{"id":325567,"date":"2023-08-23T21:09:54","date_gmt":"2023-08-23T21:09:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=325567"},"modified":"2023-08-23T21:59:04","modified_gmt":"2023-08-23T21:59:04","slug":"no-one-can-defend-spain-boss-after-new-footage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=325567","title":{"rendered":"'No one can defend' Spain boss after new footage"},"content":{"rendered":"

The president of the Spanish government's High Council of Sport (CSD) says he will take action against Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) president Luis Rubiales<\/a> if the football body fails to do so.<\/p>\n

RFEF called an extraordinary general assembly this week which was expected to deal with the fallout of Rubiales giving Spain<\/a> star Jennifer Hermoso an unwanted kiss on the lips during the medal presentation ceremony after Spain's Women's World Cup final win over England.<\/a><\/p>\n

However, the incident doesn't appear on the order of the day for the assembly that was released by the RFEF.<\/p>\n

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Speaking to the "El Larguero" program on Spanish outlet Cadena SER, CSD president Victor Francos said the council is willing to get involved after receiving three formal complaints about Rubiales' actions.<\/p>\n

\"Spain<\/p>\n

"We have been very clear with RFEF on the need to open the procedures established by the Sports Law," Francos said. "We could not pass by not opening those internal disciplinary proceedings.<\/p>\n

"From there, we are going to wait for the case to be resolved urgently, which is very limited with two people involved and there is not much to investigate."<\/p>\n

The CSD is an autonomous decision-making body of the Spanish government's Ministry of Culture and Sport and has the potential power to demand the removal of Rubiales, but do so the body needs to follow a series of required steps, including having an external complaint filed against him and the case having to be heard in front of a tribunal.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Miguel \u00c1ngel Gal\u00e1n, president of the National Training Center of Football Managers, has already presented a complaint about the unwanted kiss to both the CSD and the RFEF Ethics and Integrity Committee, which have been received and accepted.<\/p>\n

In a statement announcing the extraordinary general assembly, RFEF said it has opened "the internal Federation processes in relation to integrity".<\/p>\n

In the immediate uproar over the kiss, the federation released a statement in the name of Hermoso in which she downplayed the incident. Later, a local media report by sports website Relevo.com said that the federation had coerced her to making the statement. The federation has denied this to The AP.<\/p>\n

Relevo.com also reported that Rubiales asked for Hermoso to appear on the video in which he apologised for kissing her, only for her to refuse. It said captain Ivana Andr\u00e9s also was asked to participate but likewise refused. Relevo said people travelling with the Spanish delegation back to Madrid also saw coach Jorge Vilda try to convince Hermoso\u2019s family for her to appear in the video.<\/p>\n

For the head of Spain\u2019s top sports authority, Hermoso should not be made the focus of the incident.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Hermoso) can decide to speak out or not, and whatever she does she will be doing the right thing, because above all we cannot put the responsibility for this on her,\u201d said V\u00edctor Francos, Spain's secretary of state for sports and president of Spain\u2019s Higher Council for Sports.<\/p>\n

Francos says that Rubiales' conduct has damaged the country\u2019s image \u2014 just as it tries to win a joint bid to host the 2030 men\u2019s World Cup.<\/p>\n

\u201cSpanish sports did not offer a good image as far as its leaders were concerned,\u201d Francos told The Associated Press in a telephone interview from Madrid.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/MichaelEmilio_\/status\/1693968909118885955?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a><\/p>\n

Rubiales has also become a national embarrassment for having grabbed his crotch in a victory gesture following the final in Sydney.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe gesture of grabbing his testicles in the tribune is a gesture that no one can defend,\u201d Francos said. \u201cThings have happened that should not have happened. As president of the Higher Council for Sports, I can\u2019t deny that this generates a bad image.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spain, along with Portugal and Morocco, is trying to secure a bid to host FIFA\u2019s 2030 World Cup. Ukraine could also join in.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone knows that the attitude (Rubiales) had that day is unacceptable,\u201d said Francos. "We will have to see if he is the right public face\u201d to lead this bid for Spain.<\/p>\n

After an unconvincing apology offered by Rubiales on Monday, Spain\u2019s acting Prime Minister Pedro S\u00e1nchez urged him to \u201ccontinue taking steps\u201d toward being held accountable.<\/p>\n

The federation has launched an internal investigation into whether Rubiales breached the federation\u2019s protocol against sexism. That protocol establishes \u201cforced kissing\u201d as a punishable act.<\/p>\n

The Higher Council for Sports has the power to refer possible infractions to Spain\u2019s administrative court for sports. Rubiales could face being declared unfit to hold his office by the court.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Francos said that the process must run its course.<\/p>\n

\u201cSports federations are private entities, they operate with absolute autonomy,\u201d Francos said. \u201cIn a case like this, we can\u2019t remove the president of the football federation even if we wanted to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also Wednesday, the coach of Spain\u2019s champions was facing scrutiny after footage emerged showing him touching the chest area of a female assistant while celebrating the only goal of the final.<\/p>\n

In a video of Spain\u2019s coaching staff celebrating the goal, Vilda turns to hug three of his assistants \u2014 a woman and two men. As he turns to look back at the field, his hand makes contact with the chest of the woman, who was wearing a coat. His other hand was touching a male assistant.<\/p>\n

The federation did not immediately respond to a request for comment by the The AP.<\/p>\n

Vilda led Spain to victory less than a year after 15 players said they were renouncing the team unless major changes were made by its coach to improve the team\u2019s performance and its results. No accusations of improper conduct have been known to be made against Vilda. Three players returned to the team for the Women's World Cup.<\/p>\n

*Additional reporting by AP\ufeff<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The president of the Spanish government's High Council of Sport (CSD) says he will take action against Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) president Luis Rubiales if […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":324909,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325567"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=325567"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325567\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":325574,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325567\/revisions\/325574"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/324909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=325567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=325567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=325567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}