Venezuelan, Australian women’s soccer stars allege sexual abuse
Some of the top female soccer players from Venezuela and Australia have come forward with allegations of abuse and harassment they experienced while playing for women’s national soccer teams.
In a letter posted on social media, Atlético Madrid forward Deyna Castellanos was joined by 23 of Venezuela’s most accomplished soccer players who said their former coach of the national team, Kenneth Zseremeta, subjected them to years of abuse.
The letter demanded that FIFA, soccer’s governing body, ban Zseremeta from working in women’s soccer, according to Reuters.
“Many of us still have trauma and mental wounds that accompany us in our daily lives,” the players wrote, per Reuters.
COMUNICADO. #NoMasAbusos
#ProtejanALasJugadoras #ProtectThePlayers pic.twitter.com/KJ2alEE0Jz— Deyna Castellanos (@deynac18) October 5, 2021
“I am extremely proud of each and every one of you for collectively raising our voices so that no other soccer team (amateur or professional) must endure our experience,” Castellanos said of her fellow accusers in an article she shared on Medium.
The letter alleges that the abuse took place from 2013 until at least 2017 when Zseremeta was fired from his role as coach of the under-20 women’s national team as a result of the team’s poor performance, The Washington Post reported.
“For a long time, we had all convinced ourselves that these experiences were normal,” Castellanos wrote. “I had assumed that this machista environment built on exploitive control and degradation was the price a woman athlete had to pay to be a professional player.”
The Venezuelan Soccer Federation tweeted its support for the players saying, “As a federation, we support women today and at all times.”
Comprometidos en hacer valer el respeto hacia la mujer en este deporte.
Como Federación, las apoyamos hoy y en todo momento.
@FemeninoFVF pic.twitter.com/2qkEoVtoon
— FVF (@FVF_Oficial) October 6, 2021
Other players alleged that Zseremeta asked them inappropriate questions, requested massages and regularly questioned the sexuality of LGBTQ players, the Post reported.
“There were threats and manipulations to tell the parents of the players about their sexual orientation,” the players wrote according to the Post. “We never felt we had the tools to speak and get support, because the influence and power of this person in our lives was authoritarian.”
The Post added that Venezuela’s attorney general announced that a prosecutor would be investigating the claims.
In Australia, soccer player Lisa de Vanna also came forward in Australia’s Daily Telegraph with allegations of abuse and bullying when she joined a national women’s soccer team.
“I fought my way off the floor kicking and screaming. They thought it was funny,” De Vanna said of her abuse according to The Post. “Have I been sexually harassed? Yes. Have I been bullied? Yes. Ostracized? Yes. Have I seen things that have made me uncomfortable? Yes.”
A spokesperson for Football Australia told The Post that the organization had met with De Vanna.
“Australian football takes a zero-tolerance approach to any conduct which breaches the standards and values expected of people involved in the game,” the spokesperson said to the Post.
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