After kissing scandal

Sexual assault! Ex-football boss on trial

Jennifer Hermoso and Luis Rubiales

(Bild: AP, twitter, krone.at-grafik)

The images went around the world and sparked outrage: at the Women's World Cup victory ceremony in August 2023, the then head of the Spanish Football Association grabbed the head of player Jennifer Hermoso in front of the cameras and kissed her roughly on the mouth! A year and a half after the incident, Luis Rubiales will stand trial on Monday for sexual assault and coercion. The public prosecutor's office is demanding two and a half years in prison.

The scene, which was televised worldwide, caused a public outcry, with critics describing it as an abuse of power. Since a reform of Spanish criminal law, a non-consensual kiss is considered sexual assault. It was merely a harmless "kiss between partying friends", Rubiales defended himself. Hermoso had agreed to this. Instead of resigning as expected, the head of the association held on to his post for weeks and portrayed himself as the victim of "false feminism".

Outraged by these statements, Hermoso broke her silence. The experienced offensive player said that she felt "the victim of an impulsive, sexist and inappropriate act" with which she had not agreed. Around three weeks later, Rubiales finally resigned - two days after the investigation against him began.

World Cup team boss Vilda also accused
Rubiales is not only accused of the assault itself. He is also alleged to have coerced the player into covering up the scandal. In addition to Rubiales, three other men are in the dock at the court in San Fernando de Henares on the outskirts of Madrid: former team boss Jorge Vilda, who led Spain's women to the 2023 World Cup title, and two former officials of the soccer association. The public prosecutor's office is demanding one and a half years in prison for each of the three because they are also alleged to have exerted pressure on Hermoso to play down the incident. The trial is scheduled to last until February 19.

She cried after the forced kiss, Hermoso said in the Netflix documentary "Se acabó" ("It's over"). In it, the now 34-year-old also talked about the pressure she was under. The soccer association had tried to force her to claim in a video that the kiss was "nothing but joy, euphoria". It was about "protecting the president - even if that meant that Jenni had to be sacrificed for it", said former world footballer Alexia Putellas in the documentary.

"No longer willing to put up with it!"
The case turned Hermoso, who now plays in Mexico, into a symbolic figure in the fight against sexism in sport. Under the hashtag #SeAcabó, Spanish female footballers called on women in online networks to denounce macho violence and injustice. The scandal has shown that "even in public, before the eyes of the world, violence can be committed because some men are incapable of recognizing that they are violent", according to Isabel Valdés, a journalist specializing in gender issues for the Spanish newspaper "El País". However, Spanish society is "no longer prepared to accept this".