escuela nacional de entrenadores de fútbol (CENAFE) President Miguel Galán official denouncement had been given a number but was still pending admission for processing at lunch time on 23 August.

Consejo Superior de Deportes President Victor Francos told Cope and Cadena Ser that, "There has never been a dismissal of a federation president by the CSD, ever."  He also said, "I have a lot of messages from friends and acquaintances saying: 'Kick this guy out.' Let everyone be clear that I am going to follow the procedures. I have to say that I also have messages from the other side, eh? They are very conflicting positions on these issues and therefore I have positions on one side and on the other that are being sent to my phone."

CSD President Victor Francos confirmed that the CSD would begin the process on Monday to analyze the denouncements brought to it regarding the RFEF and Rubiales.  He affirmed the body's goal to act within the law regarding the situation.

The Unión General de Trabajadoras y Trabajadores (UGT) on the afternoon of 23 August also called for the immediate resignation of Rubiales.

The afternoon of 23 August also saw Liga F, Spain's women's professional football league, officially denounce Rubiales to the CSD in response to the alleged sexual abuse by RFEF'S president.

Against this backdrop of allegations of sexism in Spanish football, a second smaller controversy started to arise. Unai Simón played in Pamplona against Osasuna for Atletic Club de Bilbao on Saturday, the day before the World Cup final.   He was subjected to homophobic abuse. Among the comments shouted by him at fans were, "Die, you son of a bitch. Maricón, puto maricón". Maricón is similar to the word faggot in English while puto in Castellano translates more as damned.  This differs from Latin American Spanish where it translates more as prostitute or gay. By Wednesday morning, the stories of his being subjected to homophobic abuse at the match began to get more traction in parts of the footballing media as pictures emerged seeking to identify the fans involved.

Like the alleged Saudi Arabia corruption issues involving Gerard Pique, many Spanish women and Spanish football fans on social media remain skeptical that any change will happen in Spanish women's football.  They do believe if there might be a moment for it to happen, it would be now but they've been down that road before.  Still, Spain is worth watching to see if televised sexual abuse by men in power has consequences or if the women who won Spain's first women's FIFA World Cup.

Congratulations to the Spanish women's national football team.  They are winners.  And if these Spanish women manage to get real and lasting change to happen as a result of this circus, they deserve even further honors for protecting women and saving women's sport.

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