His unsolicited kiss of a player made waves – but Spain’s football association boss Rubiales refuses to resign. The national sports authority has now applied for his suspension. And the pressure is also growing from other quarters.
The highest Spanish sports authority CSD has intervened in the Luis Rubiales case: After the refused resignation, they applied to the Tad Sports Court for the suspension of the Spanish Football Association boss.
The authority will initiate this on Friday, said CSD boss Víctor Francos at a press conference in Tarragona in northeastern Spain. “Today we will file a complaint with the Tad so that they can assess whether there has been serious misconduct,” Francos said. He asked the Sports Court to meet on Monday.
Rubiales kissed the player Jennifer Hermoso on the mouth without being asked at the award ceremony for the Spanish soccer world champions in Australia last Sunday. The official then came under increasing pressure, and many in Spain had called for his resignation.
Rubiales presents himself as a victim
The world association FIFA had initiated disciplinary proceedings against the 46-year-old. Rubiales’ resignation was therefore expected at a crisis meeting of the football association on Friday. Surprisingly, however, he refused this step. In his speech, which was heavily criticized by politicians and athletes in Spain, Rubiales presented himself as a victim of a hunt.
The sports authority accuses Rubiale of “very serious” misconduct. According to Article 62 of the Sports Act, this entitles the CSD to suspend Rubiales as soon as the sports court accepts the complaint for examination, as the newspaper “AS” wrote.
The national players are also putting pressure on the head of the football association: many of them said they would not play again until Rubiales was no longer in office. 56 players signed a corresponding declaration.