WOMAN STREAKER AT SOCCER GAME PROFESSIONAL

Rubiales has also been criticized after video appeared to show him grabbing his genitals with both hands to celebrate Spain’s victory. She initially downplayed the kiss, saying it had been a “spontaneous mutual gesture.”īut she added in her statement on Friday that she had been under pressure from the Spanish soccer federation “to give a testimony that had little or nothing to do with my feelings.” In a post-match video, she could be heard voicing her distaste: “Hey, but I didn’t like that!” Hermoso is widely regarded as one of the best forwards in women’s soccer today, and she holds the record for the number of goals scored with the Spanish national team. Rubiales’s account, he asked if he could give her a small kiss and she said “Vale,” or “OK.” Hermoso, as she lined up onstage to collect her medal, “was the one who lifted me in her arms and brought me close to her body.” Then, according to Mr. The federation’s defensive stance seemed to match that of its president, who, in a speech delivered at a federation meeting earlier Friday, argued that the kiss had been “spontaneous, mutual, euphoric and consensual.” He accused his detractors of practicing “false feminism” in an attempt to tear him down, drawing applause from the mostly male audience. Spanish media reported that the federation released a second statement on Saturday afternoon that was later removed from its website, in which it accused Ms. “This situation has caused structural damage not only to women’s soccer, but also to sport in general and to the values it transmits to society,” said Dolors Ribalta Alcalde, a specialist in women’s soccer at Ramon Llull University in Barcelona.īut in a statement released late Friday, Spain’s soccer federation pushed back, vowing to take “as many legal actions as are appropriate in defense of the president’s honor” in response to Ms. The previous head coach of the women’s national soccer team, Ignacio Quereda, served for 27 years before being ousted amid allegations of sexism. Rubiales - who is also a vice president of UEFA, European soccer’s governing body - in an administrative court that handles sporting disputes, accusing him of abusing his authority and violating public sports decorum.īoth the kiss and the federation’s forceful defense of its embattled president have prompted debate over a history of accusations of misogyny in Spanish soccer. The same day, Spain’s top sporting body filed a formal complaint against Mr.

And on Saturday, 11 members of the women’s team coaching staff said in a statement that they were resigning “in the face of the unacceptable attitudes and declarations” of Mr. Rubiales’s behavior and called for him to step down.

WOMAN STREAKER AT SOCCER GAME PROFESSIONAL

Spain’s main union of professional female soccer players, several Spanish soccer clubs and leading politicians, including government ministers, have condemned Mr.

His refusal to do so fueled outrage in a country that views the fight against sexism as a societal priority. Rubiales, who called the kiss a consensual “peck” during a speech, would resign, putting an end to the controversy. Hermoso said in a statement on Friday, adding that she had initially faced pressure to downplay Mr. “I felt vulnerable and the victim of an impulse-driven, sexist, out-of-place act without any consent on my part,” Ms. Rubiales’s kiss at the Women’s World Cup medals ceremony last weekend in Australia - broadcast live to millions - cast a pall over the Spanish team’s celebrations, drawing attention away from a proud national moment and toward a legacy of sexism scandals in Spanish soccer. Hermoso, and threatened legal action to protect the reputation of its president. Rubiales, who has insisted he did nothing wrong to Ms. The decision came less than a day after Spain’s soccer federation said it would stand by Mr. Hermoso, a star forward on Spain’s winning national team. Rubiales and the soccer federation he chairs to refrain from contacting Ms.

Rubiales would be suspended “from all football-related activities” at national and international levels for an initial period of 90 days, starting Saturday. FIFA, the soccer world’s governing body, said on Saturday that it had provisionally suspended Luis Rubiales, president of Spain’s soccer federation, amid an investigation that he forcibly kissed the player Jennifer Hermoso after Spain’s Women’s World Cup victory last Sunday.

Woman streaker at soccer game