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Spain’s ex-football boss Luis Rubiales fined Ksh1.5M for World Cup kiss

Spain’s ex-football boss Luis Rubiales fined Ksh1.5M for World Cup kiss
Former Spanish FA boss Luis Rubiales kissing Jenni Hermoso after the 2023 Women’s World Cup finale. PHOTO/@DeadlineDayLive/x

Former Spanish football chief Luis Rubiales has been found guilty over kissing player Jenni Hermoso without consent after the Women’s World Cup final in 2023.

Spain’s High Court has also ordered Rubiales to pay a fine worth more than 1.3 M (£8,274) but has acquitted Rubiales of coercion. Prosecutors had demanded a prison sentence for Rubiales.

World Cup winner Hermoso previously told Rubiales’s trial in Madrid  ‘she never’ agreed to the former Spanish football chief kissing her on the lips – and the moment “tainted one of the happiest days” of her life.

Rubiales, 47, stood accused of sexual assault and of then attempting to coerce Hermoso, who is Spain’s all-time top goalscorer, into declaring the kiss had been consensual.

Former Spanish Football Association president Luis Rubiales. PHOTO/@ChrisWheatley/X
Former Spanish Football Association president Luis Rubiales. PHOTO/@ChrisWheatley/X

He denied the charges, claiming the kiss on the lips was consensual and happened in a “moment of jubilation”.

Hermoso repeatedly claimed the kiss with Rubiales, a controversy which ended up overshadowing Spain’s 1-0 victory over England in August 2023, was not consensual.

The ensuing scandal after the kiss eclipsed Spain’s first women’s World Cup victory and proved a tipping point for efforts by Spain’s female players to expose sexism and achieve parity with male counterparts.

Never agreed

Hermoso told the high court earlier this month she “felt disrespected” and had “never” agreed to the kiss.

“I didn’t hear or understand anything,” she said. “The next thing he did was to grab me by the ears and kiss me on the mouth.

“I knew I was being kissed by my boss and that should not happen in any social or work environment,” she added.

“I think it was a moment that tainted one of the happiest days of my life.

“All this meant I couldn’t enjoy at all being a world champion after I landed back in Madrid.”

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