‘FIFA should take note’ says World Cup winner Alexia Putellas
Spain’s Women’s World Cup final against England was recorded as the most watched women’s football match in history according to RFEF. The maximum number of viewers appeared at the climax of the match at 8:02 a.m. ET, reportedly more than 7 million viewers. The 2023 Women’s World Cup demolishes many records in the history of female football.
Amidst the scandal of Luis Rubiales Barcelona star Putellas shares her urge for more support for women’s football to draw an end line to abuse on and off ground. Although Rubiales stays on his wording and has denied apologizing to anybody, Hermoso denies it and files a complaint.
Alexia shared her thoughts at the ceremony where she and her teammates were awarded the Medal of Honor by the Catalan government.
However, Alexia was recently crowned the best FIFA Women’s Player 2022, though it is her second time getting the award, while her club bragged the trophy of league title home under her leadership. In her acceptance speech, she vigorously said, ‘These days we have seen it with the serious situation that we are experiencing with the RFEF and the changes that we are requesting so that no woman, both inside and outside of football, never again has to experience situations such as lack of respect or abuse,’ Also added, ‘We need consensus, courage, and leadership from the institutions please and that is why we will not stop here, we will join those who have fought before us. We will join together for the effort we make every day and we will join all the girls and boys who today dream of being like us. We will not fail you, long live women’s sport and long live Barca.’
Alexia said, ‘This is an overexertion when the player has to simply focus on training, taking care of herself, doing good nutrition, and leaving everything on the pitch,’ She Further added, ‘All of the energy that you channel in fighting, in saying, are strategic plans… We are players!’
The 29-year-old player said that the battle against injustice should be continued, ‘To the players, I’d say that they keep on fighting, that they make themselves heard, that they explain everything well and everything has to change,’ Putellas continued saying, ‘We’ve seen that at a minimum if you believe a bit and you provide some basic facilities, everything comes out better.’
The Barcelona midfielder stated, ‘I learned how this industry goes – and you [all the media] also know how it goes, To get to know the other face, which isn’t the football but rather the industry because before you played every three days, you go along focused and you think only about winning and I had to stop for a year and I saw everything in a different light.’ Added, ‘I lost the romanticism, but not on the pitch. I went a year without training and when I started to train, for me, that was life. And the minutes you have, the dressing room… for me that’s football and the rest is industry.’
But the victory got overshadowed by the ongoing controversy of Luis Rubiales’s ‘consensual’ kiss to Jenni Hermoso on the lips. Later, the Spanish Football Federation president resigned and is due in court for accusations of assaulting sexually a player.
