In the so-called kissing scandal, the players of the Spanish national team have shown solidarity with their female colleagues and criticized the head of the soccer association, Luis Rubiales.
Spain’s national soccer players have condemned the behavior of their association president Luis Rubiales in the kissing scandal. The team captains appeared before the media in the press conference room in Las Rozas near Madrid on Monday before training. In a statement read out by Álvaro Morata, they wanted to comment on issues that had damaged the image of Spanish soccer.
“We want to reject the behavior of Mr. Rubiales, which in our view was unacceptable and does not do justice to the institution he represents,” said Morata.
| Comunicado de los capitanes de la Selección española de fútbol.
ℹ️ Puedes leerlo transcrito aquí: https://t.co/LmSVz0FcZj VamosEspaña | EURO2024 pic. twitter.com/OcEAzIqFb2
– Selección Española Masculina de Fútbol (@SEFutbol) September 4, 2023
The 46-year-old Rubiales had kissed player Jennifer Hermoso on the mouth at the award ceremony in Sydney after Spain’s World Cup triumph. Despite massive criticism and calls for his resignation, he has so far refused to give up his post. However, Rubiales was suspended for 90 days by the world soccer association
He himself countered at an extraordinary general assembly of the association and spoke of a “false feminism” that wanted to hunt him down. Rubiales also said that the kiss was consensual. Hermoso has contradicted this
Spain’s men’s team once again congratulated the women on winning the World Cup and spoke of a milestone and a triumph of inestimable value. They also expressed their solidarity after the women’s success had been tarnished by the incident. All players were present when the statement was announced
Since then, there have been several demonstrations and rallies in solidarity with Jennifer Hermoso – such as earlier this week in Barcelona with hundreds of demonstrators raising purple flags – the color of the feminist movement in Spain.