Jorge Vilda Rodríguez (born 7 July 1981) is a Spanish

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

coach and

UEFA Pro Licence The UEFA coaching licences are documents testifying credentials of manager (association football), managers/ coach (sport), coaches among members of UEFA. The governing body for association football, football in Europe mandates several licences, e ...

holder, who is currently the head coach of the Morocco women's national team, since 12 October 2023. Previously, he was the head coach of the

Spain women's national football team The Spain women's national football team, officially known as the Spain national football team (), has represented Spain in international Women's association football, women's football competitions since 1980. It is governed by the Royal Spanis ...

from 2015 to 2023, winning the

2023 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup was the ninth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international women's association football, football championship contested by List of women's national association football teams, women's nat ...

. He was also sporting director of the Spanish FA's (RFEF) women's national-team system and tactical instructor at their National Coaching School for much of the same period.

Career

Spain women's youth national football teams

A former youth player at the academies of

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

Rayo Vallecano Rayo Vallecano de Madrid, S.A.D. (), often abbreviated to Rayo (Spanish for "thunderbolt"), is a Spanish professional football club based in the Villa de Vallecas district of Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish foot ...

and

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

, Vilda began as an assistant coach to his father, Angel, at WU17 and WU19 level, before taking the head coach's position with Spain's WU17s in 2009. During five years at that level, Spain won gold (2010 & 2011), silver (2014) and bronze (2013) at UEFA Women's U-17 EUROs, in addition to silver (2014) and bronze (2010) at the

FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup The FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup is an annual (biennial until 2024) international women's association football tournament for female players under the age of 17. It is organized by ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' (FIFA) ...

. In 2014 he was among the ten nominees for that year's FIFA Coach of the Year for Women's Football and was appointed to the head coach's role with Spain's WU19s, who collected silver medals at the UEFA Women's U-19 EURO in 2014 and 2015 before being appointed as head coach to the senior side since then.

Spain women's national team

Appointed Spain's senior head coach in 2015, succeeding

Ignacio Quereda Ignacio Quereda Laviña (born 24 July 1950) is a Spanish football coach who managed the Spain women's national football team between 1988 and 2015. Playing career Born in Madrid, Quereda was raised in Badajoz where his family moved when he was ...

, Vilda oversaw a successful qualifying campaign for the UEFA Women's EURO 2017. At the competition in the Netherlands they reached the quarter-finals, where they lost on penalties to Austria after a 0–0 draw. In 2018 Spain won the Cyprus Cup and also secured their place at the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup – only their second appearance at the global event. Additionally, Vilda oversaw Spain's victory at the UEFA WU19 EURO, which contributed to being shortlisted for the award of The Best FIFA Woman's Coach 2018. By 2019, many of the players that Vilda had worked with at youth level, including

Alexia Putellas Alèxia Putellas i Segura ( , Alexia Putellas Segura; born 4 February 1994), often known mononymously as Alexia, is a Spanish professional footballer from Catalonia who plays as a midfielder or forward for Liga F club Barcelona, which she cap ...

Amanda Sampedro Amanda Sampedro Bustos (born 26 June 1993) is a Spanish former footballer who played as a forward and the Spain national team. International career A skillful forward noted for her creativity and vision, she was part of the Spanish team which ...

Virginia Torrecilla Virginia Torrecilla Reyes (born 4 September 1994), simply known as Virginia, is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a Midfielder. She has played for Atlético Madrid, FC Barcelona, French Division 1 Féminine team Montpellier ...

, Lola Gallardo,

Nahikari García Nahikari García Pérez (born 10 March 1997) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a forward (association football), forward for Liga F club Athletic Club (women), Athletic Bilbao and the Spain women's national football team, Spain ...

, Patri Guijarro,

Mariona Caldentey Maria Francesca "Mariona" Caldentey Oliver (; born 19 March 1996), also known mononymously as Mariona, is a Spanish professional footballer who plays for Women's Super League club Arsenal and the Spain national team. Prior to her move to Arsen ...

and

Ivana Andrés Ivana Andrés Sanz (born 13 July 1994) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a centre back for Serie A club Inter Milan and the Spain national team. Club career Youth Ivana Andrés began her career in her hometown of Aielo de ...

, had all established themselves as regular senior-squad members. At France 2019, Spain qualified from Group B in second place (behind Germany and ahead of China and South Africa), the first time Spain had reached the knockout stages of the FIFA WWC. Drawn against 2015 champions U.S. in the Round of 16, two penalties from

Megan Rapinoe Megan Anna Rapinoe (; born July 5, 1985) is an American former professional Association football, soccer player who played as a Midfielder#Winger, winger. She spent most of her career playing for Seattle Reign FC, OL Reign of the National Wom ...

ended Spain's chances of reaching the last eight. Vilda and Spain's momentum continued into 2020, with La Roja finishing second in the She Believes Cup – beating England and Japan and losing to hosts United States.

