February 11 – Spain’s disgraced former football federation chief Luis Rubiales was to give his highly anticipated version of events today in the trial over his alleged forced kiss on Jenni Hermoso that sparked global outrage.
The case has been widely followed since opening on February 3 and prosecutors are seeking two-and-a-half years in prison for Rubiales, one year for sexual assault for the alleged forced kiss and 18 months for allegedly coercing Hermoso, 34, to downplay the incident.
Rubiales was forced to resign in disgrace from his position as Spanish Football Federation president in 2023 after kissing Hermoso on the lips following Spain’s triumph at that year’s Women’s World Cup in Australia. He has vehemently denied any wrongdoing.
Up to now he has attended hearings without intervening as a series of witnesses testified at the National Court near Madrid.
Former women’s team manager Jorge Vilda and two ex-federation officials, Rubén Rivera and Albert Luque, are also due to take the stand.
In the latest testimony on Monday, current Spain women’s team manager Montse Tome denied “punishing” Hermoso by dropping her after the infamous kiss.
Tome took the helm of the women’s team in September 2023 after Vilda was sacked amid the uproar. She told the court that “sporting issues” led her to omit Hermoso – the all-time top scorer for the national women’s team – from her first squad following the incident.
“Jenni had not trained enough and had only played a few minutes with her Mexican club Pachuca,” Tome said.
“She was going through a very unpleasant situation and the media pressure we were having made me take the decision… there were other players in a better position to represent the team.
“It was an exceptional situation and we were protecting her from the media, but of course everything is absolutely a sporting decision. It was not a punishment.”
Contact the writer of this story, Andrew Warshaw at moc.l1739296027labto1739296027ofdlr1739296027owedi1739296027sni@w1739296027ahsra1739296027w.wer1739296027dna1739296027