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FIFA suspends Luis Rubiales for kissing a player without her consent

Last Sunday, Spain won its first ever Women’s World Cup, beating England 1-0 in the final.

It’s a fine Spanish achievement, but attention is focused on another event.

Indeed, attention is focused on an inappropriate gesture allegedly made by the president of the Spanish federation during the post-match medal ceremony.

The latter allegedly kissed the player Jenni Hermoso without her consent, as you can see in the images below.

It’s a gesture that had been raised as dubious in the first place, and became even more dubious when the player, Jenni Hermoso, officially declared that she didn’t consent.

“I felt vulnerable and a victim of aggression, of an impulsive and sexist act, out of place and without any consent on my part.” – Jenni Hermoso

This situation has gone viral and has been in the news for several days now.

It’s a huge public debate, with the majority of people wanting to see Luis Rubiales punished for this inappropriate and disrespectful gesture.

Well, just this morning, FIFA announced that it had suspended Rubiales.

This follows yesterday’s announcement by the 23 players of the Spanish national team that they refuse to play official matches under the current management of the federation.

Rubiales is therefore currently suspended for at least 90 days pending the progress of the proceedings opened against the Spaniard.

As for the Spanish federation, well, it’s staunchly defending its president, claiming that Jenni Hermoso’s accusations are lies.

“The RFEF and the president [Luis Rubiales] will prove every lie published by anyone on behalf of the player or, if that is the case, by the player herself.” – RFEF press release

According to the RFEF, “the president’s feet are ostensibly lifted from the ground by the player’s action” which precedes the kiss.

The RFEF also added that “participation in the selection is an obligation for all persons [members of the federation] if they are called by it”, thus explaining that players cannot decide to miss official matches.

In short, there’s a big conflict going on in the public arena at the moment, as the world generally rallies behind Jenni Hermoso, and Spanish soccer management defends its president.

It’s a story we’ll be keeping a close eye on over the next few days.

To find out more about this whole situation/story, I recommend you read the article in La Presse Sports, which I’ll relay to you right here.

En Rafale

– Stay tuned.

– Indeed.

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