FIFA announced on Thursday that its disciplinary committee has opened up proceedings against Royal Spanish Football Federation president Luis Rubiales after he forcibly kissed Jennifer Hermoso during the trophy ceremony at the Women's World Cup final last Sunday.
The committee said it also informed Rubiales of the proceedings on Thursday for violating article 13, paragraphs 1 and 2 of the FIFA disciplinary code. That section of the code forbids people from "violating the basic rules of decent conduct" and "insulting a natural or legal person in any way, especially by using offensive gestures, signs or language," among other things.
Rubiales initially described criticism of his actions as "idiocy," and though he issued an apology on Monday, it was deemed insufficient by many. He has now earned the condemnation of high-profile people in the soccer world as well as politicians in Spain and faces calls to resign. The federation will convene an extraordinary general assembly on Friday, where the expectation is that Rubiales could be removed from his position.
Rubiales reportedly has no plans to step down, per The Athletic. He anticipates that federation officials will back him during the meeting.
For her part, Hermoso has enlisted her agency TMJ as well as FUTPRO, a union representing women soccer players in Spain, to "defend her interests" in the matter as well as serve as her spokespeople. This statement clarifies where Hermoso's comments, if any, will come from after the federation reportedly issued a comment without her involvement on Sunday claiming the incident was a "mutual gesture." Previously, Hermoso's only public comment on the kiss was in a post-match Instagram live in which she said, "Eh...yeah, I did not enjoy that."
