Spain’s historic World Cup win against England last week was overshadowed by the behavior of their federation president, Luis Rubiales. Rubiales, who has headed RFEF since 2018 garnered outrage with a number of inappropriate behaviors during his World Cup celebrations. He forcibly kissed midfielder Jennifer Hermoso on the mouth, grabbed his crotch in celebration while standing next to the Queen of Spain, and put striker Athenea del Castillo over his shoulder. Images of Rubiales “celebrations” quickly went viral.
Despite calling his detractors “idiots”, the backlash was fierce and widespread. Acting Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called for Rubiales to resign, saying an apology was “insufficient and inadequate.” Meanwhile, the Minister for Equality Irene Montero called the kiss in particular “a form of sexual violence.” The backlash was capped off by a joint statement from Hemoso and her union. In that statement, Hermoso said such acts “should never go unpunished.” This prompted FIFA to formally announce an investigation into Rubiales on August 24.
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Rubiales Resigns
According to ESPN, Rubiales will formally resign on August 25. Despite his strong rejection of the criticism against him, his continued tenure as President of the federation quickly began to crumble. The favorites to succeed Rubiales are Pedro Rocha, head of the Extremadura football federation, and Pablo Lozano, head of the Andalusia federation. However, the resignation of Rubiales signals a much bigger shift in Spanish football beyond taking a stand against misogyny.
Rubiales has courted controversy at every turn since taking the job five years ago. He fired the men’s head coach the day before the 2018 World Cup began because the coach was set to leave the position after the tournament. He took a domestic cup tournament to Saudia Arabia in a deal with an active Spanish player. Furthermore, Rubiales’ uncle, the former director of his nephew’s cabinet, was accused of embezzling RFEF funds to use them on sex parties. In short, it took internationally-televised misogyny to remove a cancer from Spanish soccer.
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