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The former head of the Spanish soccer federation was found guilty of sexual assault Thursday for kissing a member of the Spanish women’s national team on the lips after winning the World Cup in 2023.
Luis Rubiales avoided the worst of his punishment. He has to pay a fine of just over $11,000 with an additional roughly $3,000 to Jenni Hermoso, and not go within about 650 feet or communicate with her for a year.
Rubiales faced charges of coercion for trying to pressure Hermoso into saying the kiss was consensual along with former national team coach Jorge Vilda, former federation sporting director for the men’s team Albert Luque, and former federation marketing chief Ruben Rivera. The Spanish newspaper El Mundo reported WhatsApp messages Luque sent to a friend of Hermoso trying to get her to change her tune on Rubiales. All four men were acquitted of coercion charges, for which prosecutors were seeking 18 months in prison.
Prosecutors also wanted Rubiales forbidden from taking another job as a sports official, required to pay about $52,000 in damages, and serve an additional year in prison for the sexual assault charge, which he does not have to serve. Hermoso denied in court that the kiss was consensual, while Rubiales said that he got her permission.
“One of the happiest days of my life was tarnished and I think it’s very important for me to say that I never sought, much less expected, that this would happen,” Hermoso said. She has also said that she’s received death threats in the wake of the incident.
Rubiales, 47, resigned as federation president in the weeks after the kiss and has denied the charges, saying in court he has kissed other players during celebrations before. FIFA originally suspended Rubiales in August 2023, and also around that time, players boycotted international play until the Spanish federation agreed to make changes. FIFA banned Rubiales for three years in October 2023.
Rubiales has also been tied to an investigation into potential corruption and money laundering that led Spanish police to raid his home and the federation’s offices and arrest seven people in March. The probe centers around the relocation of the Spanish Super Cup to Saudi Arabia.
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