Former Spanish soccer federation president Luis Rubiales has been convicted of sexually assaulting participant Jenni Hermoso by kissing her after the 2023 Ladies’s World Cup closing. The court docket sentenced Rubiales to a positive exceeding €10,000 ($10,400) and imposed a restraining order, prohibiting him from approaching Hermoso inside 200 meters or contacting her for one 12 months.
Rubiales was acquitted of coercion costs associated to his makes an attempt to downplay the kiss throughout the awards ceremony in Sydney. The incident, which occurred after Spain’s first Ladies’s World Cup title, ignited widespread outrage throughout Spain and past.
In the course of the two-week trial, Rubiales asserted that Hermoso had consented to the kiss. Nonetheless, Hermoso denied this declare, stating that she felt disrespected by the act. She additionally testified that she was pressured into recording a video with Rubiales to downplay the incident.
Prosecutors had sought a jail sentence of two and a half years for Rubiales—one 12 months for sexual assault and a further 12 months and a half for coercion. Additionally they advisable comparable sentences for 3 different former Spanish federation officers accused of coercion: former girls’s staff coach Jorge Vilda, males’s staff sports activities director Albert Luque, and head of promoting Ruben Rivera. All 4 defendants have been acquitted of the coercion costs.
Rubiales resigned as president of the Spanish soccer federation three weeks after the scandal emerged and was subsequently banned by FIFA for 3 years. He had beforehand described himself as a sufferer of a “witch hunt” by “false feminists.”
In his testimony, Rubiales expressed remorse over the kiss, acknowledging that it was inappropriate for a nationwide federation president. He maintained, nonetheless, that it shouldn’t be thought of sexual assault.
The incident has been described as some of the embarrassing scandals within the historical past of Spanish soccer, prompting widespread discussions about respect and consent throughout the sport.
