Luis Rubiales’ trial for the non-consensual kiss of Jennifer Hermoso during the medal ceremony of the 2023 Women’s World Cup final lasted a fortnight. Within a week of its conclusion, a verdict was delivered.
More than 100 television cameras were present when the trial began, an indication of the huge interest in this case in the 18 months since Spain beat England in Sydney, Australia.
But when the verdict arrived, it came as a surprise: at lunchtime on a Thursday amid a cold snap in Madrid and without the parties involved being summoned to court.
Rubiales, the former president of the Spanish Football Federation (the RFEF), was found guilty of sexual assault, fined more than €10,000 ($11,400) and has been banned from going within 200 metres of Hermoso, and from communicating with her for one year. He, World Cup-winning coach Jorge Vilda, former sports director of the Spanish men’s team Albert Luque and Ruben Rivera, former marketing director of the RFEF, were acquitted of the coercion that the player reported after that kiss.
It means a story that started as Spain’s players lifted the World Cup trophy has reached some kind of conclusion. Though it is not over, since Rubiales and Hermoso plan to appeal.
Rubiales was talking to Vilda in the bowels of the court, waiting to go outside. Rubiales had just testified on one of the last days of the trial and around 70 different media outlets had been accredited for the occasion. Also present were the camera crews waiting to capture the entrance and exit of the protagonists at the door.
“Rubiales is coming out now,” said a cameraman from a local television station. And then came the avalanche of journalists. They surrounded him, hoping to get a statement. But Rubiales said nothing. He had his head bowed, like someone waiting for a future that was no longer in his own hands. His taxi was waiting a few metres away. But he had trouble finding it because the crowd of journalists meant he could not see where he was going, to the point that he bumped into something and fell.
His bearing was the same as always, a self-confidence that can sometimes border on the cocky. But this time, it was different. I had not seen him in person since just before Spain won the World Cup. On that occasion he was jubilant because the team were in the final and, therefore, his position was vindicated after a turbulent year in which 15 players had questioned his commitment to the women’s team, going on strike to highlight their concerns.
Almost a year after that dispute that had overshadowed Spain’s build-up to the tournament, there he was in Sydney, with Vilda, the coach who had also been questioned by his players, and both of them were making history as the women’s national team won the competition for the first time.
If this was supposed to be his moment of glory, it did not last long.
Days after returning to Spain and in the midst of the commotion over the non-consensual kiss — it is no longer supposedly non-consensual, but rather a ‘non-consensual’ kiss as stated by the Spanish justice system — he addressed an extraordinary assembly of the RFEF on August 25, 2023 (which became known for his “I’m not going to resign” statement): “You and I are also champions,” he said, looking at Vilda and recognising the work of the men who helped Spain, with 23 female players, become world champions for the first time.
A year and a half later on the outskirts of Madrid, they were together in public once again, this time talking at the entrance to the room where the trial was taking place. Rubiales was facing a charge of sexual assault and coercion, Vilda of coercion.
At the back of the room was the judge, Jose Manuel Clemente Fernandez-Prieto, a bald man with a white beard whose comments provided some lighter moments in the trial. In November 2026, he will retire at the age of 72.
His impatience was apparent more than once. When he realised someone was taking too long with their testimony, he interrupted.
“Everything you answer is not what you are asked. If you want, you can hold a rally afterwards. We can sit here until doomsday,” he said to Rubiales at one point.
“We are in your interrogation and there seems to be no way on earth it can finish,” he said to Rivera.
On the right of the courtroom, entering from the door, were the prosecutor, Marta Durantez, Hermoso’s lawyer Angel Chavarria, and the lawyer for the AFE (Association of Spanish Footballers) Maria Jose Lopez Gonzalez. On the left were the accused with their respective lawyers.
The first day of the trial was the most highly anticipated, with Hermoso delivering her evidence. The striker arrived at the court an hour early. Her hair was in a high, tight ponytail, similar to the bun she wears when she plays. She wore a turtleneck black jumper, wide jeans and white trainers.
“If he speaks, I can’t,” Hermoso said during her testimony. She had been speaking for two hours and, while doing so, she could hear Rubiales whispering and commenting on what the player was saying.
This happened throughout the trial, to the point where the judge himself had to call their attention on several occasions and the prosecutor had to stop several times, saying she could not concentrate if she heard their murmurs.
It is rare for the victim in a sexual harassment case to give evidence just a few metres from the accused. Hermoso was given the opportunity by the court to ensure she did not have to cross paths with Rubiales or see him during her testimony, but she said no.
Her speech was impressive. She remained calm as she gradually recounted how the best day of her life had been stained forever. As she spoke, she also stated that she had not wanted to give up celebrating her greatest sporting success and that this had not stopped her from suffering an unwanted kiss on the mouth.
“He didn’t ask me if he could kiss me or not,” Hermoso said. “If he had asked me the question, I would not have agreed. I felt disrespected, it was a moment that tainted one of the happiest days of my life.”
Only once did her voice falter: when she described how alone she had “absolutely alone” while all this was happening.
“I felt completely unprotected by the RFEF,” she added. “It was supposed to be my safe haven, I was a football player for their country. And no one asked me. They just came to save their reputation.”
It didn’t take long to get a sense of what she was talking about in that regard.
