Luis Rubiales reportedly exerted pressure on a press officer of the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) to claim that Jenni Hermoso had authorised statements absolving him of wrongdoing.
Following the controversial kiss Rubiales gave Hermoso after Spain’s Women’s World Cup final victory against England, the RFEF released a statement asserting that the star player had given her consent to the then-RFEF president.
According to El Confidencial, Rubiales and his father allegedly pressured the head of the Spain women’s team’s press office to provide written confirmation that Hermoso had indeed authorised the release of the statements that downplayed the controversy.
It is claimed that this testimony from Patricia Perez, who heads the communications department, was subsequently used by the RFEF’s Integrity Department to issue a favourable ruling for Rubiales.
Rubiales initially resisted calls to resign from his position and was suspended by FIFA for 90 days before eventually stepping down.
Perez was reportedly summoned to a meeting that included Rubiales, his father, and other members of the RFEF and its Integrity Department.
She is reported to have said that “since the press was asking about the kiss, it was proposed by the Communication Department to release some statements about it, and once approved by [Hermoso], they were sent to the media”.
However, Hermoso had said on an Instagram Live after the final that she did not like Rubiales’ actions and later clarified in a statement of her own: “I feel obliged to report that Mr. Rubiales’ words explaining the unfortunate incident are categorically false and part of the manipulative culture that he himself has generated. The kiss was never consensual.”
She criticised the RFEF once more, as well as the new coach, Montse Tome, for maintaining that they are safeguarding her by not including the star player in the national team’s lineup for this month.