Luis Rubiales kissed player Jenni Hermoso on the lips during the medal ceremony after Spain won the Women’s World Cup in August 2023. Rubiales, at the time president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation, said the kiss was consensual but Hermoso said it wasn’t and filed a criminal complaint.
Rubiales has now been found guilty of sexual assault and fined €10,800 (£8,945). He was also ordered to pay a portion of the costs and compensation of €3,000 (£2,484) to Hermoso. Rubiales has ten days to appeal the sentence. He and three ex-colleagues were acquitted on a separate charge of attempting to coerce Hermoso into changing her story.
Spanish feminists are outraged by the judge’s leniency (Rubiales could have received a two-and-a-half-year jail sentence).
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