Luis Rubiales vows not to resign over Jenni Hermoso kiss scandal that marred World Cup win

Beleagured boss blames “false feminists” for “social assassination” after incident that marred World Cup celebrations
Marc Mayo25 August 2023

Spanish football federation president Luis Rubiales has refused to step down in the aftermath of his unsolicited kiss on Jenni Hermoso during the celebrations of Spain's Women's World Cup victory.

The incident sparked outrage within and outside Spain, with many, including government ministers, players and coaches, demanding his resignation and forcing the federation to call an emergency assembly.

“I will not resign,” Rubiales repeated four times in quick succession at the meeting on Friday.

He also blamed “false feminists” for making him the victim of a “social assassination”.

“I apologise for my mistakes,” he added. “I'm going to continue fighting as my parents and my coaches taught me. Those who know me, know that we are going to get to the end.”

The 46-year-old is the subject of FIFA disciplinary proceedings after also grabbing his crotch in celebration of Spain's victory over England, while stood metres away from Spain's Queen Letizia and her teenage daughter Sofia in the stadium VIP area.

Hermoso has said in statement that such acts “should never go unpunished”. Rubiales made an apology deemed by many to be half-hearted on Monday.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in