Luis Rubiales has escaped jail after being found guilty over kissing Jenni Hermoso without her consent after the Women’s World Cup final in 2023.
The former Spanish football chief has been ordered to pay a fine worth more than €10,000 (£8,274) but has acquitted Rubiales of coercion.
He will pay €20 a day over the next 18 months and has been ordered not to go within 200m of the player.
Prosecutors had been demanding a prison sentence for the 47-year-old.
Rubiales has maintained his innocence throughout the trial, insisting the kiss was consensual and happening ‘in a moment of jubilation’.
Hermoso, however, told the court she did not consent to having the former football chief kiss her on the lips and said it had ‘tainted one of the happiest days’ of her life.
The controversy ended up overshadowing Spain’s 1-0 victory over England in the Women’s World Cup final.
“I didn’t hear or understand anything,” she said. “The next thing he did was to grab me by the ears and kiss me on the mouth.
“I knew I was being kissed by my boss and that should not happen in any social or work environment,” she added.
“I think it was a moment that tainted one of the happiest days of my life.
“All this meant I couldn’t enjoy at all being a world champion after I landed back in Madrid.”
Rubiales eventually resigned following serious pressure and in October 2023 he was banned from all football-related activities for three years by FIFA.
Rubiales then went on to claim he was the victim of a ‘witch hunt’ by ‘false feminists’.
More follows…
