Spanish soccer chief Luis Rubiales was to quit his post after being roundly condemned by the soccer world and beyond for forcibly kissing a Spain player on the mouth following the FIFA Women’s World Cup final, several media outlets reported on Thursday.
Rubiales, 46, was to submit his resignation as president of the Spanish soccer federation (RFEF) yesterday at an extraordinary general assembly, the reports said.
After Spain’s 1-0 win over England in the final in Sydney on Sunday, Rubiales gave midfielder Jennifer Hermoso an unsolicited kiss on the lips. He also celebrated victory by grabbing his genitals.
Photo: AP
The RFEF did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“Feminism is changing everything,” Spanish Minister of Equality Irene Montero wrote on social media shortly after the reports emerged.
Rubiales came under unprecedented pressure to resign, with days of criticism from figures including Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, Spain’s women’s league and several men’s La Liga clubs, as well as internationally.
FIFA opened disciplinary proceedings against Rubiales earlier on Thursday.
FIFA said the incident “may constitute violations of article 13 paragraphs 1 and 2 of the FIFA disciplinary code.”
Spain star Hermoso on Wednesday released a joint statement with union Futpro which called for action to be taken against the RFEF president.
“We are working to ensure that acts such as those we have seen never go unpunished, that they are sanctioned and that the exemplary measures are adopted to protect women footballers from actions that we believe are unacceptable,” the statement said.
Human rights organization Amnesty International on Thursday offered its backing to Hermoso.
“Amnesty International wants to show their support for the demands of the player, who has asked the [RFEF] to set underway ‘exemplary measures’ regarding the non-consensual kiss,” the organization said in a statement. “[We] underline that this behavior is a form of sexual violence like any other, and cannot be justified in any way.”
Rubiales laughed off the incident earlier in the week, branding his critics “idiots” for reading too much into what an RFEF spokesman initially described as a “spontaneous celebration.”
However, he later issued an apology which was also criticized, with Sanchez saying it was “insufficient.”
Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti earlier on Thursday admonished Rubiales for his conduct as the criticism continued to mount.
“It’s a very delicate topic, like most people it was behavior that I obviously did not like,” Ancelotti told a news conference. “It was not the behavior of a president of the federation.”
Further Spanish clubs joined the wave of dissent against Rubiales, following Getafe president Angel Torres on Wednesday.
“We must all be consistent with what we do and say, that’s a fundamental thing,” Atletico Madrid president Enrique Cerezo told TV show Jugones. “He will have to do what he considers appropriate, but I think that what he has to do is present his resignation.”
Real Sociedad president Jokin Aperribay also positioned himself against Rubiales.
“This should have been over days ago, it’s a shame that we are here and this has not been concluded,” he told Radio Euskadi.
Rubiales became president of the RFEF in May 2018 and has since been mired in a number of controversies.
He sacked Spain coach Julen Lopetegui two days before the men’s national team began their 2018 FIFA World Cup campaign and moved the Supercopa de Espana to Saudi Arabia.
Rubiales backed controversial coach Jorge Vilda amid a wider dispute with 15 female players who refused to play for Spain, although several relented and three were called up to the World Cup-winning squad.
Barcelona fans at their women’s team’s friendly against Juventus on Thursday evening had chanted for Rubiales to resign.
The Barcelona team featured three players — Patri Guijarro, Mapi Leon and Claudia Pina — who had not renounced their stance and missed out on the tournament in Australia and New Zealand.
The qualifying round of the World Baseball Classic (WBC) is to be held at the Taipei Dome between Feb. 21 and 25, Major League Baseball (MLB) announced today. Taiwan’s group also includes Spain, Nicaragua and South Africa, with two of the four teams advancing onto the 2026 WBC. Taiwan, currently ranked second in the world in the World Baseball Softball Confederation rankings, are favorites to come out of the group, the MLB said in an article announcing the matchups. Last year, Taiwan finished in a five-way tie in their group with two wins and two losses, but finished last on tiebreakers after giving
North Korea’s FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup-winning team on Saturday received a heroes’ welcome back in the capital, Pyongyang, with hundreds of people on the streets to celebrate their success. They had defeated Spain on penalties after a 1-1 draw in the U17 World Cup final in the Dominican Republic on Nov. 3. It was the second global title in two months for secretive North Korea — largely closed off to the outside world; they also lifted the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup in September. Officials and players’ families gathered at Pyongyang International Airport to wave flowers and North Korea flags as the
For King Faisal, a 20-year-old winger from Ghana, the invitation to move to Brazil to play soccer “was a dream.” “I believed when I came here, it would help me change the life of my family and many other people,” he said in Sao Paulo. For the past year and a half, he has been playing on the under-20s squad for Sao Paulo FC, one of South America’s most prominent clubs. He and a small number of other Africans are tearing across pitches in a country known as the biggest producer and exporter of soccer stars in the world, from Pele to Neymar. For
Coco Gauff of the US on Friday defeated top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka 7-6 (7/4), 6-3 to set up a showdown with Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen in the final of the WTA Finals, while in the doubles, Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching was eliminated. Gauff generated six break points to Belarusian Sabalenka’s four and built on early momentum in the opening set’s tiebreak that she carried through to the second set. She is the youngest player at 20 to make the final at the WTA Finals since Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki in 2010. Zheng earlier defeated Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 7-5 to book
RSS