Spain women's national players report to training camp over threat of fine, ban for protest

Twenty players on the roster said last week they would refuse to play for the national team

Spain's women's national team's players named to the roster for a pair of matches this month reported to training camp on Tuesday, though they remain in a dispute with the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) over its longstanding mistreatment of the side. 

Twenty-three players were called up by new head coach Montse Tome on Monday to a squad that includes 15 members of the Women's World Cup winning team. Twenty players on Tome's roster, though, said last week that they would refuse to play for Spain without certain changes to the federation's structure.

The players, though, turned up on Tuesday over the possibility that they would be fined or banned if they did not. According to Spanish sports law, athletes are required to report to their national teams if called up barring certain circumstances, such as injury. Those who refuse the call up are subject to fines of up to $32,000 and bans of up to 15 years.

As players checked in for duty, they did so begrudgingly. Goalkeeper Misa Rodriguez, for example, was asked by reporters as she walked into a Madrid hotel if she was happy to be named to the roster. She gave a simple but clear response saying, "No."

Tome and the federation claimed Monday that this camp was the start of a new era following the firing of ex-head coach Jorge Vilda and resignation of former president Luis Rubiales. Both were criticized over the last year by players, 15 of whom refused to play for the national team for several months over a toxic and unprofessional environment. Rubiales exacerbated the situation at the World Cup final on Aug. 20, when he forcibly kissed player Jennifer Hermoso during the trophy ceremony. He initially refused to resign, which led 81 players to protest the national team.

The players, though, allege that not much has changed despite Vilda and Rubiales' exits. They reportedly had a meeting with federation officials on Friday in which little progress was made. The same day, 38 players published a new letter demanding that new president Pedro Rocha resign and that structural changes be made to a handful of departments, including the communications, marketing and ethics setups.

The trust issues have only worsened this week. Tome claimed she spoke to every player before making the roster public, but a report from The Athletic suggests that was not the case and the new head coach does not have the backing of the players, per Guillem Balague. Players also issued a new statement on Monday saying the federation may have violated FIFA regulations by improperly notifying them of their selection. In a last-minute move, the federation also changed the location of the training camp from the Madrid area to Valencia to avoid media attention, according to The Athletic.

Tome also excluded Hermoso from the roster as a "protective measure," but the player rebuked the comments in a statement of her own on Monday. "Protect me from what? And from whom?" she asked. "We have been searching for weeks - months, even - for protection from the RFEF that never came … The players are certain that this is yet another strategy of division and manipulation to intimidate and threaten us with legal repercussions and economic sanctions."

The federation and the players are slated to have another meeting soon to address the dispute. Spain's High Council on Sport plans to act as a mediator in an effort to avoid fines or bans for the players, per ESPN. The government will reportedly ask for time to allow the federation to make its changes and request that a new presidential election occur in the next three months, ahead of the scheduled vote after the Paris Olympics.

Spain's upcoming opponents, Sweden and Switzerland, have shown solidarity with the players. Switzerland's Ana-Maria Crnogorcevic called the RFEF's roster announcement "disrespectful" on social media, while Sweden's Filippa Angeldahl pledged to support them and the decisions they make, including "if they think they have to boycott the game."

Spain are scheduled to play Sweden on Friday and Switzerland on Sept. 26 in UEFA Nations League matches.