Former Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) chief Luis Rubiales has been found guilty of sexually assaulting Jennifer Hermoso during the Women’s World Cup.
According to CNN, Spain’s High Court on Thursday, February 20, 2025, found Rubiales guilty of sexual assault for kissing Hermoso without consent after winning the 2023 World Cup.
The Spainish court ordered the football cheif to pay a fine of €10,800 (£8,942), that will be paid as $21 daily instalments in 18-months while accquitting him for the allegations of coercion.
The prosecutor requested a two-and-a-half-year prison sentence for Rubiales, but the court only fined him because the ruling judge believed that the assault was of lesser intensity as per Spanish law.
Moreover, the court has also banned the 47-year-old from communicating or going within a 200-meter (roughly 656 feet) radius of Hermoso for one year.
Three of the other co-defendants, former members of RFEF, along with Rubiales, who were accused of attempting to coerce Hermoso for saying that the kiss was consensual, were also acquitted.
Notably, during the trial, Rubiales called the kiss “an act of affection,” while Hermoso said that the kiss “stained one of the happiest days” of her life.
For the unversed, Rubiales kissed Hermoso during the medal ceremony after Spain defeated England in the 2023 World Cup in Sydney.
