Where is Jorge Vilda now? Details about It’s All Over: The Kiss That Changed Spanish Football subject explored

Jorge Vilda is the former coach of the Spanish women's football team. He led the team to a prestigious FIFA Women's World Cup in 2023 but this legendary win was eclipsed by a scandal that rocked the world. The Spanish FA President at the time, Luis Rubiales, kissed a player, Jennifer Hermoso, without consent at the felicitation ceremony, which caused an uproar among the players, who called it out and demanded Rubiales' resignation.

As per BBC Rubiales, however, refused to resign and made claims about "fake feminism" and "social assassination". This was applauded and supported by Jorge Vilda at the time. They both later lost their jobs over the incident. Although Vilda is still under investigation for supporting Rubiales' claims, he is currently serving as the coach of the Moroccan women's football team.

The whole saga is presented in the Netflix documentary It’s All Over: The Kiss That Changed Spanish Football (originally called #SeAcabó: Diario de las campeonas in Spanish). The documentary premiered on Netflix on November 1, 2024. It contains the players' accounts of the hardships faced on and off the field. The synopsis of the documentary as per Netflix reads:

Spanish footballers come together for the first time to relive the turbulent 2023 Women's World Cup and the kiss that overshadowed their victory.

While the documentary sheds light on the incident and the pushback of the Spanish women's football team, follow along with the article to learn about the incident and Vilda's role.

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Who is Jorge Vilda and where is he now?

Vilda currently coaches the Morocco women's national team (image via Getty)

Jorge Vilda is the former head coach of the Spanish women's football team who was in charge from 2015 to 2023. He was at the helm of the team that won the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup, defeating England 1-0 in Australia. However, the victory was short-lived owing to the scandal involving Luis Rubiales.

Although Vilda was dismissed from his position in September 2023, he was already disliked by the players since before it as 15 players from his team complained against him to the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) via email, before the 2023 World Cup.

These players were popularly dubbed 'Las 15' at the time. Their main allegation was Vilda's extremely controlling personality and unorthodox coaching methods. The players refused to play unless their concerns regarding their emotional and mental well-being were addressed.

In an interview with the Spanish show Planeta Calleja in January 2023, Jenni Hermoso said the following:

“When we were going to bed, we had to leave the door open and wait for (Vilda) to come by and speak to us,” Hermoso said. “He said it was because it was the only moment when he could speak personally with us."

It was also claimed that 'Las 15' called for Jorge Vilda's removal from his position, but the players have denied these allegations.

The RFEF, headed by Luis Rubiales at the time, dismissed the players' claims and defended Jorge Vilda. Out of the 15 players who had complained, only 3 were invited to be a part of the team that played in the 2023 World Cup.

Jorge Vilda was ultimately fired following the Rubiales incident. Although no proper grounds were cited for his dismissal, it is alleged that it was due to his previous association with Rubiales and his later defense of the former RFEF president's statements. Vilda is currently under investigation as a suspect in the Rubiales case.

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The true incident behind It's All Over: The Kiss that Changed Spanish Football

Following Spain's groundbreaking win in the FIFA 2023 Women's World Cup, the team was felicitated with medals by the RFEF president, Luis Rubiales. During the ceremony, he kissed Spanish forward, Jennifer Hermoso, against her will. As per reports Hermoso was initially pressured to downplay the incident to shield Rubiales and claim that the kiss was not unwanted.

This led to a massive global movement 'Se acabó' or "It's all over" started by the Spanish players in support of their teammate. They called for "structural change" within the system. The movement led to Rubiales' resignation, a subsequent 3-year ban from football by FIFA, and s*xual assault charges. Jorge Vilda, who was considered to be his ally and openly supported him after the complaints were made, was also fired over the matter, a mere 16 days after his team's victory.

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It's All Over: The Kiss that Changed Spanish Football is currently available for streaming on Netflix.