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Luis Rubiales forcibly kissed Jennifer Hermoso on the lips after the country’s national team won the 2023 Women’s World Cup.
Feb. 20, 2025, 7:56 a.m. ET
Luis Rubiales, the former head of Spain’s soccer federation, was convicted on Thursday of sexual assault for forcibly kissing a member of the women’s national team on the lips after the team won the 2023 Women’s World Cup.
Mr. Rubiales’s kiss of the player, Jennifer Hermoso, set off a national scandal, deepened debates about longstanding sexism in Spanish soccer and became a watershed moment in Spain’s #MeToo movement.
A Spanish court on Thursday also fined Mr. Rubiales 10,800 euros, about $11,270, but he was not sentenced to prison. It cleared him of a separate charge of coercion.
Ms. Hermoso said that the kiss was not consensual, which Mr. Rubiales disputed. Speaking in a courtroom near Madrid earlier this month, he said, “You don’t win a World Cup every day,” and he added that he had kissed other players in celebratory moments.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Lynsey Chutel is a Times reporter based in London who covers breaking news in Africa, the Middle East and Europe. More about Lynsey Chutel
