Jenni Hermoso says at the trial of ex-Spanish football chief Luis Rubiales that the kiss ‘stained’ her 2023 World Cup victory.
Spain star Jenni Hermoso told the trial of disgraced ex-football chief Luis Rubiales that the forced kiss he gave her in 2023 “shouldn’t happen in any social or work setting”.
Prosecutors are seeking two and a half years in prison for Rubiales for sexual assault and coercion after his kiss on Hermoso following the 2023 Women’s World Cup final sparked global outrage.
Rubiales, 47, denies the charges. He has called the kiss an innocuous “peck between friends celebrating” and denied any coercion.
“I felt it was totally out of place and I then realised my boss was kissing me, and this shouldn’t happen in any social or work setting,” Hermoso told the court on the opening day of the trial on Monday.
“A kiss on the lips is only given when I decide so,” she added.
The scandal that rocked Spanish football and wrecked the career of Rubiales came moments after Hermoso and her teammates had clinched World Cup glory, beating England in the final in Sydney.
As Hermoso joined her teammates in collecting their winners’ medals, Rubiales clasped her head and kissed her on the lips before letting her go with two slaps on the back.
The act unleashed a public outcry at what critics deemed an abuse of power and made Hermoso an icon of the fight against macho culture and sexism in sport.
A recent reform of the Spanish criminal code classifies a nonconsensual kiss as sexual assault.
“As a woman, I felt disrespected. It was a moment that stained one of the happiest days of my life,” Hermoso said at the trial.
“For me, it is very important to say that at no point did I seek that act, let alone expect it.”
The trial at the National Court in San Fernando de Henares near Madrid is scheduled to run until February 19.
