Guilty Rubiales fined €10,000 over kiss without consent, appeal rejected

Spain’s High Court said on Thursday it had found former football federation boss Luis Rubiales guilty of sexual assault for kissing player Jenni Hermoso without her consent, and set a fine of over 10,000 euros, but acquitted him of coercion.

Prosecutors had sought a prison sentence for Rubiales in a case that sparked a debate in Spain about sexism in women’s football and wider Spanish society.

“The ruling bans Rubiales from going within a 200-meter radius of Hermoso and from communicating with her for one year,” the court said in a statement.

Rubiales, 47, was accused of sexual assault for kissing Hermoso on the mouth. He was also accused – along with three other former football federation officials – of attempting to then coerce her into saying the kiss, at the 2023 World Cup awards ceremony in Sydney, was consensual.

A lawyer for Hermoso was not immediately available for comment.

The highest court in global sport dismissed an appeal by former Spanish football chief Luis Rubiales on Friday after he was banned from any football-related activity for kissing player Jenni Hermoso without her consent at the 2023 Women's World Cup final.

World football governing body FIFA had banned Rubiales in October 2023 for three years, and an appeals committee had also dismissed his appeal in January last year. Rubiales, 47, had the option to appeal the decision before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

However, a CAS panel determined that his behavior at the presentation ceremony "constituted multiple and serious violations of the FIFA Disciplinary Code," adding that it saw no reason to consider the sanction to be disproportionate.

"The appeal sought to set the contested decision aside, or in the alternative to set it partially aside and amend the sanction, or in the further alternative, apply any other disciplinary measures," CAS said in a statement.

"The appeal by Mr Rubiales is dismissed and the contested decision is maintained."

On Thursday, Spain's High Court found Rubiales guilty of sexual assault for kissing Hermoso without her consent and fined him more than €10,000 ($10,454).

The ruling also banned Rubiales, the former president of the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), from going within a 200-meter radius of Hermoso.