Spanish national team player Jennifer Hermoso has filed a criminal complaint against the country’s disgraced football chief for having kissed her after the women’s World Cup final in August.
(Bloomberg) — Spanish national team player Jennifer Hermoso has filed a criminal complaint against the country’s disgraced football chief for having kissed her after the women’s World Cup final in August.
Hermoso, a forward on the team that won the world title last month in Australia, filed the complaint with the prosecutor’s office at Spain’s National Court, where she also testified, according to a prosecutor’s statement. The testimony was given on Tuesday.
Although Luis Rubiales has already been suspended for 90 days as head of the Spanish Football Association by FIFA, the world governing body, a criminal investigation could lead to harsher sanctions by other organizations. The Spanish government has been looking for ways to suspend him more permanently, while the FA itself released a statement on Tuesday requesting that Rubiales resign.
The FA has said it cannot remove Rubiales before an election set for 2024.
Rubiales sparked a national controversy with his behavior following Spain’s victory in the World Cup final, when he grabbed Hermoso’s head and kissed her on the lips. He also grabbed his crotch to celebrate. Rubiales later claimed the kiss was consensual.
In the aftermath of the kiss, the official brushed off criticism and calls to quit his job, and five days after the final he gave a defiant speech in the FA headquarters in front of more than 100 people in which he said he was not resigning because he did nothing wrong.
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2023 Bloomberg L.P.