The two players who will not continue with the Spain squad have been revealed to be Barcelona’s Patri Guijarro and Maria ‘Mapi’ Leon. After extensive negotiations with the RFEF and Ministry for Sport, 21 of the 23-strong squad have agreed to return to action against Sweden on Friday. Leon and Guijarro say they do not feel they have the mental strength to carry on.
In the early hours of this morning, Head of the High Council for Sport (CSD) Victor Francos emerged from the team hotel, saying an agreement had been reached for 21 of the players to return to action, on the proviso of three key steps; the creation of a joint committee to oversee the changes, restructuring of women’s football in the RFEF and improvements in gender equality under sports law.
Leon and Guijarro decided to leave the camp, although they did not rule out a return to Spain duty in the future. Cadena SER caught their statements on their departure, with Leon speaking first.
“It is a reality that the situation for Patri and I is different from that of the rest of the colleagues. This was not the form nor the manner in which to return. We are not in a position to say, ‘no, now we are coming back’. This is a process. We are happy because changes are taking place, little by little changes are being made and in this we are fully supporting our colleagues as we have done during this time from afar.”
🚨 ÚLTIMA HORA | Mapi León y Patri Guijarro abandonan la concentración de la @SEFutbolFem
👉 @victorfrancos adelantó tras la reunión que 21 de las 23 jugadoras seguirán y dos se van: aseguró que NO serán sancionadas
❌ "No han sido las maneras ni las formas"
📽️ @ChimoMasmano pic.twitter.com/D7I7feAZrR
— Carrusel Deportivo (@carrusel) September 20, 2023
“We are working on those changes. They have not happened yet, but they are working. Yesterday we managed to form that Joint Commission and they are working on those changes and we are with our colleagues, but it is true that our situation is different and it is quite hard, quite difficult. Being here obviously as everything has happened, mentally we are not able to be there,” Guijarro explained.
“All the changes we have requested are written, we put out a statement and we are working on it. We need to see it.”
The RFEF had declared changes previously, but the Spain squad had their suspicions over the veracity of those promises. Last Friday 39 players laid out a set of five demands, so far only one of which has been achieved. It is presumed that of those 39 players, all but Leon and Guijarro will again be available for selection.
