Spain’s former football chief Luis Rubiales will go on trial in Madrid on Monday over the unsolicited kiss he planted on the World Cup winner Jenni Hermoso, a gesture that stunned millions of TV viewers and unleashed a backlash against sexism in sport.
Rubiales, 47, is accused of sexual assault as well as coercion after allegations that he tried to force Hermoso, 34, into publicly declaring that the kiss, which occurred as she celebrated her team’s victory in the 2023 World Cup in Australia, was consensual.
Rubiales, who eventually resigned as president of the Spanish football federation (RFEF) after initially describing the encounter as a “consensual peck”, denies the charges.
Spanish prosecutors are seeking a prison term of two and a half years, although in Spain those who receive sentences of less than two years can usually avoid prison by paying damages as long as they have no previous convictions.
Hermoso, Spain’s all-time top scorer who plays for Tigres in Mexico, will take the stand at Madrid’s high court on Monday.
The outrage and protests over the incident overshadowed the women’s victory while galvanising a #MeToo movement in Spanish football and triggering a broader debate over sexism in Spanish society.
Also on trial for their suspected roles in putting pressure on Hermoso are the former head coach of the women’s national team Jorge Vilda, the former RFEF sporting director Albert Luque and the federation’s former marketing chief Rubén Rivera.
Rubiales and his co-defendants will testify on or after 12 February once the court has interviewed the rest of the witnesses.
Spain’s high court concluded last year that there was enough evidence for a trial, ruling that the kiss “was not consensual and was a unilateral and unexpected move”.
Rubiales clutched his crotch on the final whistle of the victory against England on 20 August 2023 while standing near Spain’s Queen Letizia and her daughter Infanta Sofía.
During the medal presentation, he lifted Hermoso off her feet then grabbed her by the head and appeared to pull her toward him to kiss her on the lips in front of a packed stadium and a global TV audience. A video of the incident swiftly went viral.
Hermoso’s first reaction, according to changing-room footage, was to tell teammates: “Hey, I didn’t like it.”
In a later statement, she said the incident had left her feeling “vulnerable and a victim of aggression”. She described the kiss as an “impulsive act, sexist, out of place and without any type of consent from my part”.
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Amid the uproar, Rubiales dismissed critics of the kiss as “idiots and stupid people”, before offering an apology widely seen as half-hearted. He said the kiss was “without bad faith at a time of maximum effusiveness” and has cast himself as a victim of a campaign by “false feminists”.
Prosecutors will argue that Rubiales coerced Hermoso after pulling her aside on the bus to the airport and asking her to approve a statement downplaying the incident, which she refused to do.
Vilda is then alleged to have approached Hermoso’s brother, Rafael, on the flight back to Madrid and warned him her career would suffer unless she agreed to record a video supporting Rubiales’ claim that the kiss was consensual.
Rubiales has called on his daughters to testify, while several of Hermoso’s teammates will also provide evidence.
Amid the protests triggered by the incident, Rubiales’ mother, Ángeles Béjar, was admitted to hospital for a few days after locking herself in a church and going on hunger strike in support of her son, protesting against the “inhumane and bloodthirsty” persecution against him.
