The president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), Luis Rubiales, is in the middle of the controversy for kissing the player Jenni Hermoso on the mouth in the delivery of the medals after beating England in the final of the World Cup in Women’s soccer played in Australia and New Zealand. Rubiales acknowledged this Monday that “surely” he was wrong to kiss the Madrid woman, “a moment of maximum effusiveness” and “without any bad faith”, although he insisted that he must “learn and understand that when you are president you have to be more careful “.
Nevertheless. In the last 24 hours, a video with the RFEF president as the protagonist has gone viral on social networks, again, and not in an exemplary manner. The Spanish football leader behaved in the box outside of any protocol. Due to the euphoria of the moment, Rubiales effusively celebrated the achievement of the World Cup with effusive gestures and shouts. But what he is receiving the most criticism is for the obscene gesture of putting his hand to his crotch to celebrate the victory with the members of the Spanish team on the stadium grass. The inappropriate gesture has provoked the reaction of thousands of users, even more so, due to the fact that he is next to Queen Letizia and Infanta Sofía (a minor) and other FIFA personalities.
In this sense. The president of League F, Beatriz Álvarez, has assured this Monday that she “feels ashamed” of the image that Spanish football is giving due to “the unacceptable behavior” of the president of the RFEF in the World Cup final and demands the performance of the Government.
“I feel ashamed of the world image that Spanish football is giving because of the unacceptable behavior of the president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation. I am receiving countless calls and messages from footballers, coaches, leaders and colleagues, even from other world leagues, who are shocked by what happened,” he says. In his opinion, “it is not just about the fact of the kiss” to Jenni Hermoso during the medal ceremony, “but about the general behavior in the authorities’ box, on the grass, in the locker room, or when a few hours later he has dared to publicly insult all the people who criticized such disgusting attitude”.
For their part, from the Alliance Against the Erasure of Women they have indicated that “it seems that this man has some behavioral problems, such as the one that the videos have collected in the box, where he flaunts the most rancid machismo. Those who hold positions of representation are obliged to be exemplary”, they added. “We trust that this victory will reinforce the presence of women in the governing bodies of the Federation and in the technical teams of women’s football,” they concluded, while congratulating the champions.
