Luis Rubiales found guilty of sexually assaulting Spanish footballer Jenni Hermoso | OneFootball

The former president of the Spanish Football Federation Luis Rubiales has been found guilty of sexually assaulting the footballer Jenni Hermoso by kissing her on the lips against her will after Spain’s women’s team won the 2023 World Cup.

A judge at Spain’s national court convicted Rubiales of sexual assault but acquitted him of attempting to coerce Hermoso into playing down the unsolicited and unwanted kiss.

The former football chief, who had been facing a possible two-and-a-half year jail sentence, was ordered to pay fines and compensation totalling more than €13,000 (£10,800), forbidden to go within 200 metres of Hermoso for a year, and told to refrain from contacting her for 12 months.

Three other people who had been tried for allegedly putting pressure on Hermoso to say the kiss was consensual were cleared of coercion. They are the former head coach of the women’s national team Jorge Vilda; the former Spanish football federation sporting director Albert Luque; and the federation’s former marketing chief Rubén Rivera.

The episode, which overshadowed the team’s triumph at the World Cup final in Sydney and prompted a national and international debate on sexism and consent, resulted in Hermoso receiving death threats and eventually led Rubiales to resign as the head of the federation.

Rubiales, 47, has always insisted the kiss on Hermoso’s lips after the final in Sydney was consensual. “I am absolutely sure that she gave me her permission,” Rubiales told the court in Madrid earlier this month. “In that moment it was something completely spontaneous.”

The judge disagreed, however. In Thursday’s verdict, José Manuel Clemente Fernández-Prieto ruled Rubiales sexually assaulted Hermoso when he “grabbed the player’s head with both hands and, then, in a sudden manner and without her consent and acceptance, kissed her on the lips”.

The judge added: “This action of kissing a woman on the lips has a clear sexual connotation and is not the way people greet those with whom they are not in an emotional relationship.” He also noted that Rubiales had congratulated other members of the victorious team by hugging them and kissing them on the cheek.

Fernández-Prieto said Hermoso had made it abundantly clear in her evidence that she had never consented to the kiss, adding that given her previously good professional relationship with Rubiales, the player had no reason to lie.

The judge gave Rubiales – whose annual salary at the federation was €675,000 – 10 days to appeal against the sentence before the same court. His lawyer has confirmed that he will lodge an appeal.

The verdict was welcomed by Spain’s equality minister, Ana Redondo, who said it had sent out a clear message. “I think the important thing here is to underline that a non-consensual kiss is a sexual assault,” Redondo said, adding: “A victim’s words have to be heard and respected, and not questioned.”

The Podemos MEP and former equality minister Irene Montero said feminism was changing things. “It’s not so long ago that it would have been unthinkable for the judicial system to recognise a non-consensual kiss as sexual assault.” However, she added, the fines and damages imposed should have been higher.

Giving evidence on the first day of the trial, Hermoso was adamant she had never consented to being kissed by Rubiales, adding that he had not sought her permission to do so.

“I felt it was totally out of place and I then realised my boss was kissing me, and this shouldn’t happen in any social or workplace setting,” she said. “I felt disrespected. One of the happiest days of my life was tarnished.”

Hermoso told the court the kiss and its fallout had turned her life upside down and severely affected her family. “I’m a world champion but it seems that even to this day my life has been on standby,” she said. “I honestly haven’t been able to live freely.”

In his evidence, Rubiales acknowledged that he had made an error of judgment but maintained that the kiss had been consensual. “It’s obvious now that I made a mistake,” he told the court. “It was spontaneous. I behaved like a sportsperson, like I was one more member of the team. I should have been more cold-blooded and adopted a more institutional role.”

Rubiales denied trying to coerce Hermoso into making a statement playing down the incident, saying he had suggested they make a joint statement to calm the situation. Hermoso refused but the federation still released a statement on her behalf.

The player said the statement made her feel “that I was participating in something I hadn’t done and in which I didn’t want to participate”. The court heard testimony from Hermoso’s brother Rafael, who said Vilda had asked him on the flight back from Australia to “convince” his sister to record a video with Rubiales to show she was not bothered by the kiss.

Rubiales initially attempted to brush off the controversy, dismissing critics of his actions as “idiots and stupid people”. But the incident provoked global outrage, led to his being provisionally suspended by Fifa, and prompted Hermoso to make a criminal complaint.

Days later, amid mounting outrage over the kiss – as well as over Rubiales grabbing his crotch while standing next to Queen Letizia of Spain and her 16-year-old daughter, Infanta Sofía, as the team won the World Cup – the federation demanded that he resign.

It also sacked Vilda, who was one of many officials to have applauded a defiant speech Rubiales made to the federation in which he said “I will not resign” five times and hit out at “false feminism” while also seeking to portray himself as a victim and recast the kiss as “a peck”.

Header image: [Photograph: Juan Medina/Reuters]