Former president of the Spanish Football Federation Luis Rubiales has been found guilty of sexually assaulting footballer Jenni Hermoso.
Spain’s High Court found that Rubiales kissed star striker Hermoso on the lips without her consent after the Women’s World Cup final in 2023.
A judge convicted Rubiales of sexual assault for the actions but acquitted him of attempting to coerce Hermoso into playing down the unsolicited and unwanted kiss.
Judge Jose Manueal Fernandez-Prieto ruled that Rubiales sexually assaulted Hermoso when he “grabbed [her] head with both hands, and, then, in a sudden manner and without her consent and acceptance, kissed her on the lips.”
“This action of kissing a woman on the lips has a clear sexual connotation and is not the way people greet those with whom they are not in an emotional relationship,” the judge said, noting that Rubiales had congratulated other members of the victorious team by hugging them and kissing them on the cheek.
The judge also ruled that the sexual assault, “while always reproachable” was of minor intensity as there was no violence or intimidation.
While the former football chief had been facing a possible two-and-a-half year jail sentence, he has been ordered to pay fines and compensation totalling more than more than 10,000 euros ($16,300 AUD). Rubiales has also been forbidden to go within 200 metres of Hermoso for a year, and has been told to refrain from contacting her for 12 months.
Three other people who had been tried for allegedly putting pressure on Hermoso to say the kiss was consensual were cleared of coercion. They are the former head coach of the women’s national team Jorge Vilda, the former Spanish football federation sporting director Albert Luque and the federation’s former marketing chief Rubén Rivera.
Rubiales, 47, has always insisted the kiss on Hermoso’s lips after the final in Sydney was consensual. He told news agency Reuters he intended to appeal the judge’s guilty decision, saying he was “going to keep fighting”.
During the trial Hermoso said the unsolicited kiss and the commotion that followed “tainted one of the happiest days of my life”.
“I felt it was totally out of place and I then realised my boss was kissing me, and this shouldn’t happen in any social or workplace setting,” she said. “I felt disrespected.”
Hermoso’s teammates testified that the incident left her overwhelmed, crying and exhausted in the following hours and days of winning the World Cup.
Broadcast globally from Sydney, the incident also triggered widespread debate in Spain about sexism in women’s football, as well as wider reflections on the issue in Spanish society.
Spain’s equality minister, Ana Redondo, praised the guilty verdict, saying it send a clear message that “a non-consensual kiss is a sexual assault.”
“A victim’s words have to be heard and respected, and not questioned.”
“The Podemos MEP and former equality minister Irene Montero also praised the verdict, saying: “It’s not so long ago that it would have been unthinkable for the judicial system to recognise a non-consensual kiss as sexual assault”, however she added that the fines and damages imposed by the judge should have been higher.