A compromise between Spain women’s players and their national football association has been reached after meetings involving government officials that ran into the very early hours of Wednesday.
Now, two days before they are due to play their first match since winning the World Cup a month ago, 21 of the 23 players called up by new manager Montse Tome have agreed to represent Spain.
Victor Francos, president of the Consjejo Superior de Deportes (CSD — a governmental body with authority in sporting matters), travelled to meet the squad at the end of another dramatic day in a long-running dispute.
In a statement issued after six hours of talks, shared with media at around 5am local time today, Francos said “two players requested the possibility of leaving for reasons of lack of morale and personal discomfort”, with the remaining 21 now set to travel for Friday’s Nations League match against Sweden in Gothenburg. Mapi Leon and Patri Guijarro are the players who will leave camp.
The 23 were called up on Monday in a press conference originally scheduled for last Friday. A majority of them had reaffirmed their commitment to the common position they have taken since late August — that they would not play again until major changes were made at the Spanish Football Federation…
