Las 15: Spain's Women Players Stand Down From the National Team

Timeline

1. Jul 20, 2022Spain lose to England in extra time in the Euro 2022 quarter-finals.
2. Sep 22, 2022The RFEF says 15 players have emailed asking not to be called up and that it will not let players question the coach.
3. Sep 23, 2022The players deny resigning and say they asked not to be called up until conditions improved.
4. Jun 12, 2023Coach Jorge Vilda names three of the 15 in his provisional World Cup squad.
5. Aug 20, 2023Spain beat England in Sydney to win the World Cup.
6. Sep 5, 2023The RFEF dismisses Vilda amid the Rubiales scandal and appoints Montse Tomé.
7. Oct 17, 2025Mapi León, the last of the 15 still absent, is recalled by new coach Sonia Bermúdez.

The ethical issues

• Whether players may withhold their labor to protest team conditions.
• A federation's demand for an apology as a condition of selection.
• Making private player communications public.
• Player welfare and mental health in elite environments.
• Whether success on the field vindicates a management approach.

Stakeholders

Stakeholder	Interests & obligations
The 15 players	Their health, working conditions and careers.
The RFEF	Its authority over selection and the coach.
Head coach Jorge Vilda	His position and authority.
Players who stayed or returned	Selection, unity and the chance to win.
Fans and the public	A successful, fairly run national team.

The case

In September 2022, some of the best footballers in the world told their national federation they did not want to be selected. Fifteen Spain players sent identical emails saying the situation in the team was affecting their health. The federation responded with public condemnation, a warning of sanctions and a demand for an apology. Less than a year later, Spain won the World Cup with only three of the fifteen. The case asks what rights players have to speak up about their working conditions, and what a federation owes them when they do.

Background

Jorge Vilda had coached Spain’s women since 2015. He took over after his predecessor, Ignacio Quereda, resigned when players called for his removal following Spain’s last-place finish in their 2015 World Cup group.^[1] Under Vilda, Spain reached the quarter-finals of Euro 2022, where they lost to England in extra time.^[1] The team’s star, Alexia Putellas, had missed the tournament with a serious knee injury.^[2]

The rules and governance

Selection for the national team is the federation’s decision, made by the coach it appoints. Players are not employees of the national team in the way they are of their clubs, but refusing a call-up can bring sanctions. The RFEF warned that refusing to play for the national team was “a very serious infraction and can carry sanctions of between two and five years of disqualification.”^[1]

The emails and the federation’s response

On September 22, 2022, the RFEF announced it had received 15 emails from 15 players asking not to be selected. The players said the “current situation” had significantly affected their “emotional state and health,” according to the federation.^[3] Reuters, cited by CNN, reported that the players were unhappy with the management of injuries, the atmosphere in the locker room, Vilda’s team selection and his training sessions.^[3]

The federation said it “is not going to allow the players to question the continuity of the national coach,” adding: “Making those decisions does not fall within their powers.” It called the move “an unprecedented situation in the history of football” and said it would only have “committed footballers even if they have to play with youth.” The players would only be called up again “if they accept their mistake and ask for forgiveness.”^[1]

The players’ reply

The next day, the players issued a statement, shared on social media by Putellas, Ona Batlle and Leila Ouahabi. They said they were disappointed the RFEF had made their “private communication” public and that “we understand our job is not in any case to choose” the coach. “In no case have we resigned from the Spanish national team as the RFEF points out in their official statement,” they said. They had asked not to be called up because of “situations that affect our emotional and personal state, our performance, and consequently the results of the national team,” and they asked for “a firm commitment to a professional project.”^[2] Putellas, who had not sent an email, supported them. So did Megan Rapinoe of the United States, who wrote: “This many players together like this is so powerful. We should all listen.”^[3]

The World Cup

Over the following months, Spain played on without the 15. In June 2023 Vilda named three of them, Aitana Bonmatí, Mariona Caldentey and Batlle, in his provisional World Cup squad. Others, including Patri Guijarro, Mapi León and Sandra Paños, were left out. Vilda would not explain their absence or say whether the returning players had apologized. He described the squad as made up of those who were “committed” and said the issue was “practically resolved.”^[5] “If these three players are here it is because they are committed to the national team,” he said.^[4] In March, León had said: “It will really piss me off not to go to the World Cup but my values come first.”^[5]

Spain beat England in the final in Sydney. Their win was overshadowed when federation president Luis Rubiales kissed Jenni Hermoso, which she said was not consensual.^[6] That story is told in The Rubiales Kiss and Spain’s #SeAcabó Movement.

Aftermath

On September 5, 2023, the RFEF dismissed Vilda, appointing his assistant Montse Tomé as the first woman to coach the team. It gave no specific reason, praising his “impeccable personal and sporting conduct.” The BBC noted that Vilda was considered a close ally of Rubiales.^[6] Over time, many of the 15 returned. In October 2025, new coach Sonia Bermúdez recalled León more than three years after her last match; Cadena SER described her as the last of the 15 to come back.^[8] “We are starting from zero, a new era,” Bermúdez said.^[7] León did not explain publicly why she had stayed away longer than others, but said: “We are in a new era, a new moment.”^[8]

The core dilemma

The players had no clear channel to raise concerns about their working environment, so they withdrew their availability. The federation saw this as an attack on its authority and demanded an apology. When Spain won without most of them, some took it as proof the players had been wrong. The case asks whether players may use collective action to push for change in a national team, and whether a federation may make return conditional on contrition.

