Spain Soccer Head Won’t Resign for Kissing Player at World Cup. Team Won’t Play until He Goes

Less than a week after winning the Women’s World Cup, Spain’s national team players announced Friday that they will not play any more games unless the president of the country's soccer federation steps down for kissing player Jenni Hermoso on the lips after their victory.

Luis Rubiales, who was also chastised for grabbing his crotch after Spain’s 1-0 victory over England on Sunday, remained defiant despite immense pressure to resign. The kiss marred the title celebrations in Sydney, Australia, on Sunday, and criticism has steadily mounted.

Hermoso issued a statement Friday strongly rebuking Rubiales' characterization of the kiss as consensual, while the 46-year-old federation president cast himself as the victim at an emergency general assembly of the federation in Madrid.

"I won’t resign," he declared four times in quick succession, to applause from the overwhelmingly male audience.

Several Spanish news media outlets reported on Thursday that Rubiales would step down. Instead, he said on Friday that he is the victim of a witch hunt by "false feminists."

While Rubiales held his ground, federation vice president Rafael del Amo, who had been in charge of women’s soccer, announced that he was resigning, followed by at least two other federation members. Del Amo had urged Rubiales to also resign.

Among those applauding Rubiales were women’s national team coach Jorge Vilda and men’s national team coach Luis de la Fuente. Until Friday’s assembly, he had received no public support in Spain, with political parties from both the left and the right speaking out against him.

In his speech to the gathering, Rubiales said Hermoso "lifted me up" in a celebratory gesture and he asked her for "a little kiss?" and she "said yes."

"The kiss was the same I could give one of my daughters," Rubiales said.

The televised broadcast of the medals ceremony didn’t show the first moments when Rubiales congratulated Hermoso. But it does show that his feet were on the ground before he held her face and kissed her.

Hermoso contradicted Rubiales’ version in two statements, one issued through her FUTRPO players union and a second published on social media.

She said that she did not consent to the kiss or try to pick up the president, and that there was no conversation like the one described by Rubiales.

"I won’t tolerate anyone doubting my word and even less someone putting words in my mouth," she said.

In a second statement, Hermoso said the kiss "left me in a state of shock."

"I believe that no person in any workplace should be the victim of this type of nonconsensual behavior," she added.

Hermoso also accused the federation of pressuring her and her family to speak out in Rubiales' defense. The federation previously denied a report that it forced her to make a statement downplaying the kiss shortly after it happened.

After a full day of accusations and counteraccusations between Hermoso and Rubiales, the federation issued a statement early Saturday saying that its president did not lie and that he and the organization would take legal action against Hermoso and her union. The statement included photos that it said show Hermoso lifting Rubiales off the ground during the medals ceremony.

The FUTPRO statement signed by Hermoso, her 22 teammates, and more than 50 other Spanish players said they would no longer play for Spain "if the present leadership remains in charge."

Rubiales said he would defend his honor in court against politicians, including two ministers, who called his kiss an act of sexual violence. One of them was acting Deputy Prime Minister Yolanda Díaz, who urged the government to take "urgent measures."

"Impunity for macho actions is over," Díaz said. "Rubiales cannot continue in office."

Alexia Putellas, Hermoso’s teammate and a two-time Ballon d’Or winner as the best player in the world, posted a message of support on X, formerly known as Twitter.

"This is unacceptable," the Barcelona player wrote. "I'm with you, my teammate, Jenni Hermoso."

Other teammates quickly followed, along with players from abroad.

"I’m disgusted by the public actions of Luis Rubiales," US soccer star Alex Morgan said on X. She added that winning a World Cup "should be one of the best moments in these players’ lives but instead it’s overshadowed by assault, misogyny, and failures by the Spanish federation."

The president of Spain’s women’s league, Beatriz Álvarez, told Spanish state broadcaster RTVE that she was not surprised because Rubiales’ "ego is above his dignity."

"What surprises and scandalizes me are his words," Álvarez said. "Every time he speaks he shows what kind of person he really is."

