The Spanish Women’s football team reached the pinnacle in 2023, winning the World Cup for the first time and gaining many plaudits.
However, one incident alone mired the whole occasion, when Luis Rubiales, the president of the Spanish Football Federation, kissed 😘 Jenni Hermoso, one of the players, as she was collecting her medal. You would think that this would result in Rubiales being the one on the defensive, right? Hermoso was threatened with legal action by the Spanish FA. Eventually, Rubiales stepped down, the coach was fired and 81 Spanish players refused to play for Spain. And now… Rubiales stands trial for alleged sexual assault and subsequent coercion of Hermoso. He says that the kiss was consensual – the coach of the team and the sporting and marketing directors of the Spanish Football Federation are also on trial for their part in aiding the coercion.
On a more interesting note, Rubiales has previously been investigated for potential crimes of corruption, money laundering and fund misuse which may have involved the Supercopa de Espana moving to Saudi Arabia. Rubiales denies all wrongdoing. The moment and what happened afterwards..… The world did not appreciate the gravity of the moment, and a debate soon commenced on whether it was ‘just a peck’ (Cadena Cope) or ‘sexual violence’ (Irene Montero). That same night, the Spanish Football Federation released a statement that quoted Hermoso saying ‘it was a gesture of friendship and gratitude’ – it later transpired that Hermoso did not provide this statement. After the final, everyone flew back to Madrid on a plane, on which Rubiales is alleged to have pressured Hermoso to make a statement saying it was a consensual kiss, with the Spanish football coach also asking her family to intervene and inferring that there may be ramifications if she didn’t adhere. Rubiales then started a trail of damage limitation - he recorded a video statement saying that nobody in the Spanish camp felt he had done anything wrong – the co-accused marketing director even sent Hermoso messages telling her to support Rubiales and apparently asked Hermoso to call the FA’s integrity department to tell them that ‘nothing happened. The prosecution allege that this is all part of a continued plot to coerce Hermoso into alleviating Rubiales from blame. Spain’s Prime Minister called for Rubiales to resign and FIFA then opened disciplinary proceedings against Rubiales. He refused to resign.
This is when the players then refused to play for Spain until the leadership of the Football Federation changed – which then culminated in them threatening Hermoso to stop spreading lies and releasing more images of the kiss to prove that it was consensual. Finally, Rubiales was provisionally suspended from all football related activities for 90 days and was restricted from contacting Hermoso. Yet again, Rubiales persisted in his attacks. the federation said that Rubiales was innocent and that Hermoso had lied. To top it all off, his mother, began a hunger strike in her local town of Motril, to incite Hermoso to say she had given consent. This lasted 3 days, after which she was taken to hospital. Rubiales then resigned from the Spanish Football Federation.
The case is now at trial, with 27 witnesses set to be called to testify. The prosecutors want him to go down for 2 and a half years. We will know the verdict after a few weeks.