Rubiales case

was part of the 2015 squad that called for a change in culture of the team. The Spain women's national football team subsequently played its first official match in 1983. After various attempts to call out abuse under the previous head coach, Ignacio Quereda, a significant dispute involving the team broke out in 2022 over issues including the leadership of head coach Jorge Vilda, with 15 players withdrawing from selection. The late 2010s and early 2020s also saw a number of high-profile public debates over sexual violence in Spanish society, with the government passing the "Only yes is yes" law in 2022. With women having very few rights during the Franco dictatorship, feminism in Spain has experienced rapid growth since; fourth-wave feminism in Spain developed in the 1990s. Largely academic in its beginnings, the fourth-wave movement gained momentum in wider society in 2018, with women's rights marches being well-attended and laws protecting these rights being passed. Other teams involved in the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup also reported issues of sexual violence, notably Zambia and Haiti. ==World Cup final==

Incidents On 20 August 2023, Spain won the 2023 Women's World Cup in a run that included winning a knock-out match for the first ever time and defeating England, the team that had sent them out of the Euro 2022, in the final hosted in Sydney, Australia. Following this match, there were several incidents of indecent behaviour on the part of then-RFEF president Luis Rubiales; the FIFA investigation identified four incidents, three relating to Spain players, and acknowledged two other issues relating to England players. Its decision report labels "the Genitals Incident" (a crotch grab in the authorities' box), "the Kiss Incident" (forcibly kissing Jenni Hermoso), "the Carrying Incident" (carrying Athenea del Castillo over his shoulder) and "the Peck Incident" (giving Olga Carmona "a peck on the cheek during [the] celebrations"). Testimony from Debbie Hewitt, the chair of the Football Association (FA), included in the decision report also said Rubiales "stroked" the face of Laura Coombs and gave a "forceful kiss" to Lucy Bronze. After the final whistle, Rubiales was spotted grabbing his crotch while standing in the authorities' box near Queen Letizia and next to her 16-year-old daughter Infanta Sofía. On the pitch after the win, Rubiales lifted and carried player Athenea del Castillo over his shoulder. Hermoso said shortly afterwards that she did not expect nor like the kiss when asked about why it happened, and in a social media video recorded in the locker room, saying "I didn't like it" then "but what am I supposed to do?" The kiss was considered the main incident, due to its nature and because it was captured by the cameras of FIFA's official coverage as part of the live broadcast. Sports journalists quickly denounced Rubiales' pattern of behaviour – El Confidencial Alberto Ortega also noted Rubiales took the trophy off the players to celebrate with it – and, soon after, his responses, with the Daily Mirror Colin Millar saying Rubiales' attempts to excuse and normalise his behaviour were further troubling. – and initially calling the incident "an unimportant gesture of affection" – on a Spanish radio show before leaving Australia, The Unión General de Trabajadores (UGT) likewise called for resignation. It was revealed on 22 August that Rubiales had "begged" Hermoso to appear with him in the apology video, and that manager Jorge Vilda unsuccessfully asked Hermoso's family several times to encourage her to support Rubiales. Team captain Ivana Andrés had also been asked to appear in the video: the RFEF considered her one of the players who saw them more positively and so may be more likely to comply, and hoped her presence would be interpreted as being on behalf of the whole squad. Andrés refused, later saying Rubiales was wrong. When Hermoso did not agree to the video, the RFEF sent a false statement in her name, downplaying the incident, to Spanish press agency EFE. Hermoso issued a statement through her union, , saying that the union and her agency would represent her interests; Futpro released a statement saying that they were working on seeing Rubiales' act punished and sought to see "women footballers [protected] from actions that we believe are unacceptable". On 24 August, the FIFA Disciplinary Committee opened disciplinary proceedings against Rubiales. == General Assembly speech and responses ==

