On Thursday the conviction of former Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) President Luis Rubiales for sexual assault made global headlines, after he was found guilty having kissed Jenni Hermoso without her consent during the celebrations of the 2023 World Cup. However there were mixed reactions to the verdict.
Rubiales was convicted of sexual assault, fined €10.8k, and given a 200m restraining order against Hermoso for the next year, but he avoided the 2.5-year prison sentence that the prosecution sought. That included a 1.5-year sentence for coerceion, which Rubiales was cleared of, as were ex-manager Jorge Vilda, ex-marketing director Ruben Rivera, and ex-sporting director Albert Luque at the RFEF.
For his part, Rubiales said he would ‘keep fighting’, intimating that an appeal was coming against the sentence from his end. According to Cadena Cope, Hermoso found out the verdict while in Mexico, and the verdict was positively received by the footballer and her camp, and consider it a step forward for women that she was believed and Rubiales was convicted.
All the same, they expected the coercion charges to be successful too, and punishment to follow. Relevo report that as well as Rubiales, both Hermoso’s camp and the AFE (Association of Spanish Footballers) will appeal the sentence on the coercion charges, which they felt had been proven.
🇪🇸Former RFEF President Luis #Rubiales has been found guilty of sexual assault. But did the country miss a chance to send a message?
Rubiales walks free, and will pay the equivalent of what he earned in four days as President.
✍️ @jdeposicion 👇 pic.twitter.com/dJ6IXZwuFo
— Football España (@footballespana_) February 20, 2025
Meanwhile back at RFEF headquarters, the Spain team also found out the verdict, and one of Hermoso’s closest allies, Irene Paredes was due to give a press conference.
“The conviction for sexual assault seems correct to me. What seems striking to me is that there is no condemnation for coercion. It’s sort of the feeling of the entire dressing room. That’s the summary of the feeling of the dressing room. What are we going to say? We trust the justice system,” she told Cadena SER.
