Spain’s Jenni Hermoso says kiss from football boss ‘stained’ World Cup win

Spanish footballer Jenni Hermoso today told a court how an unwanted kiss on the lips from her former boss after winning the Women’s World Cup ‘tainted’ one of the happiest days of her life.

The 34-year-old striker said she had felt ‘abused’ by ex-Spanish FA president Luis Rubiales after he kissed her on the podium without consent after her team’s 1-0 victory over England in the 2023 World Cup final in Sydney.

Hermoso told the Audiencia Nacional court in Madrid she had been reduced to tears after Rubiales and his aides tried to pressure her into claiming the kiss was just a ‘spur-of-the-moment’ peck on the lips which hadn’t bothered her after the clip went viral on social media.

Rubiales looked on impassively as she took the stand on day one of the much-anticipated ‘Kissgate’ trial to claim he had done something which was ‘wrong’ as a superior and had contributed to leaving her ‘completely unprotected’ as he and his management team tried to salvage their reputations in the ensuing media storm.

The 47-year-old dad-of-three is accused of sexual assault and coercion over the kiss and his subsequent alleged behaviour.

Public prosecutors want him jailed for a year if convicted of the first offence and handed a one-year six month prison sentence if found guilty of the second crime in relation to his alleged attempts with the help of aides to pressure Hermoso into declaring the kiss had been consensual.

Taking the witness stand at just after 10.20am today in a black roll-neck sweater and grey jeans, Hermoso told the court: ‘From the first day it was clear to me I wanted to denounce what happened.’

Recalling how she greeted Spain’s Queen Letizia and the royal’s then 16-year-old daughter as she went to collect her World Cup-winning medal before coming face-to-face with Rubiales, she said: ‘I told him, “What a blast we’ve had” and he replied: “We’ve won this World Cup thanks to you.”

‘He put his hands on my ears and then came the kiss.’

Telling public prosecutor Marta Durantez during questioning the former Spanish FA boss grabbed hold of her head ‘forcefully’ and didn’t give her any time to react, she added: ‘It was a thousandth of a second.

‘I felt it was totally out of context. My boss was kissing me and what was happening shouldn’t occur in any working context.’

Asked whether she felt ‘abused’ as a woman, Hermoso added: ‘Yes, I felt very little respect. Luis Rubiales never asked if I wanted a kiss before he kissed me.

‘It was a moment that stained one of the happiest days of my life.’

Just hours after the incident, Hermoso claims she was called off the team coach at the Sydney stadium where Spain listed the trophy by a press officer who showed her a statement she was supposed to have penned herself.

She told the court: ‘I skim-read it and said and knew I hadn’t written a word of it.

‘It was a statement I had supposedly drafted myself and consented to being put out to fan the flames of the fuss that was being created by the kiss.

‘The statement said Luis Rubiales and I were good friends and the kiss happened in the effusiveness of the moment. I said I didn’t agree to it going out.’

When she refused to sign the statement, Rubiales reportedly approached her himself and asked her to film a video of them together to shut down social media speculation.

She told the court: ‘I told him I wasn’t going to do anything, that I wasn’t the one who had started things. He told me “Please, my two daughters are in the back of the plane crying.”

‘I repeated that I wasn’t going to do it and I remember him saying he had a girlfriend at that time and it hadn’t bothered her.’

Alleging then-manager Jorge Vilda had approached her brother on the plane to try to put pressure on her to change her mind, she said: ‘I felt totally unprotected in what should have been a safe place for me, which was my team.

‘No-one asked me if I needed anything. The only thing Luis Rubiales and his aides did was to try to protect their reputation.

‘From the first moment I reached Spain I had cameras after me 24 hours, people following me, people taking photos while I was having breakfast with my family.

‘I had to leave Madrid with my family.

‘I felt fear at times of being in the street. I received death threats and messages of all types and we had to leave Madrid because the situation was unbearable.. It was a change in my life and I still say my life changed from that minute.’

Asked how many times she had been asked to put out a press release or statement supporting Rubiales, Jenni said: ‘Too many to count. The situation prevented me from enjoying being a World Champion.

Two of Rubiales’ three daughters, the ones who were on the plane, are due to give evidence on his behalf next Monday.

Barcelona striker Alexia Putellas, part of the women’s World Cup-winning team, will give evidence on Hermoso’s behalf on Thursday. Other witnesses include the current Spain manager Luis de la Fuente.

Rubiales resigned from his post in 2023 and was charged last year after a long-running criminal investigation unrelated to the current charges.

The ‘Kissgate’ trial is taking place without a jury and is due to finish on February 19. The judges’ verdict is expected to be delivered at the end of this month at the earliest in writing and even if he is convicted and handed a prison sentence Rubiales could delay his incarceration by appealing.

In any case prison sentences of two years or less are normally suspended for first-time offenders.

As well as a prison sentence, public prosecutors also said in their pre-trial indictment they wanted Rubiales to pay Jenni Hermoso €100,000 (£85,000) in compensation if he is convicted.

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