Luis Rubiales, surprisingly, changes his mind again, and announces at the extraordinary meeting of the Spanish Football Federation that he will fight to the end to defend himself from the accusations of sexual abuse, following the kiss on the mouth of the world champion, Jenni Hermoso. She apologized, however not only did she not take a step back, but she announced legal action, even quoting some ministers: «Minister Montero and Minister Belarra – she said – spoke about sexual violence. I would like to know what they seriously think about women who are victims of violence. Now I intend to take the case to court.” Then she offered her version of her now famous kiss, saying it was “shared” by the player: “She came close to me first, so I told her to forget about the missed penalty, we hugged. So I asked her for a kiss and she told me that she was fine.”
The provision
Meanwhile, a precautionary suspension from office is looming for the president of the Spanish Football Federation. The Superior Council of Sport, linked to the Ministry of Sport, has forwarded the complaints against Rubiales to the Administrative Court of Sport with an urgent procedure so that it can order his immediate suspension for a “very serious” infringement. This was reported by the Secretary of State for Sport, Victor Francos, explaining that the suspension could arrive in the next few hours.
This type of precautionary suspension is envisaged for “the presidency or governing bodies” when there is indication of “presumed infractions classified as very serious”. There are the precedents of Josè Luis Escanuela, president of the Spanish Tennis Federation, in 2015, and of ngel Marìa Villar, also president of the Football Federation, in 2017.