When Spain’s women’s national football team won the World Cup final this month, their compatriots had little time to celebrate before the behavior of the country’s top football official sparked a controversy over misogyny and sexual abuse.
During the ceremony following the team’s victory, Luis Rubiales, the president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation, forcibly kissed Jennifer Hermoso, a star striker, on the lips – a move Ms Hermoso later described as “an impulse-driven, sexist, misguided act without any permission on my part.”
Despite numerous calls for him to resign, Mr. Rubiales has vigorously defended his conduct, insisting that the kiss was consensual. But last weekend FIFA, the top football organization in the world, suspended him and banned him from contacting Mrs. Hermoso. On Monday, Spanish prosecutors launched a criminal investigation into Mr Rubiales’ conduct, and later that day his own association called for him to resign immediately.
Here’s what you need to know about the events.
What happened?
At a ceremony following Spain’s 1-0 win over England in the final on August 20, Mr Rubiales kissed Ms Hermoso on the lips, an act captured on video.
Mr Rubiales initially apologized for kissing Ms Hermoso but later backtracked, stressing in his remarks on Friday that the act had been “spontaneous, mutual, euphoric and consensual”. He also accused his critics of engaging in “false feminism.”
Ms. Hermoso said she had not consented to the kiss and was under pressure to publicly downplay Mr. Rubiales’ actions. She said in a statement Friday that “no one, in any work, sport or social setting, should be subject to this type of non-consensual conduct.”
Does Spanish football have a sexism problem?
Many in Spain have lamented that the kiss diverted a cheering nation’s attention from the victorious team to a controversy surrounding Mr Rubiales. But some footballers and feminist activists have pointed to the deep-seated sexism in the sport that predates the scandal.
Former Spain women’s national team head coach Ignacio Quereda was sacked in 2015 over sexism allegations. And his successor, Jorge Vilda, has also faced complaints. Last year, more than a dozen players refused to play on the women’s national team due to complaints about unequal pay, intrusive treatment by Mr Vilda and a general culture of sexism.
Some Spanish commentators and government officials are calling the kiss a #MeToo moment for football, one of the most entrenched bastions of machismo in the country: a sense of male pride and entitlement. Activists have used the slogan “se acabó,” meaning “it’s over,” to call for change.
“We are ready for this to be the #MeToo of Spanish football and for this to be a change,” Victor Francos Díaz, director of Spain’s National Sports Council, told reporters on Friday.
Yolanda Díaz, the country’s minister of labor, wrote on social media Monday that “the struggle of women players is that of the whole of society.”
Who is Luis Rubiales?
A career footballer born in the Canary Islands and raised in Motril in southern Spain, 46-year-old Rubiales has never become a household name as a defender on the pitch.
But he rose through the ranks off the field, becoming head of the Spanish players’ association in 2010 and head of the federation – the governing body of Spanish football, which represents women and men – in 2018.
How were the reactions in Spain and abroad?
Spain’s main football federation, the main union of professional female soccer players and leading politicians, including ministers, have denounced Mr Rubiales’ behavior and called for him to resign.
Members of the women’s national team, along with dozens of other players, have pledged not to play for Spain “if current managers continue.”
On Monday, Spanish prosecutors said they considered the episode a possible act of sexual assault, a crime punishable by one to four years in prison under Spanish law.
The football federation that Rubiales heads initially backed him, issuing a statement saying he was “not lying.” But on Monday night, after a protracted emergency meeting, the course was reversed and he was called upon to resign, citing “unacceptable behavior which has seriously damaged the reputation of Spanish football”.
On Saturday, FIFA, the world’s football governing body, said it had suspended Mr Rubiales while it is investigating the episode. FIFA has also ordered both Mr Rubiales and the Spanish Football Federation not to contact Ms Hermoso.
