FIFA suspends controversial Spanish football chief Luis Rubiales

By Alyssa McMurtry

OVIEDO, Spain (AA) – FIFA’s Disciplinary Committee announced on Saturday that it was provisionally suspending the controversial head of Spain’s football federation, Luis Rubiales.

World football’s governing body also ordered Rubiales and Spain’s football federation “to refrain from contacting the professional player of the Spanish national team Ms. Jennifer Hermoso and her close environment" either directly or through third parties.

Rubiales is at the center of one of the biggest sporting scandals in Spanish history. On Sunday, after the women’s team won the FIFA World Cup for the first time, he kissed one of the players on the lips.

Instead of apologizing for his inappropriate behavior, Rubiales and the football federation have gone on the offensive – accusing the player he kissed, Hermoso, of lying; delivering a scathing rant where he slammed feminism, shouting repeatedly that “he will not quit”; and threatening to take legal action against 80 of Spain’s top female players who announced they will go on strike until leadership changes.

“I felt vulnerable and a victim of an impulse-driven, sexist, out of place act without any consent on my part. Simply put I was not respected,” Hermoso wrote in response.

She also accused Rubiales of lying about what happened and pressuring and manipulating her and her teammates to back his version of events.

The suspension is effective Saturday and will last for an initial period of 90 days while disciplinary proceedings against him are reviewed, according to a FIFA statement.

The suspension means Rubiales will be barred from all football-related activities at the national and international level.

In parallel, Spain’s government is also trying to sanction Rubiales and oust him from his post.