{"id":288300,"date":"2023-09-20T11:34:53","date_gmt":"2023-09-20T11:34:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/?p=288300"},"modified":"2023-09-20T11:34:53","modified_gmt":"2023-09-20T11:34:53","slug":"rubiales-pressured-a-spanish-fa-employee-to-lie-about-hermoso-kiss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/soccer\/rubiales-pressured-a-spanish-fa-employee-to-lie-about-hermoso-kiss\/","title":{"rendered":"Rubiales 'pressured a\u00a0Spanish FA employee to lie about Hermoso kiss'"},"content":{"rendered":"
Disgraced former Spanish FA president Luis Rubiales reportedly pressured an employee of the country’s football federation (RFEF) to lie about the kiss-gate scandal with Jenni Hermoso.<\/p>\n
Ever since they won the World Cup last month, it has been a tumultuous and dramatic period for Spanish football after Rubiales kissed Hermoso on the lips in the aftermath of their final victory over England.<\/p>\n
Rubiales – who claimed the kiss was consensual – eventually resigned from his position despite initially refusing to do so, although he is battling charges of sexual assault and coercion.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, controversial former manager Jorge Vilda – who was closely linked to Rubiales and offered a new contract by the 46-year-old shortly before he resigned –\u00a0was sacked from his role.<\/p>\n
And, according to Spanish outlet El Confidencial, Rubiales pressured an employee in the RFEF’s communications department to testify that Hermoso gave her consent to the kiss.<\/p>\n
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Disgraced former Spanish FA president Luis Rubiales reportedly pressured an employee of the country’s football federation to lie about the kiss-gate scandal with Jenni Hermoso<\/p>\n
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It has been a tumultuous period for Spanish football after Rubiales kissed Hermoso on the lips in the aftermath of their World Cup final victory over England back in August<\/p>\n
This testimony was used in the aftermath of incident and meant Rubiales wasn’t initially removed from his role.<\/p>\n
The report goes onto state the RFEF are now investigating these new allegations.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Rubiales came under intense scrutiny following the incident with Hermoso, with protests against his presidency taking place across Spain and high-profile individuals calling for him to resign.<\/p>\n
FIFA handed him an initial 90-day suspension, and pushed to ban him for longer, while the Spanish FA publicly apologised for his behaviour.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Hermoso\u00a0lodged a formal complaint earlier this month\u00a0before returning to Mexico where she plays her club football after claiming the kiss was not consensual and prosecutors announced they had made their formal complaint to a judge at the Audiencia Nacional court in Madrid.<\/p>\n
Rubiales has repeatedly insisted the kiss was consensual and described it as a ‘peck’.<\/p>\n
The former Spanish FA president eventually resigned\u00a0in a recent interview with Piers Morgan\u00a0after weeks of criticism over his conduct.<\/p>\n
He admitted in the interview that the kiss was ‘a mistake’ but insisted ‘there was no harm, no sexual content, no aggression.’\u00a0<\/p>\n
His resignation was eventually confirmed in a lengthy statement in which Rubiales accepted he ‘could not return’ to his role as president but continued to insist ‘many falsehoods’ had been spread about him.<\/p>\n
Rubiales has also been banned from contacting Hermoso or being within 200 metres of her.<\/p>\n
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Rubiales (left) eventually announced he would leave his post in an exclusive interview with Piers Morgan (right), but continued to claim his innocence and that the kiss was ‘consensual’<\/p>\n
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Hermoso claimed the kiss wasn’t consensual and lodged a formal complaint earlier this month\u00a0<\/p>\n
Rubiales’ 72-year-old mum Angeles Bejar went on hunger strike at a church in her son’s hometown of Motril near Granada for two days – which she said she had launched it to get Jenni to ‘tell the truth’ about the kiss – before she was rushed to hospital 48 hours into her protest.<\/p>\n
According to a sexual consent law passed last year, Rubiales could face a fine or a prison sentence of one to four years\u00a0if found guilty of sexual assault.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Elsewhere, new Spain boss Montse Tome – who took over from Vilda – named her first squad since taking over this week and included 15 of their World Cup winners, but not Hermoso.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Speaking after her squad was announced, Tome said: ‘We are with Jenni and with all the players. As for Jenni, we felt the best way to protect her in this squad was in this way.’\u00a0<\/p>\n