Soccer Women’s World Cup
Suddenly the Spanish association president apologizes for his kiss
Status: 22.08.2023 | Reading time: 2 minutes
Player defends Spanish federation president after kiss at award ceremony
The kiss on the mouth of Jenni Hermoso by Spanish football association president Luis Rubiales at the award ceremony after the World Cup final against England caused outrage. Now the player has spoken up and defended Rubiales.
After kissing national player Jennifer Hermoso on the mouth, Luis Rubiales was met with harsh criticism. The president of the Spanish federation now feels compelled to apologize. Shortly before, he had insulted his critics.
Spain’s head of the association Luis Rubiales has apologized for kissing soccer world champion Jennifer Hermoso’s mouth at the award ceremony after the World Cup final in Sydney. “There is one thing I regret and that is what happened between a player and I who I have a great relationship with. I probably made a mistake there,” Rubiales admitted in a video released by the Spanish Football Federation RFEF on Monday.
He kissed Hermoso on the mouth “spontaneously” and “without any bad intentions or bad will”. “Here we all took it as something natural, normal, but outside there seems to have been an uproar,” he explained. “I have to apologize, there’s no way around it. And I have to learn from that and understand that as the president of an institution as important as the RFEF, you have to be more careful, especially with ceremonies and these kinds of things.”
Embraced at the award ceremony: Spain’s Jennifer Hermoso celebrates with association president Luis Rubiales after winning the World Cup final
What: REUTERS
After winning the title, Rubiales hugged and hugged the Spanish players through Sunday’s 1-0 win over England. Videos showed how the association boss kissed Hermoso on the mouth after a hug and two kisses on the cheek. “I didn’t like it,” said the 33-year-old offensive player later when asked about the scene.
Rubiales shoots at critics
Rubiales himself had initially arranged the scene a little differently. “The kiss with Jenni? There are idiots everywhere,” he told the critics in an interview with Radio Marca: “When two people have a moment of affection that has no further meaning, you shouldn’t listen to idiots. We are the winners and I stand by that.”
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A view that only increased the outrage. One should not assume that kissing without consent is something that just happens, wrote Spain’s Equality Minister Irene Montero on X, formerly Twitter. “It’s a form of sexual violence that we women suffer every day and that has so far been invisible and that we are not allowed to normalize,” said the 35-year-old politician. Last year, the left-wing government introduced a bill that would require all persons involved to expressly consent to sexual acts in the future. This has been legally binding since August 2022.
