The members of the National Women’s Team of Spain have testified in a Madrid Court this week as the trial on Luis Rubiales’ forced kiss on Jenni Hermoso begins in the 2023 Women’s World Cup final.
Rubiales, the former president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation, has been accused of sexual assault and coercion when he kissed Hermoso, one of the members of the World Cup winning team, during the presentation of the trophy in Sydney, Australia. Beautiful, his teammates and family members have described the event as a “stain” on a transcendental occasion and also detailed a campaign to keep it quiet in the hours after the incident.
Prosecutors argue that Rubiales must be imprisoned for a year for sexual aggression and another 18 months for coercion.
How did the controversy start?
Several dignitaries congratulated Hermoso while he headed to collect the medal of his World Cup winner on August 20, 2023, when Rubiales kissed her by force. Almost immediately, the incident caused worldwide outrage of the members of the women’s football community and many outside it, even in Spain.
Many requested the resignation of Rubiales, especially when the accusations of sexism and bad working conditions that the players of the National Team of Spain had leveled in the Federation the previous year are considered. Rubiales was suspended by FIFA on August 26, 2023, and finally resigned on September 10, although the legal ramifications for his actions have been raised since then. He was also briefly arrested by the Spanish authorities in April 2024 in relation to an investigation into corruption in the Federation during his time as president.
Jorge Vilda, the chief coach of the winning team of the World Cup in Spain, was also a central figure in the controversy. He was fired on September 5, 2023, almost a year after being accused of promoting a toxic workplace, and he and Rubiales were allies during that tumultuous time.
What was said in court?
Beautiful testified on Monday and detailed the incident events, as well as Rubiales’ attempt to save the face in the next few days.
“I greeted the queen, I greeted her daughter,” he said beautiful as he remembered the trophy ceremony, according to the BBC. “The following was to meet Rubiales. The next thing he did was grab me by my ears and kiss my mouth. I didn’t hear or understand anything. A kiss on the lips only occurs when I decide.”
The player said his teammates made fun of the incident for the first time, but defender Irene Paredes ended it. Beautiful also said that he was later asked to consent to a statement issued by the Federation, which he refused to do, and that Rubiales also asked him to record a video minimizing the incident. The brother of Hermoso, Rafael, added that Vilda pressed him to talk to his sister while everyone returned to Spain.
“We were talking about football and the achievement of the team and suddenly mentioned the kiss,” he said, according to ESPN. “He said that the president wanted him to talk to Jenni to ask him to record the video together minimizing the kiss because that would be the best for everyone. I told her that I was not going to try to convince her to do something that I do not agree with.”
Paredes recalled the treatment that his teammate faced federation officials in the days after the World Cup final. Alexia Putellas, another international from Spain, said the incident’s shock disappeared after a celebration trip to Ibiza.
“On the plane I was already very overwhelmed and telling us that they would not leave her alone, they would not stop,” said Paredes, according to ESPN.
The incident took its toll to Hermoso, said Paredes.
“Jenni was worried, she was upset,” he added. “I saw her cry while she told us this, because it was a problem that was weighing her and what she wanted was to celebrate the triumph we just achieved.”
Beautiful added that “nobody came to ask me how” after the kiss and felt “completely abandoned by the Federation”, which “stained one of the happiest days of my life.”
“There was no place to be crying or lying on the corner of the locker room.”
