Spain’s soccer federation late Friday threatened authorized motion to guard its president’s repute after a member of Spain’s victorious ladies’s World Cup championship group mentioned he had forcibly grabbed and kissed her on the lips, prompting requires his resignation.
Luis Rubiales, the Royal Spanish Soccer Federation chief, has insisted he did nothing improper with regard to the participant, Jennifer Hermoso, who mentioned she by no means consented to his actions however had confronted stress to publicly again Mr. Rubiales.
Mr. Rubiales’s kiss — broadcast reside to thousands and thousands — forged a pall over the group’s celebrations and recalled a historical past of accusations of sexism in Spanish soccer.
“I need to make clear that, as seen within the photographs, at no time did I consent to the kiss he gave me,” Ms. Hermoso mentioned Friday in an announcement issued by the nation’s soccer union. “I don’t tolerate my phrase being questioned, a lot much less that it’s made-up phrases that I haven’t mentioned.”
In a statement, the federation vowed to take “as many authorized actions as are applicable in protection of the president’s honor” following Ms. Hermoso’s account of what occurred. Mr. Rubiales mentioned that Ms. Hermoso lifted him up, citing this as proof she authorized of his actions, and his group has backed him.
Ms. Hermoso has denied meaning to elevate Mr. Rubiales.
Gamers on the Spanish ladies’s group, together with dozens of others, have mentioned they are going to refuse to play for the nationwide group till “the present managers,” together with Mr. Rubiales, are gone.
