Jorge Vilda Rodríguez (born 7 July 1981) is a Spanish football coach and UEFA Pro Licence holder, who is the current head coach of the Spain women's national football team – a position he has held since 2015. Vilda is also sporting director of the Spanish FA's (RFEF) women's national-team system and tactical instructor at their National Coaching School.

Career

Spain women's youth national football teams 
A former youth player at Real Madrid, Rayo Vallecano and FC Barcelona, Vilda began as an assistant coach 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.

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 football team 
Appointed Spain's senior head coach in 2015, succeeding Ignacio Quereda, 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, Amanda Sampedro, Virginia Torrecilla, Lola Gallardo, Nahikari García, Patri Guijarro, Mariona Caldentey and Ivana Andrés, 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 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 as well as their concerns about Vilda's coaching style and his treatment of players.

The Federation supported Vilda, who refused to resign and did not call up those players in the following matches. Only three of them –Aitana Bonmatí, Mariona Caldentey and Ona Batlle— returned to the national team and competed in the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup. In this tournament, Spain became world champions after defeating the English team by 1–0 in the final, thanks to Olga Carmona's goal.

Managerial honours
Spain U17 women
 UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship: 2010, 2011; runner-up: 2014; third place: 2013
 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup runner-up: 2014; third place: 2010
Spain U19 women
 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship runner-up: 2014, 2015
Spain women
 FIFA Women's World Cup: 2023
 Algarve Cup: 2017
 Cyprus Cup: 2018
Individual
 FIFA World Coach of the Year for Women's Football; Shortlisted in 2018

References

External links
 
 https://www.womenssoccerunited.com/jorge-vilda-interview/
 https://www.uefa.com/teamsandplayers/coaches/coach=250014446/profile/index.html
 FIFA.com
 FIFA.com

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