Former president of the Spanish Football Federation, Luis Rubiales, defended his version of the Jenni Hermoso World Cup kiss outside Spain’s National Court on Friday.
Rubiales spoke to journalists gathered outside the National Court after attending a session to be formally notified that he will go to trial for charges of sexual assault and coercion. There, he regretted that World Cup winner Jenni Hermoso “changed her story” of the events after the World Cup medal ceremony.
“I will continue to defend my story of the events, as when the events took place during the World Cup’s medal ceremony in Sydney, there was only one version of the story from both sides,” he said.
“Some days later, one of the parties changed their version, but I will continue to explain my story as it is the truth, and I hope that everything goes well and that justice is done,” he added, before leaving without taking any questions.
Bail of €65,000 has been set for the alleged sexual assault that the court ordered to be paid within 24 hours.
The judge in charge of the case, Francisco de Jorge, will also consider charges of coercion against the former sports director of the men’s team, Albert Luque, the former head coach of the women’s team, Jorge Vilda, and the former head of marketing of the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), Rubén Rivera.
Spanish team manager Jorge Vilda also pressured Hermoso’s family up to three times for the same reason.
All of them, including Rubiales, are accused of pressuring Hermoso after the kiss into speaking publicly alongside Rubiales to say that the kiss was consensual.
The judge has requested that those facing trial pay €65,000 bail for charges of coercion, a sum that will be divided among the four accused.
The public prosecutor asked for a prison sentence of two and a half years for Rubiales, one year for sexual assault and one and a half years for coercion.
The other three accused are facing one and a half years sentence for the crimes of coercion.
Jennifer Hermoso kiss
The kiss occurred minutes after Spain’s Women’s national football team won the 2023 World Cup in Sydney, Australia, on August 20, 2023.
Rubiales claimed the kiss was consensual and refused to resign while railing against “false feminism” trying to “socially assassinate” him.
Hermoso denied that the kiss was consensual in a personal statement and said she felt like the victim of an assault after RFEF released multiple statements brandishing her as a liar.
Detained at the airport
Beyond the World Cup kiss case, Rubiales is under investigation for several crimes including being part of a criminal organization, business corruption, and money laundering.
He was arrested in April and released after giving testimony on charges of receiving illegal commissions when negotiating the contract to bring the Spanish Super Cup to Saudi Arabia.
The contracts to take the Spanish Super Cup to the Middle Eastern country were managed by a company owned by former FC Barcelona player Gerard Piqué.
