After months of threats and accusations, three of the Spanish national team's 'rebel 15' who claimed they would never represent their country again under Jorge Vilda's management have been included in his preliminary squad for the FIFA Women’s World Cup.
Barcelona’s Aitana Bonmati and teammate Mariona Caldentey along with Manchester United's Ona Batlle are set to return to the Spanish set-up ahead of the World Cup. None have featured for Spain since last autumn.
Two-time Ballon d’Or winner Alexia Putellas is also set to return after suffering injury for most of the last season. Putellas was not one of the 15 players who refused to play, though she is believed to have shared grievances.
Patri Guijarro, Barcelona's Player of the Match in their 3-2 victory Wolfsburg in the Champions League final, is among 12 players who have not been handed a return, including teammate Mapi Leon, Manchester United's Lucia Garcia and Manchester City's Laia Aleixandri and Leila Ouahabi.
The Spanish national team has been engulfed by internal crisis since the end of last summer’s European Championships, in which Spain were knocked out by England in the quarter-finals.
Following the untimely exit, 15 stars, known as 'Las 15', declared themselves unavailable for selection in protest of Vilda, 41. The players emailed the Spanish Football Federation (Rfef) and cited his management as adversely impacting their “health” and “emotional state”.
Six Barcelona players were among those who sent emails, as were United's Batlle and Garcia, and City's Aleixandri and Ouahabi. No Real Madrid players sent emails.
The Spanish governing body claimed the players were operating outside of their remits and fired threats of a five-year ban for those who did not "assume their mistakes and ask for forgiveness".
Patri drew headlines after her Champions League triumph earlier this month as she maintained her stance against representing her country until a resolution was found.
Meanwhile, United's Garcia did not make the final cut despite scoring both game-winners in the WSL runners-up final two matches and cutting herself a convincing argument for inclusion.
Even with the slew of absences, La Roja continue to register wins, including a first-ever victory over reigning world champions USA. In the final international window before the summer’s showpiece event, La Roja picked up wins in both the friendlies they played, scoring seven goals on their way to seeing off Norway on 6 April and China five days later.
The displays earned Spain a move up to sixth in the FIFA Women's World Rankings last week, equalling their highest-ever position.
La Roja play Costa Rica, Zambia and Japan in the tournament's group stages set to commence next month. The favourable route into the last eight of the competition sees Spain still one of the pre-tournament favourites.
Spain reached the last sixteen in the 2019 Women's World Cup.
Vilda has been the team coach since 2015 and oversaw the nation's Euro 2022 campaign, which saw the team eliminated by England in extra-time of their quarter-final clash. Spain had been billed as the pre-tournament favourites.
