The president of the Spanish Football Federation, Luis Rubiales, has issued an apology for kissing Jenni Hermoso during Spain’s Women’s World Cup celebrations.
Spain won the Women’s World Cup for the first time in their history with a 1-0 victory over England in Sydney on Sunday.
Luis Rubiales was at the stadium to watch the match and during the World Cup medal ceremony, he grabbed Hermoso by the head and kissed her on the lips.
Speaking shortly after the incident, Hermoso did not appear to be happy with Rubiales as she told Spanish TV network La 1: ‘Eh… yeah, I did not enjoy that.’
Luis Rubiales, meanwhile, initially hit back at the criticism over his actions as he told Radio Marca: ‘There are idiots everywhere.
‘When two people have a minor show of affection, we can’t listen to idiocies. We are champions and that is what stays with me.’
Rubiales, meanwhile, initially hit back at the criticism over his actions as he told Radio Marca: ‘There are idiots everywhere.
‘When two people have a minor show of affection, we can’t listen to idiocies. We are champions and that is what stays with me.’
But in a video message released by the Spanish Football Federation on Monday, Rubiales offered an apology.
‘We are facing a historic event, one of the happiest days in Spanish football. We are world champions, something for which we have been working hard and for which we feel proud,’ Rubiales said.
‘But there is also a fact that I have to regret. And that is all what happened between me and a player, with whom there is a magnificent relationship and where I was surely wrong.
‘In a moment of maximum effusiveness without any bad intentions and no bad faith, it happened in a very spontaneous way.
‘Here we did not understand the controversy and there has been a commotion outside… that if there are people who have felt damaged because of this, I have to apologise and learn from this, there is no other option.
‘I have to learn from this and understand that when I am the president of an institution as important as the Federation, I have to be more careful in ceremonies and this type of issue.’
Speaking after the final, Irene Montero, Spain’s acting Equality Minister, slammed Hermoso for his actions.
‘Let’s not take for granted that giving a kiss without consent is something that “happens”. It is a way of sexual violence that women suffer on a daily basis and up to now is invisible, and that we cannot normalise,’ Montero wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
‘It is the task of the whole society. Consent at the centre. Only yes is yes.’
On Monday, Spain’s sports minister Miquel Iceta told described Rubiales’ decision to kiss Hermoso as ‘unacceptable’.
‘The first thing he has to do is to give explanations and make apologies, it is the logical and reasonable thing to do.’
Rubiales has also come under fire for his actions in the stadium immediately after Spain’s win as he grab his testicles next to Queen Letizia and her 16-year-old daughter Sofia whilst celebrating in the VIP area.