The president of the Spanish football federation faces an emergency meeting of its general assembly on Friday amid media reports that he will hand in his resignation following an uproar for kissin💫g a Women’s World Cup 🉐champion.
Luis Rubiales is expected to stand before repre🎃sentatives of Spain’s regional federations, clubs, players, coaches and referees in Madrid at noon local time and local media say he is stepping down.
The 🦄federation has refused to comment on repeated requests from The Associated Press for confirmation of Rubiales’ decision toಌ go that was reported late on Thursday.
Rubiales, 46, is under immense pressure to leave his♐ post since he grabbed player Jenni Hermoso and kissed her on the lips without her consent ♔during the awards ceremony following Spain’s 1-0 victory over England on Sunday in Sydney, Australia.
FIFA, soccer’s global governing body and organizer of the Women’s World Cup, opened a disciplinary case against him on Thurs♊day. Its disciplinary committee was tasked with weighing whether Rubiales violated its code relating to “the basic rules of decent conduct” and “behaving in a way that brings the sport of football 𝐆and/or FIFA into disrepute.”
That move by FIFA came after Spain’s act🌺ing Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said that Rubiales’ attempt to apologize, which came after he initially insulted his critics, was unconvincing and that “he must continue taking further steps” to be hel🔯d accountable.
Spain’s Hꦕigher Council of Sports, the nation’s governing sports body, pledged it would act quickly to consider various formal complaints filed against Rubiales to see if he had broken Spain’s sports law or the federation’s own code of conduct that sanction sexist acts. If so, Rubiales would face being declared unfit to hold his office by Spain’s Administrative Court for Sports.
As if t𓂃he forced kiss was not enough, Rubiales had shortly before grabbed his crotch in a lewd victory gesture from the section of dignitaries with Spain’s Queen Letizia and the 16-year old Princess Infanta Sofía nearby.
The combination of 🃏the gesture and the unsolicited kiss has made Rubiales a national embarrassment after his conduct was broadc🐻ast to a global audience, marring the enormous accomplishment of the women who played for Spain.
Hermoso, a 33-year-old forward and key contributor to Spain’s title, said on a social media stream “I did not like it, b♔ut what could I do?” about the kiss during a locker-room celebration immediately after the incident.
The first attempt to respond to the scandal was a statement it released in the name of Hermoso in which she downplayed the incident. Later, a local media report by𓆉 sports website Relevo.com said that the federation had coerced her to making the statement. The federation has denied this to The AP.
On Wednesday, Hermoso issued a statement through her players’ union saying it would speak on her behalf. The union said it wou🌳ld do all it could to ensure that the kiss does “not go unpunished.”
Rubiales has received no pub🔥lic support from any major sports figure and united political 💫parties from both the left and right are calling for him to resign.
