(Madrid) The situation of Spanish soccer boss Luis Rubiales, already suspended for 90 days by FIFA after his forced kiss on international Jenni Hermoso, now depends on Spanish justice, which could decide on Monday to suspend him longer.
The International Football Federation (FIFA) decided on Saturday to suspend for 90 days Rubiales, president of the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), “from any activity related to soccer at national and international level”, two days after opening an investigation. disciplinary against him.
According to several local media, the Spanish Administrative Court of Sports (TAD) will meet on Monday to study a request for the suspension of the functions of president of Rubiales, 46, formulated for its part by the government.
This suspension could last beyond FIFA’s 90 days, pending the TAD’s final resolution of the government’s complaint against Rubiales for “very serious offences”.
“We will ask the TAD to meet on Monday. If the TAD accepts the government’s complaint, we will immediately proceed with the suspension of the president’s functions,” Spanish Sports Minister Miquel Iceta said in an interview with the daily El Pais on Saturday.
“The only sanctions provided for in the Sports Law are to impose a fine or ineligibility for a period of between two and fifteen years,” sports lawyer Toni Roca said in an interview on Sunday. on Spanish public television.
On the criminal level, the boss of Spanish soccer was the subject of four complaints of sexual assault received by the Spanish public prosecutor’s office on Friday, but none come from the player for the moment, and therefore have little chance of success.
Rubiales sparked international outrage when she forced a kiss on the mouth of Jenni Hermoso on August 20 during the Women’s Worlds medal ceremony. Unexpectedly, he refused to resign at an extraordinary general meeting of the RFEF on Friday and counterattacked by claiming that the kiss was “consensual”.
The player denied. “I felt vulnerable and victim of an assault, an impulsive and sexist act, out of place and without any consent on my part,” the 33-year-old Spanish No.10 said in a statement on Friday evening.
The Spanish federation issued a statement on Saturday in which it maintained that Jenni Hermoso “lies in all her statements against the president”, before removing the same statement from its website. The RFEF also indicated that Pedro Rocha Junco, vice-president, would act as interim head of the Federation during the suspension of his boss.
