The Royal Federation of Spanish Football fired coach Jorge Vilda for defending RFEF President Luis Rubiales’ alleged non-consensual kiss of women’s national team player, Jenni Hermoso.
Vilda was dismissed on Sept. 5 because he supported Rubiales’ refusal to resign in his Aug. 25 speech, five days after the kiss. Quickly after Vilda’s termination, the RFEF named former assistant coach Montse Tomé as his replacement. This made her the first woman ever to head this team.
While Rubiales claimed consent was given prior to the kiss, Hermoso contradicted this in a statement posted to her social media later that day.
“I want to reiterate that I did not like what happened,” Hermoso said in the statement. “I felt vulnerable and was a victim of assault, what happened was sexist, impulsive, out of place and non-consensual.”
The International Federation of Association Football issued Rubiales a 90-day suspension and is pending a full investigation following the strike of Hermoso and 23 other teammates.
“After everything that happened during the delivery of medals of the Women’s World Cup, we want to state that all the players who sign this letter will not return to a call for the National Team if the current leaders continue,” the statement said.
Following this statement, Rubialas announced his resignation on Sunday, Sept. 10.
“Today, I notified the interim president at 9:30 p.m., Mr. Pedro Rocha, that I have resigned as President of RFEF,” Rubiales said in a post on Twitter. “I have also let him know that I have also resigned [from] my position in [the Union of European Football Association], so that my Vice-presidency position can be filled.”
