FIFA suspends Spanish FA boss Rubiales over Hermoso Kiss

On Saturday, FIFA barred Luis Rubiales from contacting Jenni Hermoso and suspended him from his duties as head of Spain’s football association for kissing the player on the lips at the Women’s World Cup.

FIFA said in a statement, “(We) decided today to provisionally suspend Mr. Luis Rubiales from all football-related activities at national and international level.”

FIFA has placed Spanish federation (RFEF) president Rubiales on a 90-day suspension as they investigate the 46-year-old’s conduct.

They said that Hermoso and her family are not to be contacted by Rubiales or the RFEF.

In a statement released on Friday, Hermoso said that Rubiales and the federation exerted “continuous pressure” on her, her family, and friends to force them to join Rubiales in a film in which he apologised for his kiss. However, Hermoso said that she refused.

At an urgent RFEF meeting on Friday, Rubiales refused to step down, and on Saturday, the federation threatened legal action due to Hermoso’s “lies” about the kiss.

After the 1-0 victory over England in Sydney, Hermoso claimed that she “at no time” gave her approval to the kiss, which Rubiales described as “mutual, euphoric, and consensual.”

In response, the RFEF declared that they will “demonstrate each of the lies that have been spread, whether in the name of the player, if that is the case, or by the player herself.”

Hermoso, 33, announced she was going on strike and would not play for the national team until the “leadership” changed. He was joined by 80 other Spain players, including the entire World Cup winning team.

That came in response to Rubiales’ refusal to step down in the face of extraordinary criticism. He asserts that “social assassination” has targeted him.

His assertions that the kiss was consensual were forcefully refuted by Hermoso, who said that she felt “vulnerable and the victim of an assault.”

“I want to clarify that at no time did I consent to the kiss that he gave me and in no case did I seek to lift up the president,” she said in the statement released through her Futpro union.

The RFEF published a series of images on their website attempting to demonstrate that Hermoso did in fact lift up Rubiales, as “the first demonstration that the facts exposed by Mr. President are absolutely true”.

Their threat of legal action appeared targeted at not just Hermoso and Futpro, but anybody who may have damaged “the president’s honourability”.

The Spanish government confirmed earlier Saturday they had also started a process which may allow them to suspend Rubiales from his post next week.