2023-08-25 07:22:33
BARCELONA (AP) — The president of the Spanish Soccer Federation, Luis Rubiales, faces an extraordinary meeting of the entity on Friday amid reports that he will present his resignation after the controversy caused by his kiss with a World Cup champion female.
Rubiales is expected to appear before the representatives of the regional federations, the clubs and the footballers, coaches and referees at noon on Friday in Madrid when, according to the local press, he will announce his resignation.
The RFEF did not comment on repeated requests from The Associated Press to confirm Rubiales’ decision that was reported on Thursday night.
Rubiales, a 46-year-old former soccer player, has been under immense pressure to leave office since last Sunday he grabbed soccer player Jenni Hermoso by the head and kissed her on the lips without her consent during the ceremony in which La Roja received the Cup after defeating England 1-0 in the final of the tournament in Sydney, Australia.
FIFA, the governing body of world soccer and organizer of the tournament, opened a disciplinary file on Thursday. His disciplinary committee will study whether Rubiales breached his code regarding the “basic rules of decent conduct” and “behaved in a way that brings the sport of soccer and/or FIFA into disrepute.”
FIFA announced its move after Spain’s acting president, Pedro Sánchez, said Rubiales’ attempt to apologize, which followed initial insults at his critics, was not convincing and that he should “continue to give steps” to accountability.
The Higher Sports Council, the highest Spanish sports entity, promised to act quickly to study the various formal complaints filed against Rubiales to determine if he violated Spanish sports law or the RFEF’s own code of conduct that sanctions sexist acts. . If so, the Administrative Court of Sport would disqualify him from holding the position.
And as if the forced kiss were not enough, Rubiales was seen shortly before clutching his genitals in an ordinary gesture of victory from the authorities’ box, where he was close to Queen Letizia and her daughter, the 16-year-old Infanta Sofía.
The combination of that gesture with the subsequent kiss has made Rubiales a national embarrassment after his conduct reached a global audience, tarnishing the enormous feat of the women’s team, which won the final after progressing from the group stage for the first time. time in its history.
In a live broadcast on social networks during the after party in the Spanish locker room, Hermoso, the 33-year-old striker who was key to the title win, reacted to Rubiales’ kiss by saying: “I didn’t like it, but what do I do? ”.
The first attempt to respond to the scandal was a statement issued in the name of the Mexican Pachuca player in which she downplayed the incident. Later, the sports website Relevo.com reported that the RFEF had coerced the soccer player into making the statement. The Federation denied this accusation to the AP.
In a statement from the soccer players union that said it represents her, Hermoso asked Wednesday that Rubiales’ conduct not go unpunished.
Rubiales has not received public support from any major sports figure, and political parties of all persuasions have called for his resignation.
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