Spanish football chief Luis Rubiales says he will not resign

The president of the Spanish Football Federation refused to resign on Friday despite an uproar for kissing a player on the lips without her consent after the Women’s World Cup final.

Luis Rubiales told an emergency general assembly of the federation that he “won’t resign” four times in quick succession and claimed he was a victim of a witch hunt by “false feminists.”

Rubiales kissed Spain and CF Pachuca player Jenni Hermoso on the lips during the award ceremony after Spain beat England in the final in Sydney, Australia, marring the title celebrations with his actions.

Several Spanish media outlets reported on Thursday that Rubiales was planning to step down.

That same day, FIFA, football’s global governing body and organiser of the Women’s World Cup, opened a disciplinary case against him.

Its disciplinary committee was tasked with weighing whether Rubiales violated its code relating to “the basic rules of decent conduct” and “behaving in a way that brings the sport of football and/or FIFA into disrepute.”

In an apology video, he said the kiss was “mutual and with the consent” of Hermoso. He received various applause from the overwhelming male assembly.

Rubiales described the controversial kiss as “spontaneous, mutual, euphoric and consensual,” although he said sorry “for the context in which it took place”.

Hermoso had said, “I didn’t like it [the kiss], but what can I do,” in a video streamed on social media last Sunday. 

Uproar in Spain

That move by FIFA came after Spain’s acting Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said that Rubiales’ attempt to apologise, which came after he initially insulted his critics, was unconvincing and that “he must continue taking further steps” to be held accountable.

Spain’s Higher Council of Sports, the nation’s governing sports body, pledged it would act quickly to consider various formal complaints filed against Rubiales to see if he had broken Spain’s sports law or the federation’s own code of conduct that sanctioned sexist acts.

If so, Rubiales would face being declared unfit to hold his office by Spain’s Administrative Court for Sports.

Further inappropriate behaviour

As if the forced kiss was not enough, Rubiales had shortly before grabbed his crotch in a lewd victory gesture from the section of dignitaries with Spain’s Queen Letizia and the 16-year old Princess Sofía nearby.

The combination of the gesture and the unsolicited kiss has made Rubiales a national embarrassment after his conduct was broadcast to a global audience, marring the enormous accomplishment of the women who played for Spain.

“Spanish sports did not offer a good image as far as its leaders were concerned,” Víctor Francos Díaz Spain’s secretary of state for sports and president of Spain’s Higher Council for Sports told The Associated Press in a telephone interview from Madrid.

Rubiales also is a UEFA vice president and was the European football body’s most senior elected representative at the final in Australia.

The former footballer has a key role in swooning football officials over the next year while trying to secure hosting rights for the men’s World Cup in 2030. However, whether he will oversee that campaign any further appears unlikely. 

Spain leads a joint bid with Portugal, Morocco and, currently, Ukraine for the 48-team tournament and is favoured to win next year’s decision.