Luis Rubiales and Spain’s Kiss Scandal at the World Cup, Explained

When the Spanish ladies’s nationwide soccer staff gained the World Cup closing this month, their compatriots had little time to have fun earlier than the habits of the nation’s prime soccer official prompted an argument over misogyny and sexual assault.

During the ceremony after the staff’s victory, Luis Rubiales, the president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation, forcibly kissed Jennifer Hermoso, a star ahead, on the lips — a transfer that Ms. Hermoso later described as “an impulse-driven, sexist, out-of-place act without any consent on my part.”

Despite quite a few requires him to resign, Mr. Rubiales has forcefully defended his conduct and insisted that the kiss was consensual. But final weekend, FIFA, the world’s prime soccer physique, suspended him and barred him from contacting Ms. Hermoso. On Monday, Spanish prosecutors opened a legal investigation into Mr. Rubiales’s conduct, and later that day, his personal affiliation known as on him to step down instantly.

Here is what to know in regards to the occasions.

What occurred?

During a ceremony after Spain’s 1-0 victory over England within the closing on Aug. 20, Mr. Rubiales kissed Ms. Hermoso on the lips, an act that was captured on video.

Mr. Rubiales initially apologized for kissing Ms. Hermoso however later backtracked, insisting in remarks on Friday that the act had been “spontaneous, mutual, euphoric and consensual.” He additionally accused his critics of participating in “false feminism.”

Ms. Hermoso mentioned that she had not consented to the kiss and that she had confronted stress to publicly play down Mr. Rubiales’s actions. She mentioned in a press release on Friday that “no person, in any work, sports, or social setting, should be a victim of these types of nonconsensual behaviors.”

Does Spanish soccer have a sexism downside?

Many in Spain have lamented that the kiss has redirected a jubilant nation’s consideration away from the victorious staff towards an argument centered on Mr. Rubiales. But some soccer gamers and feminist activists have pointed to entrenched sexism within the sport that lengthy predates the scandal.

The earlier head coach of the Spanish ladies’s nationwide staff, Ignacio Quereda, was ousted in 2015 amid accusations of sexism. And his successor, Jorge Vilda, has additionally confronted complaints. Last 12 months, greater than a dozen gamers refused to play on the ladies’s nationwide staff amid complaints of unequal pay, intrusive remedy by Mr. Vilda and a basic tradition of sexism.

Some Spanish commentators and authorities officers have known as the kiss a #MeToo second for soccer, one of many nation’s most entrenched bastions of machismo — a way of masculine delight and entitlement. Activists have used the slogan “se acabó,” which means “it’s over,” to name for adjustments.

“We are ready for this to be the #MeToo of Spanish football and for this to be a change,” Victor Francos Díaz, who directs Spain’s National Sports Council, instructed reporters on Friday.

Yolanda Díaz, the nation’s labor minister, wrote on social media on Monday that “the fight of female players is that of the whole society.”

Who is Luis Rubiales?

A profession soccer participant born within the Canary Islands and raised in Motril in southern Spain, Mr. Rubiales, 46, by no means turned a family title as a defender on the sphere.

But he rose by way of the ranks off the sphere, changing into the chief of the Spanish gamers’ affiliation in 2010 after which head of the federation — Spanish soccer’s governing physique, which represents men and women — in 2018.

What has the response been in Spain and overseas?

Spain’s most important soccer federation, the most important union {of professional} feminine soccer gamers and main politicians, together with authorities ministers, have denounced Mr. Rubiales’s conduct and known as for him to resign.

Members of the ladies’s nationwide staff, together with dozens of different gamers, have vowed to not play for Spain “if the current managers continue.”

On Monday, Spanish prosecutors mentioned they had been investing the episode as a possible act of sexual assault, a criminal offense punishable beneath Spanish regulation by one to 4 years in jail.

The soccer federation that Mr. Rubiales leads initially backed him and issued a press release saying that he “did not lie.” But late Monday, after a protracted emergency assembly, it reversed course and known as for him to step down, citing “unacceptable behaviors that have seriously damaged the reputation of Spanish football.”

On Saturday, FIFA, the world’s governing soccer physique, mentioned it had suspended Mr. Rubiales whereas it investigates the episode. FIFA additionally ordered each Mr. Rubiales and the Spanish soccer federation to not contact Ms. Hermoso.