“Luis Manuel Rubiales Béjar, of legal age and without a computable criminal record for recidivism, president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), held the player’s head with both hands, and in a surprising way and without their consent or Acceptance, he gave a kiss on his lips. ” They are the proven facts of the National Court Judgment that this week condemned the one who was the head of Spanish football for a crime of sexual aggression.
The resolution, against which it fits, is the last milestone of a case that tarnished the greatest deed in the history of women’s sports in Spain, but also brought to light how all the structures of the Federation were mobilized to try to preserve The enormous power of its president. Its leaders not only left the victim unprotected, but tried to force her to ‘save’ the aggressor publicly. The sentence proves the existence of these maneuvers, but acquits the four accused of coercion because that crime demands violence or intimidation that the judge believes that it did not occur in this case.
It was a clumsy management of controversy that will not have criminal consequences, but that has forced other changes. Rubiales himself was forced to resign 20 days after what, according to him, was an unimportant “piquito” and that justice considers a violation of sexual freedom. Breed in scandals and accusations of corruption, the former soccer player did not resist the social clamor and the union of some players, who did not miss the opportunity to convert a specific fact into a global case. Rubiales charged 675,761 euros per year, which had to be added 3,000 euros per month for housing and another 250,000 euros per year as UEFA vice president.
“This is unacceptable. It’s over. With you companion Jenni Hermoso, ”wrote one of the captains, Alexia Putellas, hours after Rubiales attributed a good part of the kiss initiative to the player, charged against the” false feminism “and proclaimed himself a victim of a” social murder. ” He did it in that assembly of the Federation, allegedly created to exercise control and surveillance, in which he received applause everywhere with many of his assistants standing after an aggressive speech. Puthels were followed by other players with similar messages.
Dome outputs
One of the men who applauded in that assembly was the then coach, Jorge Vilda. The coach was acquitted this week of the crime of coercion attributed to him the accusations. The sentence considers that, during the flight back to Spain, he “urged” Jenni Hermoso’s brother and a friend of her to convince her to make a video with Rubiales explaining that the kiss had been “spoiled” and ” subtracting importance. ” And that he did it “reminding them that Jenni had little football for age and the federation could have a deference to her, but that if the situation was thin they were going to fall heads and the thing was not going well for her or anyone else ” In the end, for whom things were not good it went to himself. In the Assembly, Rubiales announced that he raised the salary of 170,000 euros to 500,000, but was fired days later.
His was one of the names that the players put on the table to attend the selection matches again after the enormous controversy generated by the kiss and the reaction of the dome of the Federation. Their requests also collected changes in the organization chart of the General Secretariat, in the Presidency Cabinet and in the Integrity Directorate, as well as a new structure of the communication and marketing area.
Forced by the union of the players, the scandal for Rubiales’ kiss also took other high positions in the organization chart of the RFEF. This is the case of the Secretary General, Andreu Camps, Rubiales’s right hand during his presidency, and who the players had in the point of sullen in different negotiations. According to the confidential, Camps refused to print the name of the players on the shirts, something that was done with the male team. He claimed that “it was a lot of expense.” Among the ceased was also who was head of the Cabinet of Rubiales, Chema Timón; the Director of Institutional Relations, Antonio Gómez-Reino; or the communication director, Pablo García-Cuervo.
The latter appeared as a witness in the trial with a challenging and chulesco tone. He questioned the footballer, who said he is a person “quite influential and quite manipulable.” The sentence, however, grants “full credibility” to the player’s story and her teammates on the events that occurred on August 20, 2023 and in the following days. And they prove that the Federation lied when, hours after the kiss, he issued a statement that put excerous words for Rubiales in the player. According to the judge, the player or pronounced those words or said he was satisfied with them. That statement was sent to the media by García-Cuervo.
He is also out of the RFEF who was Deputy Secretary and Director of Integrity, Miguel García Caba. He was in charge of carrying out the internal research that described Rubiales’ kiss to beautiful as something “anecdotal” and “unimportant.” The trial revealed that this report was prepared in just a day and a half and with prefabricated testimonies to support the performance of the then president. The outputs of high positions followed months after the kiss scandal. In May 2024, the other accused of the alleged coercions to Jenni Hermoso were fired and that were acquitted this week: the former soccer director of the Albert Luque male section and the one who was responsible for Marketing Rubén Rivera.
Structural changes
Beyond these dismissals, the union of the players after the scandal has lit “structural changes” in the elite of a sport that in 2014, a year before Spain played its first World Cup, was not even considered professional. The technical team has been reinforced and professionalized with exclusive dedication, technological improvements have been implemented and travel and accommodation conditions have been improved to match those of the male selection. The signing of Markel Zubizarreta was also received as director of women’s football, but left at seven months after receiving a “irrevocable” offer from Michele Kang, the women’s football magnate.
The Federation, however, still does not make that deep renewal necessary to leave behind the dark times of the mandates of Ángel María Villar, who spent 29 years in office, and Rubiales. Pedro Rocha, a dolphin of the latter, began as president of a manager who proposed in his decisions, did not summon the elections as the statutes mark and ended up being disabled. It is also involved in the case that investigates a court of Majadahonda for possible corruption in the commissions that were paid to former player Gerard Piqué with the decision to take the Super Cup to Saudi Arabia.
Last December, Galician Rafael Louzán was elected as the new president, who presided over the Pontevedra Diputación for the PP. Louzán appeared and won those elections to think about having the shadow of justice about him. Finally, in February it was acquitted by the Supreme Court of the crime of prevarication for which it had been sentenced to seven years of disqualification. Now he is the man called to get the institution out of an eternal scandal he has had in Rubiales’ unseeled kiss one of his most unfortunate episodes. A kiss that, according to Louzán, is “one of those mistakes that are made.”
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