Competing values

• Player voice vs. institutional authority: agency over working conditions against the federation’s control of selection.
• Welfare vs. results: players’ health against the pursuit of trophies.
• Solidarity vs. individual careers: collective action against each player’s chance to play at a World Cup.
• Privacy vs. public pressure: private communication against the federation’s decision to go public.

Strongest arguments

For the players. They raised concerns about health, training and preparation through private emails and denied seeking to choose the coach. The federation made their emails public, threatened sanctions and demanded an apology, which reflects how little room they had to raise concerns. Their stance came at real personal cost, including missing a World Cup. Later events, including the Rubiales scandal and the coach’s dismissal, suggest wider problems in how the federation treated women players.

For the federation. Selection decisions belong to the federation and coach, not players. A group refusing call-ups to pressure the coach could undermine any team’s governance. Spain’s results after September 2022, including the World Cup, show the team could succeed under Vilda. The federation also had to field a team for its fixtures.

For a middle view. Both sides lacked a process. The players had legitimate concerns but no channel to raise them; the federation had authority but chose confrontation. A structured way to hear player concerns could have avoided a public standoff.

Applying the frameworks

Rights

A rights lens would affirm players’ rights to safe working conditions and to refuse work they believe harms their health, while recognizing the federation’s right to select. It would question whether demanding an apology as a condition of return punished players for exercising those rights, and whether making private emails public respected them.

Care ethics

Care ethics would focus on the players’ reports about their emotional state and health. It would ask whether the federation listened and responded to that distress, or treated it as insubordination. It would also attend to the players caught between solidarity and their careers.

Justice

Justice would ask whether the women’s team was treated as fairly as the men’s, and whether the process for hearing grievances was fair. It would note that the players had little bargaining power against a federation that controlled selection and that a fair process would give them a voice.

Walk it through: the Simple Decision Model

1. Spot the issue. You are a federation official who has just received 15 emails from senior players asking not to be selected. Stakeholders include the players, the coach, other players, sponsors, fans and the federation itself. The codes in play are the federation’s disciplinary rules and its duty of care.
2. Gather facts. What specifically concerns the players: injuries, training, atmosphere, selection? Talk to them privately. Watch for confirmation bias: assuming the players want only to remove the coach without hearing them out.
3. Test options. Back the coach and threaten sanctions; open a confidential review; bring in a mediator or players’ union; or make changes in staff and support. Run each through rights, care and justice.
4. Check codes and law. Confirm what disciplinary rules apply and whether sanctions would be proportionate.
5. Decide and document. Explain what was reviewed and what will change, without disclosing private communications.
6. Communicate and follow up. Agree on a channel for future concerns and check back with players on whether conditions have improved.

What’s settled and what’s contested

Settled

• In September 2022, 15 players emailed the RFEF asking not to be selected, citing their emotional state and health.
• The RFEF said it would not let players question the coach and demanded an apology for their return.
• Three of the 15 played at the 2023 World Cup, which Spain won, and Vilda was dismissed on September 5, 2023.
• Mapi León, the last of the 15 to return, was recalled in October 2025.

Contested

• Whether the players’ concerns were justified, since no full review was made public.
• Whether the players’ action amounted to demanding the coach’s removal.
• Whether Spain’s success vindicated the federation.

Why this case matters

Las 15 shows how hard it is for athletes to raise concerns when a single body controls their opportunities. It shows the costs of collective action and how quickly a dispute over working conditions can become a test of loyalty. The case sits alongside the Rubiales scandal as part of a broader story about women players in Spain demanding to be heard, and it is a lesson in institutional accountability for any governing body.

Key terms

Agency

An athlete’s ability to make decisions and act independently about their body, career and voice.

Institutional accountability

Structures that make a sport organization explain its decisions and face consequences: clear authority, transparency, appeals, independent oversight and enforcement.

Duty of care

The responsibility of coaches, organizations and institutions to protect the health, safety and well-being of those in their charge. It is not a license for total control.

Stakeholders

Everyone with something at stake in a decision: athletes, coaches, parents, officials, fans, employees, sponsors, media, communities and regulators, including the less visible ones.

Due process

Fair procedures before a sanction: notice, a chance to respond, an impartial decision-maker and a right of appeal.

Multiple points of view

Analyzing a dilemma from each stakeholder’s position in turn (athlete, parent, coach, administrator, official, bystander) before reaching your own reasoned view.

Definitions from the Ethics Cases glossary.

Discussion questions

1. Were the 15 players right to ask not to be selected?
2. Was the federation justified in demanding an apology before they could return?
3. Did Spain's World Cup win prove the players wrong, or is that the wrong question?
4. Should the federation have made the players' emails public?
5. What processes should national teams have for players to raise concerns?

Sources

1. Jorge Vilda: Spain women's players call for coach to be sacked — BBC Sport
2. Spain women's players deny asking for coach Jorge Vilda to be sacked — BBC Sport
3. Spanish women's football players and federation in standoff — CNN
4. Women's World Cup 2023: Spain recall three players involved in dispute — BBC Sport
5. Women's World Cup: Spain pick three of 15 players who quit national side in 2022 — The Guardian
6. Jorge Vilda: Spanish federation sacks World Cup-winning coach amid Luis Rubiales kiss row — BBC Sport
7. Jenni Hermoso y Mapi León regresan a la Selección — Cadena SER
8. Mapi León, 1.192 días después — Cadena SER