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Luis Rubiales, former Vice President of UEFA and former Spanish Football Federation president, has been found guilty of sexual assault for kissing Spanish women’s national team forward Jenni Hermoso following the 2023 World Cup final.
Rubiales was found guilty in Spain’s High Court, and was fined €10,000 (around $10,400 USD). He also faced a charge of coercion, for which he was found not guilty. In addition, the High Court set a restraining order, banning Rubiales from going within a 200-meter radius (656-foot) of Hermoso. He is also banned from communicating with her for one year.
Rubiales was facing possible prison time for the incident. He told Reuters that he planned to “keep fighting” and appeal the decision.
The charges came after Rubiales non-consensually kissed Hermoso on the lips during the medal ceremony of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, on August 20, 2023, when Spain beat England for La Roja’s first Women’s World Cup title.
Rubiales’ defense team stated that the kiss was consensual, which Hermoso rebuked.
Hermoso released a statement on August 25, 2023, which read in part: “I want to make it clear that at no time …. was his kiss ever consensual. I want to reiterate as I did before that I did not like this incident.”
Hermoso pressed sexual assault charges against Rubiales on September 6, 2023. On September 10, Rubiales resigned as president of the Spanish Football Federation and vice president of UEFA.
A month later, he was banned from any football-related work by the FIFA Disciplinary Committee for a period of three years. The Spanish federation followed suit, banning him for three years in November 2023.
In December 2023, FIFA issued a report alleging that Rubiales inappropriately touched two England national team players.
Rubiales faced a separate corruption probe around his decision to host the Spanish Supercopa in Saudi Arabia.
