Rubiales fined for kiss at World Cup
The former head of the Spanish football federation was found guilty of sexual assault after the 2023 World Cup final but cleared of a second charge of coercion.
Luis Rubiales, Spain’s former football federation head, has been convicted of sexual assault for forcibly kissing footballer Jenni Hermoso after the World Cup final victory in 2023.
After a two-week trial, Judge Jose Manuel Fernandez-Prieto, sitting at Spain’s High Court, found Rubiales guilty with a €10,800 (AU$17,700) fine but spared him a prison sentence.
The judge said he should not be jailed because the case involved a kiss rather than a more serious action. “The pecuniary penalty must be chosen, which is less serious than the custodial sentence,” he said in his ruling.
Rubiales, 47, will also have to pay Hermoso €3,000 in compensation. He was acquitted of the second charge of coercion, in which he was accused of putting pressure on Hermoso to make a public statement supporting the kiss.
The prosecution had sought a prison sentence of two and a half years for Rubiales. The ruling also bans him from being within 200m of Hermoso, 34, and communicating with her for one year. Rubiales said he would appeal against the conviction. The Public Prosecutor’s Office will decide whether to lodge its own appeal after studying the ruling in depth. Hermoso’s lawyer said it was up to his client to decide if she wanted “to keep up the fight”.
The other three defendants - Albert Luque, the former head of the men’s national team, Jorge Vilda, the former coach of the women’s national team, and Ruben Rivera, the federation’s former head of marketing - were acquitted of the crime of coercion.
The public prosecutor’s office had asked for them to be given a year and a half in prison for participating in the coercion of Hermoso and other players.
The international outcry over the kiss forced Rubiales to resign, shining the spotlight on the macho culture and sexism prevalent in sport.
The case has divided Spain and the sentence appears to have satisfied few.
Irene Montero, a leader of the left-wing Podemos party and a former equality minister, said the ruling was “a milestone in the feminist struggle” but it fell short. “There is still some way to go,” she posted on X.
Spanish right-wing voters criticised the trial as a waste of judicial resources, accepting Rubiales’s claim that it was a left-wing witch-hunt.
Ana Redondo, the equality minister, said the ruling showed that “when there is no consent, there is aggression”.
The ruling stated that the judge opted for a fine because the kiss “was a random act” and “did not require special rehabilitation”. Fernandez-Prieto said, however: “This action of kissing the woman on the mouth has a clear sexual connotation and is not the normal way of greeting people with whom one does not have a relationship of affection.”
During the trial, Hermoso said she had not given consent for Rubiales to kiss her during the medal ceremony in Sydney. She also said that she had not heard Rubiales ask, as he claimed, “Can I give you a little kiss?”
His defence team said Hermoso did not regard the kiss as a sexual assault, citing her participation in the celebration. Marta Durantez, the deputy prosecutor who handled the case, said: “What can we demand that she do? That she goes to a corner and cries?”
He later admitted his behaviour was “not appropriate”. Before the kiss, Rubiales, who was standing next to Queen Letizia of Spain, grabbed his crotch in a display of celebration.
Rubiales is the subject of a separate corruption investigation into commissions paid over a deal to stage the Spanish Super Cup in Saudi Arabia.
The Times
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