The president suspended from the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), Luis Rubialesannounced his resignation from his positions twenty days after giving a kiss to soccer player Jennifer Hermoso during the final of the Women’s Soccer World Cup in Sydney.
The resignation comes after the Spanish prosecutor’s office will present a complaint against Rubiales on Friday for sexual assault and coercion for kissing the soccer player on the lips without consent.
“Insisting on waiting and putting up with it is not going to contribute anything positive, neither to the federation nor to Spanish football”reads Rubiales’ statement.
Rubiales always insisted that the kiss to Hermoso was “mutual and consensual”although the player filed a complaint against him with the prosecutor’s office on September 6.
The coach of the Spanish women’s soccer team and a close ally of Rubiales, Jorge Vilda, was fired by the federation a few days ago.
Until now, 81 Spanish footballers, including the 23 World Cup winners, had said they would not play for the national team again while Rubiales was in charge.
In the World Cup final in Australia and New Zealand on August 20, Rubiales was also seen grabbing his crotch while celebrating a goal in the stands, very close to Queen Letizia of Spain and Infanta Sofía, 16 years old.
The origin of the controversy
On August 20, in the World Cup final in Sydney, Australia, Spain beat England 1-0.
Luis Rubiales, in the VIP box of the stadium and sitting next to Queen Letizia and her daughter Infanta Sofía, grabbed his genitals in celebration.
Minutes later, during the medal presentation to the Spanish women, he kissed Hermoso, who plays for the Pachuca Femenil Soccer Club in the Mexican league.
In their first reactions to the media, both Rubiales and Hermoso tried to downplay the matter, although in a live video on Instagram of the players in the locker room, the soccer player said, in reference to the kiss, that “He didn’t like it.”
A day later, Rubiales apologized in a video broadcast by the RFEF, but the acting president of the Spanish government, Pedro Sánchez, said that this was not enough and the acting second vice president, Yolanda Díaz, asked for the director’s resignation.
During the following days the controversy grew until it had international reach, multiplying demands for resignation against Rubiales.
Source: Gestion
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