2022–23 player dispute and World Cup title

In 2022, a dispute broke out between Vilda and 15 Spanish players who boycotted the national team. The dispute arose after what the players perceived as a disappointing result in the

UEFA Women's Euro 2022 The 2022 UEFA European Women's Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Women's Euro 2022 or simply Euro 2022, was the 13th edition of the UEFA Women's Championship, the quadrennial international Association football, football champio ...

as well as their concerns about Vilda's coaching style and his retaliatory treatment of players. The

Federation A federation (also called a federal state) is an entity characterized by a political union, union of partially federated state, self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a #Federal governments, federal government (federalism) ...

supported Vilda, who refused to resign and did not call up those players in the following matches. Only three of them –

Aitana Bonmatí Aitana Bonmatí i Conca (; born 18 January 1998) is a Catalan professional association football, footballer from Spain who plays as a midfielder for Liga F club FC Barcelona Femení, Barcelona and the Spain women's national football team, Spa ...

and Ona Batlle— returned to the national team and competed in the

. In this tournament,

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

became world champions after defeating the

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

1–0 in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

, thanks to

Olga Carmona Olga Carmona García (born 12 June 2000) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a left back for Première Ligue club Paris Saint-Germain and the Spain national team. She played for Sevilla previously before joining the Madrid side. ...

's goal. Following the scandal regarding the actions of the president of the RFEF,

Luis Rubiales Luis Manuel Rubiales Béjar (born 23 August 1977) is a former Spanish Association football, football official and professional player who played as a Defender (association football), defender, appearing in 53 La Liga matches over three seasons. ...

, and his subsequent suspension, on 5 September 2023, Vilda was dismissed by the acting president, Pedro Rocha, as national coach. On 27 September 2023 Vilda's status in the case was upgraded from witness to suspect and he was required to testify on 9 October. On 20 February 2025, Vilda was acquitted on the coercion charges involving Rubiales. Despite leaving Spain for another coaching position, Vilda remains under investigation.

Morocco women's national team

After the Rubiales incident, which led to his dismissal and criminal investigation, on 12 October 2023, he was announced as the new head coach of the Moroccan women's team. He was recommended to the Moroccan FA by his former employers, the

RFEF The Royal Spanish Football Federation (; RFEF) is the governing body of football in Spain. Founded on 29 September 1913, it is based in La Ciudad del Fútbol of Las Rozas, a municipality near Madrid. RFEF organizes the national cup competitio ...

Managerial honours

Spain U17 women *

UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship The UEFA European Women's Under-17 Championship or simply UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship, is an annual European championship football tournament, organized by UEFA, for national teams of women under age seventeen. The tournament was first play ...

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

; runner-up:

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

; third place:

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

runner-up:

; third place:

Spain U19 women *

UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship The UEFA European Women's Under-19 Championship or simply UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship, is an annual competition in women's football for European national teams of players under 19 years of age. National under-19 teams whose countries belon ...

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

, runner-up:

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

Spain women *

FIFA Women's World Cup The FIFA Women's World Cup is an international association football competition contested by the senior list of women's national association football teams, women's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internationale de Footb ...

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

Algarve Cup The Algarve Cup is an invitational tournament for national teams in women's association football hosted by the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF). Held annually in the Algarve region of Portugal since 1994, it is one of the most prestigious and ...

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

Cyprus Cup The Cyprus Women's Cup is a global invitational tournament for national teams in women's football. It has been held annually in Cyprus since 2008. Although the competition takes place in Cyprus, the hosts have yet to take part in the competitio ...

Individual * FIFA World Coach of the Year for Women's Football; Shortlisted in 2018

References

External links

*
Jorge Vilda: “I can’t wait to get started”
. 3 September 2015.
Mentor and mentees make the most of Madrid meeting
FIFA.com.
Rising La Roja eyeing further progress
FIFA.com. {{DEFAULTSORT:Vilda, Jorge Living people Spanish football managers Spain women's national football team managers 1981 births Footballers from Madrid 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup managers Men's association football players not categorized by position Association football players not categorized by nationality UEFA Women's Euro 2022 managers 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup managers FIFA Women's World Cup–winning managers Morocco women's national football team managers Expatriate football managers in Morocco Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Morocco