The long shadow of a kiss: The Women's European Championship takes place without the world's most famous footballer

Just over a week ago, the Spanish women's soccer team advanced to the final round of the Nations League thanks to a 2-1 win against England. They controlled the match in Barcelona from the start, but were trailing before substitute Clàudia Pina turned things around with two brilliant individual strikes.

But the impression was overwhelming that this team of world champions and world-class footballers, of highly talented midfielders, inside strikers, and wingers, lacked an executor of similarly outstanding quality. Someone like Jenni Hermoso.

The attacker is not only involuntarily the most famous female footballer in the world, ever since she was kissed on the mouth by then-football association president Luis Rubiales during the medal ceremony at the 2023 World Cup , became an icon of feminism and a hate figure for macho men in the subsequent #MeToo football case, and ultimately saw the events of those days examined as a prosecution witness in a court case . Hermoso, 35, is also Spain's record goalscorer with 57 goals.

And yet, she will be absent from the European Championship in Switzerland. When national coach Montse Tomé announced her squad for the tournament in July on Tuesday, she once again omitted the attacking player, who currently plays for Tigres in Mexico. Tomé tried to justify her decision on sporting grounds: She sees Hermoso more in the attacking midfield, but has outstanding alternatives there, such as World Player of the Year Alexia Putellas (2021, 2022) and Aitana Bonmatí (2023, 2024).

She later explained in a radio interview with "Cadena Ser" that she herself hadn't informed Hermoso of her withdrawal: "Luckily, I have people above me who take this work off my hands." And what did she say about Hermoso's previous complaint about this lack of direct contact? The player was simply angry about not being considered, Tomé said: "She has to manage it."

This sentence, in particular, prompted a furious backlash from Hermoso: "Managing? That's something others should learn, for those who find it too big," she wrote on X and advised the national coach in question: "She should concentrate on leading Spain to the European Championship title – even if she (the players, editor's note) could do it on her own, and certainly much better."

Tomé travels to Switzerland even more damaged than she already was. As a former assistant to World Cup coach and Rubiales confidant Jorge Vilda, she never stood for a genuine fresh start – this also explains the tensions with Hermoso, which were already virulent at the 2024 Olympic Games, when Spain disappointed with a fourth-place finish. During the Rubiales trial, Tomé also had to testify and refute the suspicion that her decision not to nominate Hermoso was due to the player's refusal to exonerate Rubiales with placatory statements after the 2023 World Cup final.

The shadow of 2023 and the turbulent years with various player boycotts continues to hang over the Selección. Also missing in Switzerland will be goalkeeper Misa Rodríguez (Real Madrid), a close friend of Hermoso, who was also dropped by Tomé. As well as Mapi León. The world-class FC Barcelona defender still doesn't see a sufficiently clear break with "Rubialism" to warrant her re-qualifying for the national team.