Spain’s World Cup-winning coach Jorge Vilda sacked as kiss row continues

Let's start with that breaking news at the last hour. Spain's football federation have sacked Jorge Vilda, the coach of its World Cup winning women's team. He is considered a close ally of Luis Friviales, the suspended president of the federation, who's been under fire for kissing the player Jenny Hermoso on the lips without her consent as the team celebrated winning the tournament. Well, let's head straight to Madrid and straight to our correspondent Guy Hedgcoe. And Guy, take us through the basic details here. Well, Jorge Vilda has been under pressure really because of his association with Luis Friviales since that controversial kiss at the World Cup final in Sydney. I think he became under increasing pressure, especially after he was seen clapping Mr Friviales when Mr Friviales gave a very defiant speech saying he wasn't going to resign, saying he hadn't done anything wrong and that that kiss was consensual. So the pressure really seemed to be heaped there on Jorge Vilda. He did subsequently issue a communiqué in which he said that he did condemn the behaviour of the federation president. But ever since then, really, there's been a lot of speculation about his future. So we've heard from the federation itself, which has said that he has been sacked and he is going to be replaced. And I think you can say that this development is not entirely unexpected, given the relationship that Jorge Vilda had with Luis Friviales. And what have we heard from the Spanish FA directly? Well, the Spanish FA did actually issue a statement earlier today, just very shortly before it was announced that Mr Vilda was being sacked. And in that statement, it seemed to be preparing the way for the sacking of Jorge Vilda because it seemed to be trying to turn the page on this whole controversy, saying again how it condemns the behaviour of its own president, Mr Rubiales, who, of course, has been provisionally suspended by FIFA, football's world governing body. So in his absence, saying that the federation wants to turn the page on all of this, it condemns his behaviour, again congratulating the women's team. And I think a natural sort of development of all of that would be to replace Mr Vilda, who was seen as being so closely associated with Luis Rubiales that I think many people felt it was natural that if the federation wants to move on, then it's probably time that the coach is replaced as well. He's been there for eight years already, remember. Guy, thanks very much. Well, I just want to bring viewers a little more detail about that statement from the Spanish federation because the president, Pedro Rocha, has written a letter distancing the organisation from Rubiales' actions, saying he is, quote, "...ashamed by them." He wrote in that letter the damage caused to Spanish football, Spanish society, and the values of sport were enormous. Rubiales' actions don't represent values of the Spanish federation nor Spanish society, he said. His actions must be attributed solely and exclusively to him. We feel especially sorry and ashamed for the pain and distress this has caused. Well, let's talk to the author and football journalist, Guillem Balaguer. Thank you so much for being here live on the programme. Your immediate reaction to this breaking development? Good! Sorry, but that's the immediate reaction because the players that have decided, 81 of them, not to, the female players, not to join the national side for as long as the organisation doesn't change, they weren't just asking for Rubiales to go, they were asking for the manager to go and for many things to be transformed, to be modernised. It looks like the temporary president of the federation, at least in words, is trying to do that, to get rid of Bill, that was the easiest part, but the secretary of the federation is still there, very close to Rubiales. The legal advisor of Rubiales is still in the federation and is the legal advisor of the FA. So still a lot of things to change. You look at the board and it's all men, and so things will change, but quite clearly you have to start somewhere. And the context of the whole builder situation, you have to go back a few years. Remember, Spain national players, they play for some of the biggest clubs in the world and they came to the national side and it wasn't professional enough. In the last Euros, we were knocked out by England. There was no video analysis of the game, for instance, and much more. Then 15 of the players said, we're not gonna join the national side anymore and the federation backed builder. At the end of the World Cup, you describe the situation, what happened. Quite clearly, this social tsunami that required change and want to change, meant that Rubiales could be pushed away by FIFA, but other people had to go and build as the first one to do so. Are you surprised it took quite so long? Now, the federation is a private institution with public interest and public money, but private, which means that unless the government moved their strings very well, they couldn't have done anything, not even the government. They tried through the administrative tribunal of sport and they failed. They failed to actually get the offenses that Rubiales did in the VIP sitting, described as very serious offense. It wasn't. The tribunal said serious, which means that the government cannot push him out. So the hope for everyone is that FIFA, during the suspension period, actually find him guilty and get rid of him. But because it's a private institution, things take time. But quite clearly, Pedro Rocha, temporary man in charge, even though was put in charge by Rubiales, he's realised, he's read the room much better than Rubiales and has said, well, we need to change. You described in your first answer that it has triggered a social tsunami. Is that just blowing away what has existed for decades within Spanish sport, perhaps wider Spanish society? Spanish society, I will even describe them as feminist because otherwise we wouldn't have some of the most progressive laws protecting women. The problem has been that there are key parts of Spain, very public parts of Spain, very famous parts of Spain, like the Federation, that is run by men. Men that have been there for a long while, men who get paid by the Federation, men who own the position to the president of the Federation. In that kind of environment, well, there are a law on their own. And the fact that the tribunal, the administrative tribunal, could not get rid of Rubiales means that, structurally, something is wrong. So there's going to be a lot of push for change, but the change really of the Federation has to come from within. Let's believe Pedro Rocha when he says that they're about to do that. So when he says he's ashamed by what has happened, those actions, in a sense you're saying, that is great that he's put that on the record, but it's got to go further. It's got to go to the roots of actually the makeup, even, of the Federation. Before we see real change. Oh, we're not going to let them sleep until it all changes. There is no way it's not going to change. I cannot see it in any other way. That is opinion, not a fact. But I think that when you have the president of Spain demanding change, the ministry, the secretary of sport, even the opposition, the parties at the opposition of the socialist party in charge, they're all asking for change. It has to happen. But yes, it does require time. You've got the FIFA trying to get rid of him. You've got the state prosecutor trying to get rid of Rubiales as well, first Rubiales, and then change matters as well. Somebody will get there. Just give us time, because quite clearly, this is something that not only Pedro Rocha, but all of us are very embarrassed about. Really briefly and finally, you mentioned all the areas trying to get rid of him. UEFA, though, have sidestepped this. I mean, it is a real mess. Are you surprised they've not got more actively involved? They say that why would they need to suspend them? What is suspended anyway? But it would have been a really good message to put out there to say what he has done is wrong. And we haven't heard that strongly enough. So, yeah, UEFA should actually step on this big horse that we're all on and try to protect women and improve their conditions. Guillaume, great to talk to you. Thanks for joining us so quickly after this news has broken. Thanks for joining us here on BBC News. Thank you.