The president of the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), Luis Rubiales, expressed regret after the controversy caused by his gesture towards Jennifer Hermoso: after the victory of the Spanish team at the World Cup, he kissed the soccer player on the mouth. “In a moment of increasingly fusion, without any bad intention, without any bad faith, well it happened what happened,” he said in a video posted Monday August 21 on the social networks.
“Here we saw it as something natural, normal and, I repeat, without any bad intentions, but on the outside it seems that a commotion has occurred”, he regretted, before adding that “if there are people who have been hurt by this, [he must] apologize, there is nothing else to do”. Questioned Monday morning by Spanish public radio, the Spanish Minister of Culture and Sports, Miquel Iceta, considered this act “unacceptable” and asked the president of the RFEF for “explanations” and “apologies”.
During the awards ceremony, after Spain beat England (1-0) in the World Cup final in Australia and New Zealand, Luis Rubiales congratulated the world champions and kissed player Jennifer Hermoso on the mouth. The images of the scene, which went around the world, sparked controversy.
“It’s a spontaneous celebration that comes out like that, the two are very good friends,” Federation sources told AFP on Sunday, while the player herself seemed to take it as a joke.
“It was a completely spontaneous mutual gesture, due to the immense joy of winning a World Cup. The President and I have a great relationship, his behavior with all of us has been excellent and it was a natural gesture of affection and gratitude,” Jennifer Hermoso said in a statement provided by RFEF. “We won a World Cup and we are not going to get distracted from the main thing,” added the player.
Luis Rubiales also regretted that this controversy had “tarnished” the celebration of “the greatest success of [their] history in women’s football”.
