The former coach of Spain’s women’s football team, Jorge Vilda, has been put under investigation as the country’s highest criminal court continues to look into Luis Rubiales’s unsolicited kiss.
On Wednesday the court said that Vilda, who was sacked less than a month after La Roja won the World Cup, had been summoned to appear in court on 10 October. The statement did not detail why Vilda is being investigated.
The high court has been examining the case after prosecutors cited concerns that there could be grounds to charge Rubiales, the former Spanish federation president, with sexual assault as well as coercion, after he grabbed player Jenni Hermoso by the head, pulled her towards him and planted a kiss on her lips.
In a statement published late last month, Hermoso said the incident had left her feeling “vulnerable and a victim of aggression”. She characterised the kiss as an “impulsive act, sexist, out of place and without any type of consent from my part”.
Rubiales, 46, has claimed the kiss was consensual. He resigned this month, vowing to defend his “innocence” in a lengthy statement that added: “I have faith in the truth and I will do everything in my power so that it prevails.”
As the kiss sparked uproar across Spain and around the world, Vilda appeared to back Rubiales, applauding the football chief as he railed against “false feminism” and promised repeatedly that he would not resign.
Vilda was also among those accused by the Spanish news site Relevo of allegedly trying to convince Hermoso to defend Rubiales publicly as anger began to mount over his actions after the Women’s World Cup win.
The court had initially limited its investigation to Rubiales, calling a handful of federation officials as witnesses. On Wednesday it said it had also put Albert Luque, the director of the men’s squad, and Rubén Rivera, the football federation’s marketing chief, under investigation rather than calling them as witnesses.
The investigation, which has also reportedly summoned players Alexia Putellas, Irene Paredes and Misa Rodríguez as witnesses, will determine whether Rubiales will face charges.
According to prosecutors, the sentence for a charge of sexual assault ranged from a fine to a prison term of between one and four years.
As Spain grappled with the weeks-long fallout from Rubiales’s behaviour, the deep divisions between Spain’s female football players and the country’s football establishment were laid bare.
Slowly the tide began to turn in favour of the World Cup winners; as much of the country seemingly rallied behind them, Spain’s football federation promised “immediate and profound changes” while this month the high court imposed a restraining order on Rubiales, barring him from communicating with or coming within 200 metres of Hermoso.
