FIFA provisionally suspend Spanish football president Rubiales

Agency :
FIFA’s Disciplinary Committee has provisionally suspended Spanish soccer federation (RFEF) head Luis Rubiales for 90 days, it said on Saturday, amid uproar after he grabbed player Jenni Hermoso’s head and kissed her on the lips after Spain’s victory at the Women’s World Cup.

Rubiales had been expected to announce his resignation on Friday but instead said he would not step down, and the RFEF threatened legal action to defend him after Hermoso said she did not consent to the kiss he gave her.

“The chairman of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee… has decided today to provisionally suspend Mr Luis Rubiales from all football-related activities at national and international level,” FIFA said in a statement.

Its disciplinary committee also ordered Rubiales and RFEF officials and employees alike to refrain from contacting or attempting to contact Hermoso or those around her.

The Spanish national team that won the World Cup as well as several other players have said they would not play international matches while Rubiales remains head of the federation.

“The decision adopted by the chairman of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee has been communicated today to Mr Luis Rubiales, the RFEF and (European soccer body) UEFA for due compliance.”

The committee said it would not provide any further information on the disciplinary proceedings until a final decision was taken.

There was no immediate reaction from the RFEF. Reuters has contacted UEFA, where Rubiales is a vice president, for comment.

In a statement issued in the early hours of Saturday, the Spanish federation said it would show there have been lies told about what happened by Hermoso or people speaking for her.

It said the Royal Spanish Football Federation would take appropriate legal action to defend Rubiales’ honour, but did not say what the action would consist of.

In the same statement, Hermoso denied Rubiales’ contention that the kiss he gave her was consensual, writing, “I want to clarify that, as was seen in the images, at no time did I consent to the kiss he gave me and, of course, in no case did I seek to lift the president”.