For a brief moment, it looked like it would be a victory for feminism. After days of uproar across Spain and around the world, media reports had suggested that Spain’s football chief, Luis Rubiales, would step down over the kiss he planted on forward Jenni Hermoso’s lips during the Women’s World Cup medal presentation on Sunday.
Yet instead of announcing his departure at an emergency meeting of the football federation on Friday, he left many Spaniards in shock by defiantly declaring “I will not resign” five times in a meandering speech that hit out at “false feminism” while also seeking to portray himself as a victim and recast the kiss as “a peck”.
The Spanish government said it would take immediate legal action to make good on its earlier promise to take action against Rubiales if the federation – which counts just six women among its 140 members – did not.
“What we have seen today at the federation’s assembly is unacceptable,” Yolanda Díaz, Spain’s acting labour minister and second deputy prime minister said on social media. “The government must act and take urgent measures: impunity for chauvinistic actions is over. Rubiales cannot continue in the position.”
Late on Friday, several high-ranking members of the federation reportedly resigned, including Rafael del Amo, who oversaw women’s football, and a handful of others who represented the federation in regions across the country.
But Rubiales’ attack on feminism had earlier drawn hearty applause among the federation members in attendance, including Jorge Vilda, the coach of the Spanish women’s national team, and men’s national team coach, Luis de la Fuente.
As media prepped stories on Rubiales’ resignation, the 46-year-old had other ideas. “I will fight this to the end,” he told members of the federation, who embraced his audacity with rounds of enthusiastic applause and gave him a standing ovation.
While he apologised unreservedly for grabbing his crotch as La Roja won the World Cup, describing it as an “unfortunate gesture”, he claimed the kiss that threatened to overshadow the team’s achievements had been consensual.
Minutes after the kiss – delivered on-stage during the post-match ceremony – Hermoso said on a live stream that she “didn’t like it”.
The acting minister of equality, Irene Montero, who was among the first to describe the kiss as a “form of sexual violence”, said on social media on Friday that Spain’s public prosecutor and the National Sports Council would take action. “Now, more than ever, Jenni Hermoso, you are not alone.”
Rubiales’ response on Friday intensified the outrage felt by members of the World Cup-winning squad. The centre-back Irene Paredes wrote on social media: “I’m with you Jenni Hermoso. The whole world saw what happened. You were the victim.”
The midfielder Aitana Bonmatí wrote: “There are limits that cannot be crossed and this cannot be tolerated.” And the former Spain men’s goalkeeper Iker Casillas described the situation as an embarrassment “We should have spent the last five days talking about our women players, about the joy they gave us all! About how proud we are that they gave us a title that we didn’t have in women’s soccer,” he wrote on X.
Borja Iglesias, a striker for Real Betis, said he would not return to Spain’s national team until things changed. “I’m sad and disappointed,” he wrote, adding that he felt Friday’s events had not “represented him as a football player and person”.
The outpouring of support for Hermoso and criticism for Rubiales hinted at the fact that – while many had hoped this saga would end on Friday – they were prepared to dig in for what could be a drawn-out battle.
Victor Francos, Spain’s secretary of sport and head of the National Sports Council, said on Friday that people wanted change. “This could be the #MeToo moment of Spanish football.”
Rubiales claimed the events of the past days were part of a “social assassination” being carried out in part by “false feminists, one of the scourges of this country”.
The president of Spain’s women’s league, Beatriz Álvarez, said she was not surprised by Rubiales’ defiance, describing him as someone whose “ego is above his dignity”.
“What surprises and scandalises me are his words,” Álvarez told the broadcaster RTVE. “Every time he speaks he shows what kind of person he really is.”
Hermoso’s union, Futpro, which the footballer has said is representing her interests in the case, said it was working to ensure that “acts like the ones we witnessed don’t go unpunished, are sanctioned, and that pertinent measures are adopted to protect the soccer players against actions that are unacceptable”.
On Friday the Europa League winners Sevilla said they condemned and rejected Rubiales’ actions towards Hermoso as well as the explanation he offered at the federation assembly. “Rubiales should resign from his position as the highest representative of Spanish football,” it said in a statement.
FC Barcelona did not address Friday’s speech but said in a statement that Rubiales’ behaviour during the World Cup celebration was “totally inappropriate and unfortunate”.
Real Madrid also weighed in saying the club “fully supports” the National Sports Council’s decision to immediately bring the case before a tribunal with the aim of removing Rubiales.
