Luis Rubiales, the former Spanish Football Federation President, was found guilty of sexual assault for kissing Spanish player Jenni Hermoso after Spain's Women's World Cup victory in 2023.
The prosecutor in the case wanted to sentence Rubiales to two years in prison. Instead, he was ordered to pay a fine of 10,000 euros and not go within 200 meters of Hermoso.
We can all agree that a man should never kiss a woman without her consent. That Rubiales kiss was unwanted and makes him a boor and a creep.
But a criminal?
The Spanish court considered that the kiss occurred as an act of joy following Spain's first Women's World Cup win. The judge deemed the kiss a “sporadic act” despite also deeming it “always reprehensible.”
One complication of the case was that, technically, Rubiales was Hermoso's superior. In any workplace, any kind of personal interaction like that is just asking for trouble and puts the female in an uncomfortable position.
“I knew I was being kissed by my boss and that should not happen in any social or work environment,” Hermoso said on the first day of the trial in Madrid.
“I think it was a moment that tainted one of the happiest days of my life. Until today, it seems that my life has been on standby; honestly, I have not lived freely,” the 34-year-old soccer star added.
What do you think the reaction would have been if the sex roles were reversed?
"When there is no consent there is assault and that is what the judge certifies in this sentence. The victim's word is honoured, as the law stipulates, and should not be questioned," Ana Redondo, equality minister in the government of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, wrote on X.
If Rubiales had immediately apologized, it might have gone differently for him. Instead, at the post-match press conference, he claimed that Hermoso had consented to the kiss. Three other Spanish soccer officials were tried along with Rubiales after they allegedly tried to convince Hermoso to say that it was a consensual kiss. They were acquitted of "coercion."
Mr. Rubiales plans to appeal the ruling, his lawyer, Olga Tubau, told the Spanish public broadcaster RTVE.
He has denied doing anything wrong during the encounter with Ms. Hermoso. Speaking in a courtroom near Madrid earlier this month, he said, “You don’t win a World Cup every day,” and he added that he had kissed other players in celebratory moments.
Prosecutors had also argued that Mr. Rubiales had pressured Ms. Hermoso to drop her claim and play down the incident.
Judge José Manuel Fernández-Prieto said that a kiss “is not the normal way of greeting people with whom one does not have an emotional relationship.” That's true. But would it be normal if you had just won the most prestigious trophy in women's soccer? In this case, it's more important to make a political statement than to deal with the reality of the moment.