The RFEF called an extraordinary general meeting for 25 August. Although Rubiales leaked to his close circle and the press that he would be resigning during the meeting, he instead recanted his words and vehemently refused to stand down. The speech was notably erratic; the next day journalist Esther Rebollo wrote in an article that she would not "repeat the phrases that [Rubiales] used to defend himself ... because rivers of ink have already been written about his unsportsmanlike, antisocial, ultra-sexist and even legally condemnable attitude." Goal described it as "career suicide". saying "you [daughters] have to differentiate between truth and lies, and I [Rubiales] tell the truth." He also addressed Vilda, saying that he would offer him a new four-year contract worth €2million. At another point, Rubiales repeated "I'm not going to resign" five times, compared to the "I'm not leaving" speech from The Wolf of Wall Street. He spent time recounting his version of events from the final, claiming to have had a full conversation with Hermoso and received her consent, though he continued to describe the kiss as "spontaneous". Also present were female members of coaching staff who had, according to 11 technical staff, been made to both attend and sit in the front row, to give the impression that Rubiales had support from women; the staff gave a statement afterwards, criticising this. Rebollo felt that Rubiales' attacks on women and support of his male colleagues in the speech was a key point in causing male onlookers across Spain and the world to be "embarrassed, hurt and angry", and to embrace support for Hermoso, the women's team, and ultimately feminism. Sports media consumed by male football fans also generally criticised Rubiales. and Borja Iglesias, publicly denounced Rubiales on social media, with the latter also refusing to play for Spain until Rubiales resigned. Two former Spain national goalkeepers, David de Gea and 2010 World Cup winner Iker Casillas, also criticised Rubiales' speech on Twitter. Beatriz Alvarez, the president of Spain's Liga F, told RTVE that Rubiales' "ego is above his dignity" but she was still shocked by the speech and how "every time he speaks he shows what kind of person he really is." The Spain national team sponsors Iberia and Iberdrola also issued statements criticising Rubiales' actions. Nine football officials resigned from their RFEF roles either before the speech, if they were warned, or following it; at least 21 teams from La Liga, Liga F, and the Segunda División called for Rubiales' removal or resignation. The first female football player to respond to the speech was Alexia Putellas, She tweeted "This is unacceptable. It's over. With you, teammate [Jenni Hermoso]". This was followed by an influx of similar expressions on social media from women's footballers around the world. on 2 September, Sánchez praised the team for the boycott, saying that they had won twice: first the World Cup, and then by "giving the world a lesson in equality". Hermoso followed up the joint statement on 25 August with a full personal statement later that day, accounting her experience of the incidents as well as mentioning previous and ongoing abuses in the environment of the national squad. Most of the coaching staff of the women's national teams, not including senior team manager and Rubiales ally Vilda, resigned en masse on 26 August in protest of Rubiales' conduct. == Investigations and sanctions by sporting bodies ==

Spain Rubiales On 22 August, the Spanish domestic women's league, Liga F, filed a complaint with the government sports council, Consejo Superior de Deportes (CSD), asking for Rubiales' dismissal and describing him as an "unprecedented international embarrassment". The Spanish government said that they would seek Rubiales' dismissal if he did not resign; on 25 August, due to Rubiales' speech in which he said he would not step down, the Spanish government filed a complaint in the Sports Administrative Court (TAD) for "serious misconduct", with the aim of obtaining authorisation to suspend him from his duties. After a preliminary investigation, the TAD decided on 1 September that Rubiales' misconduct was "serious" but not "very serious"; he would not be immediately removed from office, with the TAD deciding to open a full investigation of Rubiales. On 7 September he threatened legal action against the RFEF, saying he considered Rubiales' renewal offer during the 25 August speech to be a legal agreement. In the aftermath of the World Cup and Rubiales' resignation, RFEF also dispensed with the services of Andreu Camps (RFEF secretary-general and Rubiales' right hand), Miguel García Caba (responsible for the area of integrity within Rubiales' staff), Lydia Valentín (holding a Rubiales-appointed 'ghost' position in the RFEF Observatory of Equality), and Pablo García-Cuervo (RFEF director of communications). FIFA On 26 August, two days after commencing their investigation, FIFA suspended Rubiales until 24 November. On 30 October 2023, the FIFA Disciplinary Committee banned Rubiales from engaging in any football-related activities at both national and international levels for three years. On 17 November 2023, the legal panel that oversees sports in Spain issued a similar three-year ban which barred him from being employed with the sport while in Spain. UEFA Rubiales was a vice president of the European football governing body UEFA at the time, and a friend of its president, Aleksander Čeferin. The RFEF requested that UEFA suspend the RFEF due to what it called "government interference" after the government referred Rubiales to the TAD. If UEFA had done so, it would have prevented Spanish national teams and club teams from participating in the European Championship and Champions League (among other tournaments); the self-sabotage was said to highlight how irreparably deep the RFEF's loyalty to Rubiales was. The written statement did not include an apology or suggestion of wrongdoing, and did not mention Hermoso or the women's team, considered in keeping with Rubiales' attitude; it did feature various explanations for the resignation, including saying his daughters were suffering. He also wrote that he did not want Spanish football to suffer because of him, only invoking the 2030 Men's World Cup bid. According to Ibaceta, Rubiales was only concerned with how his presence or absence would affect men's football, and that he alluded to only agreeing to resign if the federation does not significantly change from his plans for it. == Motril hunger strike ==

On 28 August, Rubiales' mother, Ángeles Béjar, stayed inside the in Motril after service, announcing that she was going on hunger strike as a protest against the "inhumane and bloodthirsty hunt" against her son. She persistently defended Rubiales as a decent person, saying he was treated unfairly. == Legal action and investigations ==

