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Fifa’s disciplinary committee has suspended the head of the Spanish football association as part of its investigation into his conduct after he forcibly kissed a female player during last weekend’s World Cup final medal ceremony.
Football’s global governing body said on Saturday it had decided to suspend Luis Rubiales from “all football-related activities” at both a national and international level for a period of 90 days, pending disciplinary proceedings.
Fifa’s move came as Rubiales continued to lose support at home but vowed to fight on — including by threatening legal action against the player Jenni Hermoso over their conflicting accounts of what happened.
The incident has sparked outrage across the country and in international football, overshadowing Spain’s first women’s World Cup victory and sparking concern in the government about damage to the country’s image.
The Spanish government is seeking to get Rubiales suspended as chief of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) by filing a complaint with a sports tribunal.
Dozens of players — including all those who won the World Cup last Sunday — said in a statement on Friday that they would not represent their country again until Rubiales was gone. On Saturday 11 members of the technical staff for the women’s team quit, leaving World Cup-winning manager Jorge Vilda without most of his lieutenants.
The chorus of criticism of Rubiales was joined by Luis de la Fuente, manager of Spain’s men’s football team, who said: “I unreservedly condemn [his] misguided and inappropriate behaviour.”
Fifa invoked additional powers to prevent Rubiales and the Spanish football association from contacting Hermoso, either “directly or indirectly”.
As well as his role at the Spanish FA, Rubiales is a vice-president at Uefa, European football’s governing body.
Rubiales had been expected to resign on Friday after the public outcry. But he instead used an extraordinary meeting of the RFEF to make a defiant speech saying he was the victim of “false feminism” and vowed to stay on. His address was greeted with applause from many in the room.
Rubiales claimed his kiss on the player’s lips was consensual, but she said that was “categorically false”.
“I felt vulnerable and a victim of an impulse-driven, sexist, out-of-place act without any consent on my part,” Hermoso said in a statement on Friday.
Overnight, the Spanish FA said it would take legal action against the player and Futpro, the players’ union representing Hermoso, accusing it of spreading “lies”.
Many big-name women’s players — and a handful of men’s players — have issued public statements on social media in support of Hermoso.
World Cup player of the tournament Aitana Bonmatí said: “There are limits that cannot be crossed and we cannot tolerate this. We are with you teammate.”
Players from England’s women’s team, who lost the final against Spain, issued a statement saying: “Abuse is abuse and we have all seen the truth. The behaviour of those who think they are invincible must not be tolerated and people shouldn’t need convincing to take action.”
Miquel Iceta, Spain’s culture and sports minister, told the El País newspaper: “I regret to say that in a country that the whole world admires as a champion of rights and freedoms, this episode has brought back an image of a macho Spain in which women are not respected . . . We have taken a step backwards.”
Referring to the complaint the government has filed against Rubiales, he said “this is the end” for him. “It cannot go on like this. It cannot happen that in the face of unacceptable facts there is no reaction from either the president or the assembly of the football federation. Therefore, it is over.”
