Luis Rubiales resigns as Spain’s soccer federation president after undesirable World Cup kiss

Luis Rubiales, the now-suspended president of the Spanish soccer federation, introduced Sunday that he’s resigning from the function within the wake of a weeks-long nationwide scandal that started when he kissed soccer participant Jenni Hermoso on the lips throughout Ladies’s World Cup awards ceremony on Aug. 20. 

Hermoso, who mentioned the kiss was not consensual, formally accused Rubiales of sexual assault on Sept. 6. Spanish state prosecutors subsequently filed a lawsuit in opposition to Rubiales for sexual assault and coercion.

Rubiales introduced his resignation on X (previously Twitter) and on the British talk show Piers Morgan Uncensored, hosted by tv persona Piers Morgan.

“Many individuals suppose it’s best to resign as president. What are you going to do?” Morgan requested Rubiales, citing the final weeks’ “ferocious stress” on him, his household and his younger daughters.

Sure, I will,” Rubiales mentioned. “‘Trigger I can’t proceed my work.” He mentioned he consulted together with his father, daughters and shut mates earlier than arriving on the choice. 

That is now a query of “not solely me,” he mentioned.

Rubiales was suspended from his put up by FIFA on Aug. 27, a day after he refused to step down when he delivered a defiant speech to the final meeting of his federation through which he portrayed himself as a sufferer.

He has dismissed the outcry as a “witch hunt” by “false feminists” and insisted that it was a consensual kiss — which Hermoso herself has immediately refuted. Rubiales had earlier refused to resign amid a number of ongoing investigations into his conduct.

The prosecutors’ workplace in Madrid mentioned that, in response to a sexual consent legislation handed final yr, Rubiales might face a tremendous or a jail sentence of 1 to 4 years if discovered responsible. The brand new legislation eradicated the distinction between “sexual harassment” and “sexual assault,” sanctioning any unconsented sexual act.

Spain’s authorities, gamers’ unions, gamers and many voters have come out in help of Hermoso. Rubiales, in the meantime, has develop into a soccer outcast even whereas he refused to resign.

—The Related Press contributed to reporting.