FIFA suspends Spain’s Luis Rubiales after World Cup kiss of Jennifer Hermoso
FIFA suspended Spanish soccer federation president Luis Rubiales on Saturday effective immediately as it investigates his conduct following Spain’s 1-0 win over England in the Women’s World Cup final, the organization announced Saturday morning.
Rubiales, who will be suspended for an initial period of 90 days, came under fire after kissing Spanish star Jennifer Hermoso on the lips without her consent during the trophy presentation ceremony after the team’s 1-0 win.
“[We] decided today to provisionally suspend Mr. Luis Rubiales from all football-related activities at national and international level,” said world football’s governing body in a statement.
He refused to resign from his presidency during an emergency meeting on Friday after Hermoso spoke out against his action and the team threatened a boycott if Rubiales did not step down.
“I want to clarify that, as seen in the images, at no time did I consent to the kiss he gave me and, of course, in no case did I try to lift the president,” Hermoso said in a statement.
“I do not tolerate my word being doubted, much less making up words I have not said,” she added.
The president of Spain’s women’s league, Beatriz Álvarez, told The Associated Press that she believed this was the end of Rubiales’ soccer career.
The league filed one of several official complaints against Rubiales that Spain’s government has received.
“Luis Rubiales is finished. He has dug his own grave with his acts and his words,” Álvarez said. “Whether it is because of the action of FIFA or the Spanish government, I am sure that Luis Rubiales won’t spend another minute as president of the Spanish federation.”
The federation appointed vice-president Pedro Rocha as acting president.
It added in a statement that Rubiales “has complete trust in the FIFA’s procedures and will use this opportunity to start his defense so that the truth is known and he is proven innocent.”
Fifty-five players on Spain’s women’s national team signed a petition that threatened them no partaking in competition play until Rubiales has been removed from his position, saying they “want to express their firm and resounding condemnation of behaviors that have violated the dignity of women.”
According to reporter Alex Ibaceta, 11 members of Spain’s women’s soccer technical staff have resigned from their positions.
The federation has threatened legal action against Hermoso for refusing to accept Rubiales’ version of the kiss that happened at the on-field medal and trophy presentation last Sunday.
FIFA has given no timetable for a ruling.
The body’s disciplinary judges can impose sanctions ranging from warnings and fines to suspensions from the sport.
Rubiales claimed Hermoso had lifted him up and verbally consented to the kiss.
“My desire in that moment was exactly the same as if I’d have been kissing one of my daughters,” Rubiales claimed, according to ESPN. “No more or less. Everybody understands that. It was a spontaneous kiss, mutual, euphoric and consensual.
“In the moment that Jenni arrived, she lifted me up off the ground. We almost fell over. We hugged. I said ‘Forget about the penalty, you’ve been fantastic, we wouldn’t have won the World Cup without you.’ She said: ‘You’re great.’ I said ‘A kiss?’ and she said: ‘Yes.’ … Justice isn’t being done here. This is a social assassination of me, they’re trying to kill me.”
His comments came as a surprise, as he was expected to resign after FIFA opened “disciplinary proceedings” on Thursday.
Rubiales has received criticism from across the world including from retiring United States women’s national team star Megan Rapinoe, who called the incident a reflection of “deep level of misogyny and sexism.”
Teammate Alex Morgan also tweeted, “I’m disgusted by the public actions of Luis Rubiales.”
“I stand by @Jennihermoso and the Spanish players. Winning a World Cup should be one of the best moments in these players’ lives but instead it’s overshadowed by assault, misogyny, and failures by the Spanish federation,” she added.
— with AP
