Sport turning point in the kiss scandal
Spanish sports court blocks Rubiales’ suspension
Status: 01.09.2023 | Reading time: 2 minutes
Unwanted popularity: Jennifer Hermoso (right) and Spanish FA president Luis Rubiales
Source: dpa/John Cowpland
After the Spanish women’s World Cup victory, head of the association Rubiales kissed the player Hermoso on the mouth without being asked. Public criticism followed promptly, and the government wanted to suspend him. Now the sports court is resisting.
In the Spanish kiss scandal, the highest sports court Tad has blocked a suspension of the president of the football association RFEF, Luis Rubiales. The judges had decided to open proceedings against the sports official only because of “serious” misconduct, the state TV broadcaster RTVE and other Spanish media reported on Friday evening.
A suspension by the sports authority CSD would only have been possible if the court had allowed the proceedings because of “very serious” misconduct. Should the Tad find Rubiales guilty, he could face a two-year ban for only “serious” misconduct.
However, Rubiales cannot initially exercise his office, because the world football association Fifa had already opened disciplinary proceedings against him last Saturday and suspended the 46-year-old for an initial period of 90 days. The RFEF is currently headed by Interim President Pedro Rocha. The association is also demanding Rubiales’ resignation.
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Rubiales had kissed the player Jennifer Hermoso on the mouth without being asked at the award ceremony of the Spanish soccer world champions in Australia. The official then came under increasing pressure, and many in Spain had called for his resignation. However, in an angry speech to an extraordinary general assembly of the RFEF last Friday, Rubiales had denied it. The kiss was by mutual consent, he affirmed. However, Hermoso has denied this several times.
Criticism of Rubiales also at Uefa honor
The evening before, Europe’s footballer of the year Aitana Bonmatí and England’s national coach Sarina Wiegman had set an example against rubiales and sexual assaults at the Uefa ceremony. Erling Haaland’s award as the best footballer in Europe almost faded into the background in view of the discussion about the kiss scandal.
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“We all know problems around the Spanish team. That really hurts me – as a coach, as a mother of two daughters, as a wife, as a person. This shows that there is still a very long way to go in women’s football and in society. It’s a long road,” Wiegman said after winning the award for best coach of a women’s team. In equally haunting and emotional terms, Bonmatí appealed to football officials to set an example for the children.
