It's sadly ironic to think that it was in Australia, a country regularly hit by forest fires, that the media blaze started, one which has now spread far beyond football circles and shows no signs of dying down. On August 26 the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) announced the provisional suspension of Luis Rubiales, President of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF). A few hours later, six members of the Spanish women's team management team – with the notable exception of coach Jorge Vilda – submitted their resignations to the RFEF, expressing "their firm and categorical condemnation of the behavior" of Rubiales toward player Jenni Hermoso. On Monday, August 28, prosecutors at Spain's top criminal court said they had opened a preliminary investigation into Rubiales' forcible kiss on grounds it could constitute a crime of "sexual assault". These events are just the latest in an evolving soap opera involving the 46-year-old football executive, who is also a vice president of UEFA.
It all began on the pitch of Sydney's Stadium Australia on August 20. The FIFA Women's World Cup had just ended with an unprecedented victory for Spain over European champions England (1-0). It was time for celebration: La Roja had never won a title before. As the world's cameras focused on the players, Rubiales kissed striker Hermoso hard on the lips. Without her consent. The affair quickly escalated, to the point of overshadowing the national team's historic success.
Indignation spread right up to the highest level of Spain's government, but Rubiales refused to resign, comforted in his stance by a federation quick to post photos on its website by way of "proof" that said kiss could not have been an assault: "Mr. President has his arms around the player's upper back. No force could therefore have been exerted."
Hermoso, however, begs to differ, despite the RFEF press release issued a few hours after the event. According to that text, the 33-year-old woman felt that it was a "totally spontaneous mutual gesture due to the immense joy of winning the World Cup". On August 25, on her personal X (formerly Twitter) account, she set the record straight: "I felt vulnerable and the victim of an impulse-driven, sexist, out-of-place act without any consent on my part. Simply put, I was not respected. I was asked to make a joint statement to alleviate the pressure on the president, but at that moment all I had in my mind was to enjoy the historic milestone achieved with my teammates."
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