MADRID: Spanish women’s World Cup winner Jenni Hermoso confronted former soccer federation boss Luis Rubiales at his trial on Monday, saying she did not agree to the kiss that triggered a national backlash against sexism in sport.
“I knew I was being kissed by my boss and that should not happen in any social or work environment,” Hermoso said of the encounter seen live by millions around the world at the 2023 World Cup awards ceremony in Australia.
“I think it was a moment that tainted one of the happiest days of my life,” the 34-year-old forward told Madrid’s High Court while Rubiales took notes without looking at her.
Rubiales, 47, is accused of sexual assault and then attempting to coerce Hermoso – with the help of three other men – into declaring that the kiss had been consensual.
Though he apologised for being over effusive, Rubiales denies those criminal charges and has cast himself as a scapegoat.
Asked by a prosecutor at Spain’s High Court if she had agreed to the kiss, Hermoso replied: “Never”.
“I didn’t hear or understand anything,” she added, looking nervous at first but then calm as she took questions for more than two hours. “The next thing he did was to grab me by the ears and kiss me on the mouth … I felt disrespected.”
World Cup win overshadowed
Rubiales has said the kiss was consensual and in the aftermath he initially scoffed at critics as “idiots” before then penning an apology as the affair blew up.
Interrogated by the defence about a video in the dressing room in which she appears to say “alright” when asked what she said to Rubiales in the moment, Hermoso said she had also explained that she did not like it.
The scandal eclipsed Spain’s first women’s World Cup victory and proved a tipping point for efforts by Spain’s female players to expose sexism and achieve parity with male counterparts.
“All this meant I couldn’t enjoy at all being a world champion after I landed back in Madrid,” said Hermoso, who plays for a Mexican club as well as Spain’s national team.
Rubiales and his co-defendants – former women’s national team coach Jorge Vilda, former Spanish football federation (RFEF) sporting director Albert Luque and the RFEF’s former head of marketing Ruben Rivera – will testify on or after Feb. 12.
Some sectors of Spanish society, including right-wing parties, have described the trial as a witchhunt, saying the kiss was rude at worst but not a crime. Some Rubiales supporters on social media point to a photo of Hermoso on the team bus showing a meme of the kiss on her phone and laughing.
In her testimony, Hermoso said that amid the euphoria and champagne in the dressing room, teammates initially made fun of the kiss. But she said one, Irene Paredes, intervened, saying: “Stop, this is serious.”
Pressure from Rubiales and the RFEF to defuse the scandal began almost straightaway, Hermoso said, relating how she was pulled aside and asked to consent to a statement minimizing the incident, which she said she refused.
Jail sentence sought
Hermoso said she realised the extent of the scandal during the flight home when she noticed movement in the business class section they were in with people huddled around Rubiales’ seat and his daughters crying.
At one point, she said she went to the bathroom and ran into Rubiales, who asked her to record a video with him because he was being accused on social media of assault.
“I said no, that I was not going to do anything, that I was not the cause of this,” Hermoso told the court.
She said Rubiales said he would speak to her family and she asked him to leave them out of it.
The prosecution is seeking 2-1/2 years’ prison for Rubiales.
The scandal sparked a strike by Hermoso’s teammates and saw several heads roll at the federation, with both Rubiales and his right-hand man and successor being ousted and a woman appointed to coach the women’s team for the first time.
