The Deputy Vice President of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), Pedro Rocha Junco, will take over the duties of the organization’s interim president following the announcement this Saturday of the suspension of Luis Rubiales by FIFA.
In a statement, RFEF announces the appointment of Pedro Roci after the FIFA Disciplinary Committee notified RFEF this morning of the provisional suspension of Rubiales due to his behavior after the Women’s World Cup Final.
“Under the terms of the RFEF bylaws, Vice Vice President for Presidency Pedro Rocha Junco will assume the duties of interim president during this period,” RFEF explains in a press release.
RFEF also reports that Luis Rubiales stated that “he will defend himself legally before the competent authorities, he has full confidence in the bodies of FIFA and confirms that in this way he is given the opportunity to start his defense.”
FIFA announced on Saturday that it had suspended Luis Rubiales after a controversial kiss with Spanish international Jenny Hermoso.
“Today we decided to suspend [este sábado] temporarily suspend Luis Rubiales from all football-related activities, both nationally and internationally,” the body governing world football announced in a statement, adding that the initial duration of the suspension would be 90 days. Jorge Ivan Palacio, FIFA is also ordering Luis Rubiales and other leaders associated with the RFEF not to contact or attempt to contact player Jenny Hermoso.
Controversy in Spanish football erupted last Sunday during celebrations of Spain’s women’s unprecedented world title, which defeated England 1-0 in the final played in Sydney, when Rubiales kissed Hermoso during the awards ceremony. on the mouth.
Numerous criticisms of what happened followed, with Hermoso after the first version saying that everything happened at a moment of greater euphoria, stating that he did not consent to the kiss.
After several days of heavy criticism from various sections of society, the RFEF held an extraordinary general assembly on Friday at which Rubiales was supposed to step down, which did not happen, leading to a new surge of disputes and extreme positions of the players. announcing that they could not represent the elected as long as the current leaders of the RFEF remained in office.
The day before, on Thursday, FIFA had already launched a disciplinary investigation against Luis Rubiales because of a kiss without consent, which he gave to international player Jenny Hermoso.
“These facts may constitute a violation of paragraphs 1 and 2 of article 13 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code,” the body justified, hinting that such behavior could “damage the dignity or integrity” of a person due to their gender.