The former president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), Luis Rubiales, will stand trial in February 2025 for the alleged sexual assault of footballer Jenny Hermoso, a Spanish court announced this Monday.
Rubiales’ trial, accused of crimes of sexual violence and coercion, is scheduled to take place from February 3 to 19 next year in a Madrid regional court, the same source said.
Rubiales, who faces a sentence of two and a half years in prison, saw his appeal to evade trial rejected by the National Audience on April 22.
Earlier in January, judge Francisco de Jorge found that the former RFEF executive’s kiss with player Jenny Hermoso after winning the Women’s World Cup title was “not consensual”, classifying it as “one-sided and a surprise”.
In addition to Luis Rubiales, the judge also decided to prosecute the director of the men’s team, Albert Luque, the former coach of the women’s team, Jorge Vilda, and the former marketing director of the federation, Ruben Rivera, for exerting “pressure.” on the player after the events.
Francisco de Jorge believed that, with the connivance of Luis Rubiales, there was a concerted effort between them “to break the will of Jenny Hermoso and force the player to record a video saying that the kiss was consented.”
Following the events of the August 20, 2023 FIFA World Cup final, the director, who initially refused to resign from his position, which was due to happen on September 10, said it was a small, consensual kiss and said he was the target of a “false feminism.”
However, on October 30, FIFA suspended Luis Rubiales from all football-related activities, later rejecting an appeal filed by the former president.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
I’m Tifany Hawkins, a professional journalist with years of experience in news reporting. I currently work for a prominent news website and write articles for 24NewsReporters as an author. My primary focus is on economy-related stories, though I am also experienced in several other areas of journalism.