The 46-year-old man has been criticized from all sides since he grabbed the head of Jennifer Hermoso, the N.10 of the female Roja, with both hands and then kissed her by surprise on the mouth, all filmed by the cameras, on the podium of the Sydney stadium just after the coronation of Spain against England.
A gesture that had reacted to the highest levels of football and power, from the Spanish Prime Minister in office to the Association of Spanish Footballers, the Professional Women’s Football League and the international players’ union FIFPro and even the Fifa who launched disciplinary proceedings against him.
According to Spanish media, the 40-year-old will present his resignation on Friday, which will be at the heart of the GA of the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), scheduled from noon (10:00 GMT) at las Rozas near Madrid, and at which 140 people were summoned. Joined by AFP, the football federation did not confirm this information and did not wish to comment.
The announcement on Tuesday evening of this general meeting convened in “emergency” was accompanied by a clarification: “in view of the latest events that have occurred (…) last Sunday in Sydney, we wish to inform you that the internal procedures of the Federation concerning integrity issues are open”.
“International shame”
On Sunday, moments after the kiss was captured by the cameras and upon her return to the locker room, Jenni Hermoso said of the kiss during a live broadcast on Instagram: “I didn’t like it, huh !”.
In the evening, the Spanish federation released to the press statements by the player according to which it was “a totally spontaneous mutual gesture because of the immense joy that the victory in the World Cup brings”. On Monday, after initially considering that those who criticized his gesture were “idiots”, as he had declared on Cope radio, Luis Rubiales ended up apologizing a few hours later.
“What was perceived here as something natural, normal, without any bad intentions”, caused, according to him, “an agitation outside”, he had regretted, before adding that “if people have injured, I must apologize, there is nothing else to do”.
Apologies deemed unconvincing since the Higher Sports Council, a Spanish public body directly dependent on the ministry, indicated that it was going to bring the case before the Administrative Sports Court and take action if the Federation did not do so.
More and more voices were raised
As for Jennifer Hermoso, she made it known through her union, Futpro, that she was calling for “exemplary measures” for Luis Rubiales. The affair took on another dimension on Wednesday when the professional women’s football league issued a scathing press release demanding the dismissal of Luis Rubiales.
For La Liga F, “one of the greatest feats in the history of Spanish sport has been tainted by the embarrassing behavior of Spain’s highest representative of football” and Rubiales’ attitude is a moment of “unprecedented international shame for the ‘Spain brand’, for Spanish sport and for global women’s football”.
This kiss did not just react in Spain, but even the American Megan Rapinoe, one of the most famous footballers in the world, or even Amnesty International, which considers that this kiss is an act “of sexual violence in work environment and exercised by a superior”.
More and more voices were raised, like those of Carlo Ancelotti, the coach of Real Madrid who considered that this gesture was not “worthy of a president of the federation” or even of Enrique Cerezo, the president of Atlético, who ruled Thursday on the Spanish channel Sexta that Luis Rubiales should resign. It remains to be seen whether the GA will collect enough votes to implement a possible decision. The Basque federation and many club representatives have already announced that they will not be going there.