Women’s World Cup: Spain pick three of 15 players who quit national side in 2022

Three of the 15 Spain players who staged a mutiny, writing to the federation to declare themselves unavailable for selection, have returned to the squad in time for the World Cup.

The Ballon d’Or winner Alexia Putellas has also been included in the preliminary list of 30 for Australia and New Zealand having finally overcome the knee injury that forced her to miss the European Championship last summer, as has Irene Paredes who first returned to the national team after a seven-month absence in March. Neither Putellas nor Paredes had sent the letter but both supported those who had.

Aitana Bonmatí and Mariona Caldentey from Barcelona and Manchester United’s Ona Batlle have been included in the initial squad, which will be reduced to 23 at the end of June. They had all previously spoken to the federation about a return. The other 12 players who pulled out in September last year – among them the Champions League winners Patri Guijarro, Mapi León and Sandra Paños – have not been called up. In March, Leon said: “It will really piss me off not to go to the World Cup but my values come first.”

The Spain coach, Jorge Vilda, gave no explanation for their continued absence and refused to discuss the conversations that have taken place over the past nine months or confirm whether the returnees had apologised, but described the squad as being made up of those who are “committed”.

Vilda said he would not get into “hypothesis” over who he would have selected had they all been available, saying he decided once he had “all the cards on the table”. He also insisted that the federation had been “open to dialogue” and declared the issue was “practically resolved”, although he admitted “a few details” remained.

The 15 players simultaneously