Mutiny in Spain squad as 15 footballers refuse to play in bid to oust head coach

The Spanish women’s national team was plunged into crisis on Thursday night when 15 players declared themselves unavailable for selection for as long as Jorge Vilda continues as head coach.

Each of the players have written to the Spanish Federation (RFEF) insisting that the situation with the coach, who they had failed to have removed at the end of August, has affected their health and emotional state and that they do not intend to return until a solution is found.

Six Barcelona players were among those who sent emails, as were Manchester United players Ona Batlle and Lucía García, and Manchester City players Laia Aleixandri and Leila Ouahabi. Captain Irene Paredes and Ballon D’Or winner Alexia Putellas were not among them, but injury meant the latter was already unavailable for the upcoming games in October.

The Federation responded with a strongly worded statement describing this as “unprecedented in the history of football”, a situation that “goes beyond sport to be a question of dignity”, and insisting that it would not give in to pressure. The Federation noted that refusing to play for the national team could result in bans of between two and five years but declared that it would just not call up any of the players involved until they “admit their error and apologise”. The Federation will field youth players if necessary.

The letters come three weeks after a mutiny in which members of the Spain squad expressed their dissatisfaction with Vilda to the president Luis Rubiales. They then confronted Vilda too, but he refused to step down. The players appeared in a press conference together – supported on social media by Putellas – in which Paredes insisted that they had “not asked for him to be sacked” but admitted that