Luis Rubiales timeline: From Spanish football presidency to sexual assault conviction
The former president of the Spanish football association was found guilty of sexual assault by the Spanish High Court
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Your support makes all the difference.Spain's High Court has found former football federation chief Luis Rubiales guilty of sexual assault for kissing player Jenni Hermoso without her consent, and set a fine of over €10,000, but acquitted him of coercion.
Prosecutors had sought a prison sentence for Rubiales in a case that sparked a debate in Spain about sexism in women's football and wider Spanish society.
"The ruling bans Rubiales from going within a 200-meter radius of Hermoso and from communicating with her for one year," the court said in a statement.
Rubiales, 47, was accused of sexual assault for kissing Hermoso on the mouth. He was also accused – along with three other former soccer federation officials – of attempting to then coerce her into saying the kiss, at the 2023 World Cup awards ceremony in Sydney, was consensual.
Here is a timeline of the Spanish FA president’s fall from grace:
May 2018: Luis Rubiales is elected president of the Spanish FA (RFEF).
February 2019: The former Levante and Hamilton Academical defender joins Uefa’s executive committee.
September 2020: Rubiales is re-elected to the position unopposed after Iker Casillas drops out of contention.
September 2022: 15 players on the Spanish women’s national team demand improvements to the structure and support of the side, including highlighting concerns over the management of Jorge Vilda. The RFEF back the coach and threaten the reblling players with bans of up to five years - most of the 15 are not selected in Vilda’s World Cup squad.
20 August 2023: Spain win the Women’s World Cup for the first time. Rubiales kisses midfielder Jenni Hermoso on the lips during the medal presentation ceremony and grabs his crotch during the game.
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21 August 2023: Rubiales issues an initial apology after Spain’s minister for culture and sport, Miquel Iceta, describes his actions as “unacceptable”.
23 August 2023: Pressure builds on Rubiales as a number of Spanish clubs call for his resignation. The Spanish Players’ Association, Liga F and Fifpro all condemn his behaviour.
24 August 2023: Fifa opens disciplinary proceedings against the 46-year-old, and it is widely reported that Rubiales will resign as RFEF president on Friday 25 August.
25 August 2023: Rubiales does not resign, apologising again for his behaviour but insisting that the kiss was “mutual, euphoric and consensual.”
“I will not resign, I will not resign,” he tells an extraordinary general assembly called by the federation. “A social assassination is taking place.
“I’ve come under a lot of pressure. Perhaps somebody will look to remove me on Monday. But we live in a country of laws. Is a consensual kiss enough to remove me? I’m going to fight until the end. I hope the law is followed, and that as there’s no reason to [remove me], it won’t happen.”
Spain’s World Cup winners refuse to play until Rubiales is removed from post.
26 August 2023: Rubiales is provisionally suspended from all football activities by Fifa for 90 days.
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28 August 2023: Members of the former defender’s family lock themselves inside a church in the coastal town of Motril in the south of Spain. His mother, Angeles Bejar, vows to go on hunger strike until the “inhuman, bloodthirsty witch hunt which my son is being subjected to” is concluded.
Uefa, meanwhile, say that no action will be taken despite a request from the RFEF to be expelled from competition for breaking the European football governing body’s own statutes on state interference.
The RFEF’s regional presidents ask for Rubiales to resign after being called to an “extraordinary and urgent” meeting in Madrid.
6 September 2023: Hermoso lodges a criminal complaint against Rubiales over the kiss. Two days later a Spanish prosecutor files a complaint with the high court for sexual assault and coercion.
10 September 2023: Rubiales quits as president of the Spanish Football Federation.
30 October 2023: Fifa bans Rubiales from all football-related activities for three years. He is ruled to have breached Fifa’s disciplinary code under the section of “offensive behaviour”.
2 January 2024: Hermoso testifies in court against Rubiales. She denies giving Rubiales permission to kiss her and says the incident left her feeling “vulnerable and a victim of aggression”.
25 January 2024: The Spanish High Court proposes Rubiales stands trial, ruling the kiss was “unconsented and carried out unilaterally and in a surprising fashion”.
3 February 2025: The trial finally into Rubiales finally begins.
20 February 2025: Rubiales is found guilty of kissing Hermoso without consent. He is cleared of coercion.