Could Spain players boycott September games over Luis Rubiales?

"I'm not going to resign." For a split second, the entire room at the Spanish football federation's extraordinary general assembly fell silent as they computed the words tumbling out of Luis Rubiales' mouth.

"I'm not going to resign." the RFEF president declared again, with a bit more feeling, prompting what began as a smattering of applause that tentatively swelled. Jorge Vilda tried and failed to suppress a smirk as he clapped away.

The hotly controversial manager of Spain's World Cup-winning women's team has been fiercely defended by Rubiales even in the face of player mutiny. Last September, 15 players resigned from the national team in protest against a myriad of inadequacies within the Spanish federation, with the choice of manager chief among them.

One year later, Spain may have added another senior World Cup to the trophy won by the men's team in 2010, but the Rubiales kiss scandal has sparked an even greater exodus.

All 23 Spanish World Cup winners, along with 58 current and past female players, signed a statement supporting Jenni Hermoso - the country's all-time leading scorer who has insisted that Rubiales' kiss was "not consensual". But certain male players have also voiced their support.

Luis de la Fuente, manager of the Spanish men's national team, was sat next to Vilda to witness Rubiales' tirade, applauding the unravelling just as vigorously. With the first men's international break of the 2023/24 season rapidly approaching, here's how this shameful sequence of events may impact La Roja on the pitch.

When are the next matches for the Spanish men's national team?

De la Fuente has spent the last decade rising through the ranks of the Spanish football federation's various youth categories - his public support of Rubiales is no surprise from a company man.

After bowing out of the 2022 men's World Cup in the first knockout stage against rank underdogs Morocco, De la Fuente replaced Luis Enrique as manager. The new boss began life at La Roja with a 3-0 win over Norway in their first qualifying match for the 2024 European Championships in Germany.

However, that success was rapidly overshadowed by a 2-0 humbling against Scotland. Spain subsequently won the UEFA Nations League in June but sit a lowly fourth in their qualifying group of five teams. Two nations per group automatically qualify for the finals in Germany next summer.

The upcoming September international break presents Spain with their next two qualifying matches.

La Roja travel to Tbilisi on 8 September for a tricky test away to Georgia. The upwardly mobile eastern Europeans went through the entirety of 2022 without losing a home match. In fact, on Spain's last visit to Georgia in 2021, La Roja only snatched a 2-1 win courtesy of Dani Olmo's stoppage-time strike.

Four days later, Spain are back on home turf for a more manageable visit from Cyprus. The side led by Newcastle United's former advertising hoardings tormentor Temuri Ketsbaia have lost all three of their qualifying matches thus far and boast a dreadful record on Spanish soil; across their four away games against Spain, Cyprus have conceded 26 goals without reply.

Could Spain players boycott September games over Luis Rubiales?

It was not until the president's extraordinary defence of his behaviour, decrying "false feminism" as he presented his own version of events which Hermoso has emphatically refuted, that La Liga players began to speak out.

A triumvirate of Real Betis players were among the first from the male side of the sport to lend their support. Hector Bellerin and Isco both fervently opposed the actions of the president, with the former lamenting: "What is happening is truly shameful. From representing our country with that level of vulgarity, misrepresenting the victim's statements and, on top of that, having the audacity to blame her, going on to victimise her for having committed an abuse, are facts that no one would do."

Neither Bellerin nor Isco have won a cap in three years but their club teammate Borja Iglesias came off the bench in Spain's most recent European qualifier against Scotland. The 30-year-old striker said: "Wearing the Spanish National Team shirt is one of the greatest things that has happened to me in my career. I don't know if at some point I will be an option again, but I have made the decision not to return to the National Team until things change and this type of act does not go unpunished."

"I'm sad and disappointed," he continued. "As a footballer and as a person, I don't feel represented by what is happening today at Las Rozas [the RFEF headquarters]. I think it's lamentable that they keep pressuring and putting the focus on a colleague."

Real Madrid loanee Jesus Vallejo has also withdrawn any potential involvement with the national team. The former Wolverhampton Wanderers defender played under De la Fuente for Spain's under-19s but is yet to earn a cap for the senior side.

Are Spain's players allowed to turn down an international call-up?

Right at the end of a sensation statement in which RFEF threatened to sue Hermoso, the Spanish football federation fired a warning shot to any players considering a boycott.

RFEF's release stated: "Participation in the national team is an obligation of all the federated people if they are called for it."

When will Luis de la Fuente announce his Spain squad for September internationals?

The final round of club fixtures across Europe before the first international break of the calendar take place across the weekend of 2-3 September.

De la Fuente is set to announce his squad for Spain's matches against Georgia and Cyprus on Friday 1 September. How many of those players overlook the chaos going on in the federation and accept the call remains to be seen.

READ MORE POST-TOURNAMENT REACTION TO THE 2023 WOMEN'S WORLD CUP