Spanish star Hermoso testifies about Rubiales’s World Cup kiss

By AFP
January 03, 2024

MADRID: Spanish World Cup-winning star Jenni Hermoso told a judge on Tuesday that the kiss forced on her by disgraced former Spanish football chief Luis Rubiales was “at no point consensual” and that she had come under pressure to defend his actions.

Rocio Galvez (L) is congratulated by President of the Royal Spanish Football Federation Luis Rubiales (R) after winning the Australia and New Zealand 2023 Women´s World Cup final football match between Spain and England at Stadium Australia in Sydney on August 20, 2023. —AFP
Rocio Galvez (L) is congratulated by President of the Royal Spanish Football Federation Luis Rubiales (R) after winning the Australia and New Zealand 2023 Women´s World Cup final football match between Spain and England at Stadium Australia in Sydney on August 20, 2023. —AFP

After arriving at the Audiencia Nacional in Madrid just before 10:00 am (0900 GMT), the 33-year-old went to testify before Judge Francisco de Jorge, who is investigating Rubiales on allegations of sexual assault and coercion.

“At the end of her declaration, she ratified the statement made at the public prosecutor´s office that the kiss was completely unexpected and at no point was it consensual,” a judicial source told AFP.

During the incident on August 20, the then head of Spain´s RFEF football federation held her head in both hands and forcibly kissed her on the lips after Spain won the World Cup in Australia.

He has said the act was “a consensual peck” but Hermoso has insisted it was not.

She filed a lawsuit against him in September and told the judge she had come under pressure to defend Rubiales, both on the flight back from Australia and on a subsequent team holiday to Ibiza in the Balearic Islands.