Amid political, social and media pressure, Luis Rubiales has informed his team that he will hand in his resignation as president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) this Friday. His non-consensual kiss on Jennifer Hermoso and his behavior in the box during celebrations of Spain’s victory in Australia and New Zealand at the Women’s World Cup ultimately cost him the post. The decision was made in the last hours of this afternoon. The Granada leader reunited with his team he trusted and was urged by several territories’ presidents to opt for a voluntary release at the risk of disqualification from the Higher Sports Council.
The resignation will be formalized at the Federal Assembly, which will meet this Friday for an extraordinary convocation. There, the current president of the association wanted to gather the greatest possible support, take stock of his leadership in women’s football and celebrate the successes of recent years.
Rubiales’ first intention was not to resign but the back-to-back criticism and loss of support in the football world since the events at Australia’s national stadium saw him resign. The pressure has not stopped growing in the last few hours. The resignation request of Yolanda Díaz, acting vice-president of the government, and the statements of various ministers; the three complaints received by the Higher Sports Council (CSD); Describing Pedro Sánchez as “unacceptable” for his behavior during the celebrations with the players in Sydney; and Jennifer Hermoso’s statement through the Futpro union calling for violent action after the incident undermined the President’s opposition
The disciplinary file opened by FIFA this Thursday was the latest setback that eventually led Rubiales to resign from the presidency of Spanish football, which he had held since May 2018. Either he left or they fired him: That was the message from another government source. The CSD was determined to submit the above complaints to the Sports Administrative Court, as it was convinced that Rubiales’ behavior had violated the Sports Code in terms of sexual violence.
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