Luis Rubiales, the former president of the Spanish Football Federation, has gone on trial accused of sexual assault and coercion at Madrid’s High Court. He denies any wrongdoing.
The scandal rocked Spanish football and led to Rubiales’ resignation. Fifa later banned the football boss from all football-related activity at national and international levels for three years.
Hermoso was kissed by Luis Rubiales after she and her team won the Fifa Women’s World CupIn a highly anticipated trial, broadcast live on television in Spain, Hermoso, 34, described the moment Rubiales kissed her after Spain’s victory.
“As a woman I felt disrespected. It was a moment that stained one of the happiest days of my life,” she added.
Former president of the Spanish football federation Luis Rubiales arrives at the court of San Fernando de Henares (Photo: Javier Soriano / AFP)
Spanish football officials ‘put pressure on her’
In the hours after the incident, Rubiales allegedly tried to pressurise Hermoso into saying that the kiss was consensual.
“They had never asked me about it,” she said. “I said no.”
Three other former football officials are accused of trying to coerce Hermoso into saying that the kiss was consensual.
Ex-women’s national team coach Jorge Vilda, left, is accused of trying to coerce Hermoso (Photo: Chema Moya / AFP)
The footballer, who now plays for Mexico, said that when she returned to Spain, she received death threats and had to leave Madrid with her family.
She said she had to see her psychologist more often than normal because of the repercussions of the case.
The kiss prompted Spain’s own #MeToo moment when female players posted #SeAcabo – it’s over – on social media and put machismo in sport on trial.
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A recent reform of the Spanish penal code classified a non-consensual kiss as sexual assault.
Rubiales is required to attend only the first and the last day, according to the court.
The trial continues.
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