Spain’s government planned to file a lawsuit Friday alleging that Rubiales violated the country's sports laws, according to Víctor Francos, secretary of state for sports and head of Spain’s Higher Council for Sports. If Spain's Administrative Court for Sports agrees to hear the suit, the council will suspend Rubiales pending the court's ruling, Francos said.

If found guilty by the court for committing sexist acts, Rubiales could be ruled unfit to hold office. Francos said he would ask the court to move its regular Thursday meeting up to Monday.

Iberia airlines, a major sponsor of the federation, said it supported the government’s initiative to "protect the rights and dignity of our athletes."

About 100 people, mostly women, gathered Friday night in front of the Spanish soccer federation's headquarters in Madrid to call for Rubiales' resignation, many waving red cards used by soccer referees to expel players from games.

"What has to happen now is his resignation and the resignation of everyone who applauded him," said 39-year-old protester Alma Doña. "The federation needs to be reformed and women’s soccer should have more support."

Spanish soccer club Barcelona, which provided nine players for Spain’s team, said Rubiales' behavior "was completely inappropriate." Real Madrid said it supported the government's decision to try to suspend Rubiales. Sevilla called for his resignation. Athletic Bilbao said it was renouncing its seat on the federation’s board and backed the government’s decisions. Osasuna slammed Rubiales, calling him "rude and sexist." Espanyol, Valencia, and Celta Vigo also issued statements against Rubiales, as did Spanish league president Javier Tebas.

FIFA, the governing body of soccer, opened a disciplinary case against Rubiales on Thursday. Disciplinary judges can impose sanctions on individuals ranging from warnings and fines to suspensions from the sport.

The Netherlands-based FIFPRO player’s union, which had already demanded action against Rubiales, reiterated its position after his assembly speech.

The only relevant institution to remain silent has been European soccer body UEFA, for which Rubiales is a vice president. FIFPRO urged UEFA to open its own disciplinary case.

Rubiales, who led the Spanish players union for eight years before taking over as federation president in 2018, is currently heading the UEFA-backed bid to host the men’s World Cup in 2030. Spain is bidding with neighboring Portugal and Morocco, and also possibly Ukraine.

Rubiales made 339,000 euros ($365,000) in 2021 after taxes, for presiding over the federation with a budget of 382 million euros ($412 million). The federation runs Spain’s men’s and women’s national soccer teams and its semi-professional and amateur soccer leagues. It also organizes the referees for La Liga. The government maintains some oversight of the entity, but it cannot name or remove its executives.

Shortly before the kiss, Rubiales grabbed his crotch in a victory gesture, with Queen Letizia of Spain and 16-year old Princess Sofía standing nearby.

He offered an apology for that, saying it was in a moment of "euphoria" and directed toward Vilda on the field.

The first members of the elite in Spanish men's soccer spoke out against Rubiales on Thursday, when it looked like he was bowing out. Their words of reproach continued to trickle in after Rubiales' diatribe on Friday.

"What an embarrassment," former Spain goalkeeper Iker Casillas said on X. "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, instead ..."

Real Betis forward Borja Iglesias, who has occasionally been called up for Spain’s national team, said he would not play for his country again "until things change."

Many Olympic athletes take to Instagram to share news of their exploits, trials, victories and heartbreaks. After her fencing event ended last week, Egypt’s Nada Hafez shared a little bit more.

She’d been fencing for two, the athlete revealed — and in fact had been pregnant for seven months.

“What appears to you as two players on the podium, they were actually three!” Hafez wrote, under an emotional picture of her during the match. “It was me, my competitor, & my yet-to-come to our world, little baby!” Mom (and baby) finished the competition ranked 16th, Hafez's best result in three Olympics.

A day later, an Azerbaijani archer was also revealed on Instagram to have competed while six-and-a-half months pregnant. Yaylagul Ramazanova told Xinhua News she'd felt her baby kick before she took a shot — and then shot a 10, the maximum number of points.

There have been pregnant Olympians and Paralympians before, though the phenomenon is rare for obvious reasons. Still, most stories have been of athletes competing when they’re far earlier in their pregnancies — or not even far enough along to know they were expecting.

