(Madrid) The crisis within Spanish football escalated on Friday, with almost all of the world champions demanding that more heads fall to the federation, the same day when its ex-boss Luis Rubiales was banned to approach Jenni Hermoso, the player he forcibly kissed at the World Cup.
“The changes that have taken place are not enough”, wrote in a press release 21 of the 23 world champions in a text distributed in particular by the double Ballon d’Or, Alexia Putellas, on social networks.
“We need radical changes in the management positions” of the Spanish federation (RFEF), still in the hands of men appointed by Rubiales, they insist in this text, signed in total by 39 players and published at the very moment when the new coach Montse Tomé was due to present her list of players for the September 22 and 26 matches against Sweden and Switzerland in the Nations League.
In this context, the federation announced that it would postpone the announcement of this list indefinitely.
The Spanish players therefore condition their return to the selection on the “resignation of the interim president” Pedro Rocha, on the “restructuring of the organization chart of women’s football” or even on that of the “cabinet of the presidency and the general secretariat” of the instance.
The announcement had the effect of a bombshell while in recent days, the federation had been optimistic about the return of the world champions, highlighting the dismissal of the coach of the women’s team, Jorge Vilda, whose the methods were contested, and especially the resignation on Sunday of Luis Rubiales from the presidency.
The former boss of Spanish football responded on Friday for the first time before a judge to the accusations of “sexual assault” brought against him for his forced kiss to N.10 Jennifer Hermoso after the world coronation of the “Roja” on August 20 in Sydney, which sparked a wave of international outrage.
At the end of the hearing, the magistrate responsible for the investigation, Francisco de Jorge, prohibited Luis Rubiales from approaching less than 200 m from Jenni Hermoso and from coming into contact with the attacker, who is in the Mexican championship.
Dressed in a navy blue suit, the former president of the federation, 46, appeared at the Madrid National Court at the end of the morning without making any statements to the dozens of journalists present.
According to a source close to the prosecution, he again denied the accusations before the judge and reiterated that this kiss was consensual. In an interview with a British journalist broadcast on Tuesday, he had already described “a reciprocal act”.
It was “nothing other than a moment of happiness, a great joy”, he continued, denying any act with “sexual connotations”: “my intentions were noble, 100% non-sexual, 100%, I repeat 100%.”
A version contested by Jenni Hermoso, 33, who said she felt “victim […] of an impulsive and sexist act, inappropriate and without any consent”, and who filed a complaint.
The player’s lawyer Carla Vall repeated in court on Friday that this “kiss was not consensual” and welcomed the fact that, “thanks to this video, everyone, the whole country, was able to see that there was no consent in any way.”
The magistrate responsible for the case will have to decide at the end of his investigation whether or not to refer Rubiales to justice. As its investigation has just begun, no decision is expected in the short term.
Since a recent reform of the Spanish Penal Code, a non-consensual kiss can be considered sexual assault, a criminal category bringing together all types of sexual violence. According to a spokeswoman for the prosecution, the penalties faced by Rubiales, 46, range from a fine to four years in prison.
Justice also upheld an offense of coercion, also denied by Rubiales, because, according to the prosecution, “Jenni Hermoso explained that she had been, with her entourage, the victim of constant pressure from Mr. Rubiales and his entourage professional so that it justifies and approves the facts”.
