Spanish women’s team refuse to play until football boss Luis Rubiales is removed
- Rubiales has declined to quit over kissing Jenni Hermoso on the lips after Spain’s Women’s World Cup victory, fuelling anger among players and MPs
- 56 members of the Spain national team say they will not play any matches for the country while Rubiales remains in his job
Dozens of members of the Spanish Women’s national team said on Friday they would not play any matches for the country until football federation chief Luis Rubiales has been removed from his job in a scandal over kissing player Jenni Hermoso on the lips after Spain’s World Cup victory.
Rubiales refused to quit earlier on Friday, fuelling anger among players and government ministers who decried his actions as unacceptable misogynist behaviour.
A total of 56 players, including Hermoso and all of the cup-winning 23-strong side, signed a joint statement sent via their Futpro union demanding the removal of the federation leadership.
The government cannot sack Rubiales, who is head of the independent Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF). But it will seek to suspend him using a legal procedure before a sports tribunal, the head of the state-run sports council, Victor Francos, told reporters.
“We want all this to be a ‘Me Too’ of Spanish soccer,” Francos said.
Rubiales had been widely expected to stand down at an emergency meeting of the federation on Friday, but instead he said he refused to be forced out and complained that “false feminists” were “trying to kill me”.
