The voice of the players had not been heard. Spanish soccer team for a month now, but Alexia Putellas e Irene Paredes, as veterans and captains that they were, raised her in Göteborg to explain everything they have experienced. In a few hours they will play the first official match since they became world champions. Tired, exhausted, but aware that the world is watching them, they want to defend Jenni Hermosotheir decisions and underpin the changes they have agreed to with the RFEF and the CSD that begin to execute.
“We were demanding that they listen to us, because we knew that for decades there has been systematic discrimination against women. We had to fight a lot to be heard. That entails wear and tear, which we do not want to have, but what happened in the final are unacceptable facts and the last straw was the assembly. There we said that we wanted to continue down that path, that in the face of that situation we had to say zero tolerance, for Jenni, for us and for all womenso as not to set precedents,” Alexia explained with all the will to be “transparent” with everything that has happened for weeks.
“It must be clear that there is an open judicial process and that here is a victim, which is Jenni, that he has neither consented nor provoked, and that his colleagues are going to be by his side. Imagine what it is costing us. “We’ve been sleeping four hours for a week and we’ve had to get it into our heads that we can’t just be footballers,” added the double Ballon d’Or winner before a press room full of journalists. Because the Spaniards were joined by the Swedes, eager to give voice to the internationals who are already an example of global resistance and with whom the Swedish players empathize and will have a gesture in the match.
Putellas’s story did not stop and continued with the grotesque call that has brought them to Gothenburg without them wanting to and after communicating it to the RFEF. “We came angry, to avoid sanctions even though FIFA has recognized that the call was not well made. I think the meeting until five in the morning is going to be a before and after. I trust that the agreements reached “They arrived will be good for our sport, for all women’s sports and for society to be better.”
Alexia’s words were added by Irene Paredes with three denials. “We didn’t want to come. We couldn’t come. It wasn’t the time. We were forced and we agreed to have those meetings. We made the decision to stay not because we are comfortable, because we are not comfortable because of everything that has happened for a whole month, the call… but it was what we had to do. For the changes to happen, we have to be here. We just want to play football in decent conditions and be respected,” said Paredes, also remembering that it would have been a mistake “a bomb” to the U-23.