The Prosecution Ministry opened preliminary investigations into whether Rubiales' actions constituted sexual assault on 28 August, including offering Hermoso the opportunity to make a formal complaint. She did this on 6 September. On 8 September, the Prosecutors presented a criminal complaint to the National Court, asking for an investigation into charges of sexual assault and coercion. It also asked for information to be gathered from Australian authorities. During evidence gathering for the coercion charge, the Prosecutors changed the status of former women's national team coach Jorge Vilda, the director of the men's national team Albert Luque, and the RFEF's marketing director Rubén Rivera, from witnesses to suspects on 27 September 2023. Vilda was summoned to testify on 9 October. Evidence-gathering testimonies from Hermoso and Perez regarding the coercion charge took place in November 2023. The court case for sexual assault and coercion began on 3 February 2025. On 20 February, Rubiales was convicted of sexual assault but was acquitted of coercion. He was ordered to pay a fine of €10,800 (£8,942), and was ordered to stay at least 200 meters away from Hermoso and to not contact her for 12 months. Vilda, Rivera and Luque were cleared on the coercion charges. His appeal against the ruling was rejected by the Audiencia Nacional along with a request by the prosecution for a retrial on 25 June 2025. == #SeAcabó ==

acceptance speech on 13 September 2023, Putellas said that the players would continue to fight for the protections of women. A wider anti-sexual violence, anti-machismo, and pro-women's equity movement in society and sports developed out of the Rubiales affair. Based on a tweet from Alexia Putellas, the movement is known by its hashtag call #SeAcabó (in Spanish; "S'ha acabat" in Catalan, "Acabouse" in Galician, "It's over" in English). With the Spain women's football players hoping to use their collective voice to force deep systemic change in the RFEF, to make it less sexist and more equitable for women in football, with academic Marta Soler Gallart writing in The Conversation that it could help de-normalise sexual violence and the social isolation of victims. Other commenters defined #SeAcabó in contrast to #MeToo: journalists for El País wrote that the focus of #SeAcabó was to expose "less obvious" everyday sexism that "demonstrates gender dominance" in society, while feminist writer Cristina Fallarás told the NOS that #SeAcabó was not unheard victims speaking out but survivors who "want to show the world that this should never happen again." The sports journalist Esperanza Balaguer felt that "se acabó" as a phrase is powerful, that "Me Too was very much necessary, but now we have to be more decisive." With growing feminism and the fallout of the La Manada case, Spain reformed its consent laws in 2022, to not assume consent by default. Patricia Moreno Barberá of Vogue opined that it made sense for Spain's movement to come from football, which she wrote has a similar presence in Spanish society as Hollywood does in the United States. A day of action was called for 1 September by feminist groups in Spain. A further statement of support from FIFPro was released on this day and shared on social media by past and present women's footballers it represents from across 66 countries. There were protests in cities across Spain, While Rubiales had initially retained support in his hometown of Motril, with a few dozen counter-protestors showing support for him while his mother was on hunger strike, a feminist protest against him took place there on 1 September, too; this protest was livestreamed. The Ministry of Equality campaign for International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on 25 November 2023 was titled "Ahora ya España es otra" ("Now Spain is different"), a paraphrased lyric from the successful 1978 song "Se acabó" by flamenco singer María Jiménez, who had died in September. The accompanying video prominently featured a young girl with a football and wearing a red '10' shirt, Hermoso's Spain number, while a printed advertisement made references to Rubiales' deflections in the context of his attitude no longer being tolerable in Spain. It had been noted when Jiménez died that the song had been the previous major usage of the phrase as feminist, being about domestic abuse, though it was considered unlikely that it might have influenced Putellas' choice of words. == International reactions ==

Football Former Australia men's footballer Craig Foster spoke out soon after the kiss, tweeting that FIFA and the RFEF should remove Rubiales and expressing his outrage that "Women in sport are daily subject to an extreme power differential, objectification, harassment, sexual abuse and an absence of agency and power". After accepting her award, Wiegman put it on the ground to instead lead a round of applause for the Spanish players. Bonmatí's acceptance speech was more directly critical of Rubiales than Wiegman's, and she had not told UEFA what she would say beforehand; the presenters asked her before she went on stage whether she would speak English or Spanish and if she wanted them to ask her about Rubiales, to which she replied that she had something she wanted to say. Bonmatí spoke in English for all of the ceremony except when talking about Rubiales, both on stage and in the press room; this was seen as her choosing to address these comments for an exclusive Spanish audience, so that people in Spain would understand her as she showed that she was not backing down. == See also ==