Like US beach volleyball star Kerri Walsh Jennings, who won her third gold medal while, unknowingly, five weeks pregnant with her third child.

“When I was throwing my body around fearlessly, and going for gold for our country, I was pregnant,” she said on “Today” after the London Games in 2012. She and husband Casey (also a beach volleyball player) had only started trying to conceive right before the Olympics, she said, figuring it would take time. But she felt different, and volleyball partner Misty May-Treanor said to her — presciently, it turned out — “You're probably pregnant.”

It makes sense that pregnant athletes are pushing boundaries now, one expert says, as both attitudes and knowledge develop about what women can do deep into pregnancy.

“This is something we’re seeing more and more of,” says Dr. Kathryn Ackerman, a sports medicine physician and co-chair of the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee's women’s health task force, “as women are dispelling the myth that you can’t exercise at a high level when you’re pregnant.”

Ackerman notes there's been little data, and so past decisions on the matter have often been arbitrary. But, she says, “doctors now recommend that if an athlete is in good condition going into pregnancy, and there are no complications, then it's safe to work out, train, and compete at a very high level.” An exception, she says, might be something like ski racing, where the risk of a bad fall is great.

But in fencing, says the Boston-based Ackerman, there is clearly protective padding for athletes, and in less physically strenuous sports like archery or shooting, there's absolutely no reason a woman can't compete.

It’s not just an issue of physical fitness, of course. It is deeply emotional. Deciding whether and how to compete while trying to also grow a family is a thorny calculus that male athletes simply don’t have to consider — at least in anywhere near the same way.

Just ask Serena Williams, who famously won the Australian Open in 2017 while pregnant with her first child. When, some five years later, she wanted to try for a second, she stepped back from tennis — an excruciating decision.

“Believe me, I never wanted to have to choose between tennis and a family,” Williams — who won four Olympic golds — wrote in a Vogue essay. “I don’t think it’s fair. If I were a guy, I wouldn’t be writing this because I’d be out there playing and winning while my wife was doing the physical labor of expanding our family. Maybe I’d be more of a Tom Brady if I had that opportunity.”

Williams welcomed Adira River Ohanian in 2023, joining older sister Olympia. And Olympia was the name that US softball player Michele Granger's mother reportedly suggested for the baby Granger was carrying when she pitched the gold-medal winning game in Atlanta in 1996. Her husband suggested the name Athena. Granger preferred neither.

“I didn't want to make that connection with her name,” said Granger to Gold Country Media in 2011. The baby was named Kady.

At the Paris fencing venue over the weekend, fans were mixed between admiration for the bravery and determination of Hafez, a 26-year-old former gymnast with a degree in medicine, and speculation about whether it was risky.

“There are certainly sports that are less violent,” said Pauline Dutertre, 29, sitting outside the elegant Grand Palais during a break in action alongside her father, Christian. Dutertre had competed herself on the international circuit in saber until 2013. “It is, after all, a combat sport.”

“In any case,” she noted, “it is courageous. Even without making it to the podium, what she did was brave.”

Marilyne Barbey, attending the fencing from Annecy in southeastern France with her family, wondered about safety too, but added: “You can fall anywhere, at any time. And, in the end, it is her choice.”

Ramazanova, who was visibly pregnant when competing, also earned admiration, including from her peers. She reached the final 32 in her event.

Casey Kaufhold, an American who earned bronze in the mixed team category, said it was “really cool” to see her Azerbaijani colleague achieving what she did.

“I think it’s awesome that we see more expecting mothers shooting in the Olympic Games and it’s great to have one in the sport of archery,” she said in comments to The Associated Press. “She shot really well, and I think it’s really cool because my coach is also a mother and she’s been doing so much to support her kids even while she’s away."

Kaufhold said she hoped Ramazanova's run would inspire more mothers and expectant mothers to compete. And she had a more personal thought for the mom-to-be:

“I think it’s awesome for this archer that one day, she can tell her kid, ‘Hey, I went to the Olympic Games and you were there, too.’”

Spain Soccer Head Won’t Resign for Kissing Player at World Cup. Team Won’t Play until He Goes