During the waiting period before the trial, Rubiales and Vilda were always surrounded by their own people, those from the RFEF, even joking with each other at times. The only time I saw Hermoso was when she was alone, talking to a journalist she knew. She looked serious, albeit relieved, having just testified. That image contrasted greatly with that of a group of men in suits with defiant looks who were moving around in a group.
As the RFEF witnesses took their turns to give evidence, one after another, it became clear that through this whole period, nobody had asked Hermoso how she was. Not even the national team psychologist, Javier Lopez Vallejo.
“At some point after the events at the medal ceremony, you contacted Hermoso to find out how she was?,” the prosecutor asked Lopez Vallejo.
“No,” he replied.
“As a psychologist, were you aware of the existence of a protocol against sexual violence and harassment?,” Durantez asked.
“No,” he replied.
“When you realised the situation was more than anecdotal, did you implement that protocol?,” Durantez asked again.
“The role I had in terms of safeguarding was a role that the RFEF assigned to me at random without any training. I was told that my function was to be a liaison for FIFA,” replied the psychologist.
“They put you in that role without any training? I’m not sure I understand correctly,” asked Durantez.
“Yes, FIFA required each team to have someone in that role and I understand they chose me not because of any training but because of the role I had, which was the closest thing to that role,” he replied.
Rubiales arrived on time for every day of the trial, always dressed in a dark suit and white shirt. He was assured in front of the press and greeted those he knew with his usual confident bearing.
He discussed the statements made by witnesses with his lawyer Olga Tubau, trying to remain distant from what they were saying. But when Lopez Vallejo spoke, he put his hands to his face with clear signs of frustration.
“Everyone worried about her but no one did anything for her. Well, other than commit a crime of sexual assault and a crime of coercion. That’s all they did,” Durantez said in her conclusions.
“You mean to tell me you (the accused) were really worried about this lady? You were worried about saving your ‘chiringuito’ (this roughly translates as “saving your own business”). That’s what you were worried about.”
Some of the practices of former members of the RFEF were exposed in this trial.
Pablo Garcia Cuervo, former communications director of RFEF, was matter-of-fact in admitting they signed a first-person statement in Hermoso’s name which said the kiss was an ‘anecdote’ — so not a big deal. This was done to calm the media tsunami from the bus on the way to Sydney’s airport after the final and had been composed without talking to her, and without her giving them clear consent. “Do what you want,” all the parties present acknowledged she said wearily.
Garcia Cuervo described, without remorse, how he was only paraphrasing a few sentences from an interview the player had given to Cadena COPE just after the match. The only part he didn’t paraphrase was the one in which Hermoso said, “but I didn’t like it” when referring to the kiss.
One not dissimilar issue that arose was the drafting of an internal report from the RFEF’s integrity department. It was claimed that when some of the parties arrived to draft it, they discovered it had already been written and was only pending their signature. Among others, the psychologist Vallejo and the press officer, Patricia Perez, confessed to this.
“The president told me to add that Jenni Hermoso lifted him up in her arms and touched him twice on the side, to which I said it was impossible because of my position on the field,” said Perez. “When I finished, I told Enrique Yunta (then RFEF deputy director of communications of RFEF, now its head of sports communication) that I wanted to read my statement because they were going to put my signature on it and I started to edit the text because they had included things in my words that the president wanted and that had not come from my mouth.”
Lopez Vallejo said: “They sat me down at a table (in Rubiales’ office), they gave me a draft report. They read it and the director of integrity told me to read it and modify whatever I thought was necessary,”
Throughout the trial, it became clear what kind of power relations existed within the RFEF. Many members of its board appeared arrogant in the face of questions from the prosecutor or one of the lawyers.
“I have not come to talk about that subject,” Luis de la Fuente, the manager of Spain’s men’s national team, answered to one of the prosecutor’s questions.
The judge replied: “You have come to talk about whatever you are asked, you do not choose what you are going to talk about.”
In response to a question from AFE’s lawyer, at one point Garcia Cuervo, the author of the statement signed on behalf of Hermoso that she never wrote, said: “You should know that, if you have prepared for the trial…”
“Please! My patience is reaching its limit. You come here to testify. Enough of these answers. You have to answer things clearly, not with arrogance,” the judge intervened.
The appeals of both Hermoso and Rubiales will now need to be resolved before this case can be completely concluded, but this seems like an end of sorts. So what does it all mean for Hermoso and Rubiales?
Hermoso has managed to get a non-consensual kiss to be classified as a sexual assault for the first time in Spain and in a highly-publicised trial. The focus has been placed on consent and she has won the battle. She has been believed by a judge. It may seem obvious, but it is a very important step forward.
Speaking for the first time about the outcome of the trial, Hermoso wrote on Instagram on Saturday: “After all, this will create an important precedent in a social environment in which much remains to be done.
“My heart is full of each of the people who have been, are and will continue with me in this fight.
“And now, it’s over.”
The sentence allows her to leave the standby mode in which her life has been since the World Cup.
The next step is to return to the Spanish national team, having not been called up since October. That will be the final test to see that all this has not affected her footballing future.
“No player has the door closed,” Vilda’s replacement, Montse Tome, said in February when asked about it.
Rubiales has been acquitted of coercion but, this time, he has not been able to avoid being found guilty of sexual assault. The fine to be paid is small, considering his financial status. Time will tell how much of an impact this will have on him, but it will stain his record and that is more damaging than any fine he might pay.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
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