A revolution 40 years in the making: how the Spanish women’s team fought back

The actions of the president of the Spanish football federation, Luis Rubiales, have threatened to overshadow the national team’s triumph at the Women’s World Cup. Photograph: Juan Medina/Reuters

A systematic issue rooted in Spanish women’s football has come to light on a global scale for the first time. What has been seen is only minuscule in proportion to everything that has occurred since 1988. It has taken 35 years for the players to be truly heard and supported, and for action to be taken against those in power.

All it took was for the women’s national team to win the World Cup and have cameras on Luis Rubiales, the president of the Spanish federation (RFEF), to show him simply being himself. To give a taste to the world of what has been going on behind the scenes for decades at the Spanish federation.