Spanish football boss suspended for kissing a player on the lips

The suspension of all soccer-related activities takes effect immediately and will initially last 90 days while FIFA’s disciplinary committee conducts an investigation into Rubiales, according to a statement Saturday from soccer’s governing body. FIFA had announced the review on Thursday amid outrage that Rubiales celebrated Spain’s victory by kissing star player Jennifer Hermoso on the lips and making an obscene crotch-grabbing gesture after a Spanish goal.

The decision comes a day after Spain’s champion women’s team said it would refuse to play another match while Rubiales remained in office. In a dramatic appearance on Friday, Rubiales said five times that he would not resign, and the Spanish soccer association backed him in a statement on Friday and threatened legal action, implying that Hermoso had lied about what happened.

Rubiales also argued on Friday that he is the victim of a public lynching and that he had done nothing wrong because the kiss was consensual. Beautiful responded with his statement questioning the claims and said he was the victim of “an impulse-driven sexist.”

The Spanish government had also started proceedings to suspend the 46-year-old official. FIFA, to which all national associations are ultimately accountable, opposes government intervention in national football activity.

Rubiales has tried to take advantage of Spain’s culture wars to build her defense, blaming “false feminism” for the uproar since the August 20 incidents, which were broadcast live around the world. He said he would take Equality Minister Irene Montero and Labor Minister Yolanda Díaz to court for their criticism of him. So far, all of the country’s largest political parties have rejected Rubiales and demanded that he go.

political implications

The controversy comes during a period of political stalemate in Spain following an inconclusive national election on July 28. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has retained the job in an interim capacity as he and conservative opposition leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo look for ways to find enough support to win. an investiture vote.

Sánchez has repeatedly tried to portray his government as siding with women since he first came to power in 2018, but some of his gender and equality laws have caused deep divisions and opposition to them has been used as calls for mobilization by opposition parties. Most notable was a Montero-sponsored law known as the “only yes means yes” law that sought to create stricter sentences for sex crimes, but had the unintended consequence of leading to the release of criminals whose sentences were reviewed under the new definitions. .

Several of Spain’s top professional clubs issued statements criticizing Rubiales on Friday, including Real Madrid, Europe’s most successful club, which said it fully supported the government’s decision to request his suspension. Club Atlético Osasuna described his behavior as “rude, rude and macho”, while Athletic Club de Bilbao announced that its president will resign from the FA board of directors.

Although professional clubs only have a small representation within the FA, their position carries weight. In Spain, as in other countries, the FA is the sport’s governing body, overseeing the national team and working with regional federations, but the top two leagues are controlled by a separate club-owned entity called La Liga.

In an interview granted on Saturday to the newspaper El País, the Spanish Minister of Culture and Sports, Miquel Iceta, stated that for the Government this is the end of Rubiales.

“This cannot continue. It cannot be that after an unacceptable event there is no type of reaction from the president or the assembly of the soccer federation,” Iceta said in the interview, although he added that the final decision to dismiss Rubiales depends on the authorities. courts and the government has limited space to act.