Nice try, Senor Rubiales
Spanish football chief’s federation releases four photos suggesting World Cup star picked HIM up for kiss – but hours later he’s suspended by FIFA
FIFA last night suspended Spanish football boss Luis Rubiales just hours after his federation appeared to blame World Cup winner Jenni Hermoso for being kissed by him.
In a widely condemned statement, Spain’s football federation yesterday published a string of photographs that it suggested showed Ms Hermoso instigating a clinch with Mr Rubiales during the medal ceremony and consenting to being kissed.
It threatened to sue Ms Hermoso and branded her claims about Mr Rubiales’ conduct during last weekend’s final in Sydney as ‘lies’.
Amid a sexism scandal that has overshadowed Spain’s World Cup triumph, Fifa dramatically intervened yesterday and barred Mr Rubiales from all ‘football-related activities at national and international level’ for 90 days.
The controversy erupted last Sunday when Mr Rubiales, president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), kissed Ms Hermoso, Spain’s 33-year-old forward, on the lips at the final’s medal ceremony in Sydney. Footage also emerged of him grabbing his crotch while standing near Queen Letizia of Spain and her 16-year-old daughter Infanta Sofia, and also lifting Athenea del Castillo over his shoulder during the celebrations.
During a defiant press conference on Friday, Mr Rubiales claimed he asked Ms Hermoso for ‘a little peck’ after she ‘lifted me up’. To the applause of other football bosses, Rubiales repeatedly shouted: ‘I will not resign!’
His rant provoked Ms Hermoso to issue her own statement in which she stressed that ‘at no time did I consent to the kiss that he gave me’. And in an extraordinary mutiny, 23 players of Spain’s World Cup-winning squad, as well as 32 other squad members, said they will not play for their country again while Rubiales remained in charge.
Eleven members of Spain’s backroom staff resigned after they were pressured into supporting Mr Rubiales. Some of the female staff were forced to sit in the front row during his address on Friday. The staff said they were ‘in full support’ of Ms Hermoso, adding:
‘We also want to state the uncomfortableness we felt having been obligated to assist the general assembly.’
The RFEF released an 800-word statement and four images in the early hours of yesterday morning that it bizarrely claimed demonstrated that Mr Rubiales’ account was ‘absolutely true’.
In a description accompanying one of the photos, the federation claimed that Mr Rubiales was forced to hold on to Ms Hermoso ‘so as not to fall’ and that ‘it is evident that the arching of the player’s body corresponds to the lifting force of Mr President’.
‘The feet of Mr President are ostensibly raised off the ground as a result of the player’s action,’ it added. ‘The evidence is conclusive. Mr President has not lied.
‘The RFEF and Mr President will demonstrate each of the lies that are spread either by someone on behalf of the player or, if applicable, by the player herself.’ Astonishingly, the federation threatened legal action, saying that playing for the national team ‘is an obligation for all members of the federation’. Tracey Crouch MP, the former sports minister, said she was ‘horrified’ by the Spanish federation’s statement. ‘We were supposed to be talking about how great Spain’s victory was for women’s football but instead it is this,’ she wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
BBC Sport presenter Emma Louise Jones said: ‘Imagine having someone kiss you on the lips without consent. Then being told a governing body are taking legal action over your “lies”.’
Football journalist Henry Winter described the RFEF’s defence as ‘an absolute disaster class’. ‘His kiss was creepy, offensive and nonconsensual,’ he added.
Fifa announced that Jorge Ivan Palacio, the chairman of its disciplinary committee, had decided to ‘provisionally suspend’ Mr Rubiales. It also ordered him and the RFEF not to contact Ms Hermoso.
‘Fifa reiterates its absolute commitment to respect the integrity of all persons and therefore condemns with the utmost vigour any behaviour to the contrary,’ it added.
In a joint statement on Friday night, the Lionesses backed the Spain team and said: ‘Abuse is abuse and we have all seen the truth.’
Footage also emerged last week of Spain’s head coach Jorge Vilda appearing to touch a female staff member inappropriately during the final. Video footage taken seconds after Olga Carmona’s 29thminute goal shows the Spanish staff celebrating – and Mr Vilda’s left hand appearing to linger on a female staff member’s breast.
Mr Rubiales will fight the accusations against him, the RFEF said last night.
‘I asked for a little peck after she picked me up’