This is a verdict that will send shockwaves throughout the women’s game. Luis Rubiales, the Spanish Football Federation’s former president, has finally been found guilty of sexually assaulting Jenni Hermoso by kissing the forward on the lips after the country’s Women’s World Cup win in 2023.
Long before that night in Sydney, there were whispers about the treatment of women at the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF). The Rubiales case – and he will appeal the outcome – catapulted those concerns into the public eye.
The impunity with which he thought he could behave revealed much about the organisation’s culture.
To the casual English onlooker, who had just seen the Lionesses beaten 1-0, there must have been bewilderment at Rubiales’ conduct as it overshadowed what should have been the happiest occasion of Hermoso’s career.
What should not be overlooked, however, is that the English game cannot afford turn a blind eye. The conversation around sexism has to continue.
Since Rubiales’ assault, there have been two high-profile rows surrounding player-coach relationships in the top tiers of the English game. Related debates about consent and inappropriate behaviour have rightly followed.
Jonathan Morgan was eventually sacked in February 2024 by Sheffield United after details of a relationship with a player at a previous club emerged. A month later Leicester City sacked Willie Kirk due to allegations of a player-coach relationship. Both said the relationships had been consensual.
Many of the other issues affecting female Spanish footballers might have been particularly acute in Liga F, but they are universal.
At the beginning of the 2023-24 season – with the fallout from Rubiales’ kiss rumbling on – many of those players planned to go on strike. That was over pay concerns, with the minimum wage for the women’s league equivalent to just £13,700, compared to £156,000 in men’s football.
It spoke of a total disregard for female athletes – and that is far from unique to Spain. Nor does it exist in a bubble.
There are the extreme cases, and then there are the more minor but still egregious decisions which persistently undermine women’s professionalism and dignity – take Arsenal Women being booted out of the Emirates for a Champions League match against Bayern Munich because of a clash with the men’s team, and made to play at Meadow Park instead.
Look at Manchester United Women having to train in portable buildings because there was no room for them at Carrington, where the men’s team took precedent.
It goes without saying that these examples do not carry the same gravity but they inform a culture where female footballers – and women more generally – are simply not taken seriously.
The hope now is that Hermoso will find some peace and vindication in the Rubiales verdict, though the trial was never entirely about one man.
Jorge Vilda, manager of Spain at the time of their World Cup victory, also faced allegations – alongside two other RFEF officials Albert Luque and Ruben Rivera, who stood trial, accused of pressuring Hermoso to retract her claims that the kiss was non-consensual. All three were cleared of the charges.
The bravery of Spain Women’s national team has the potential to change the game but it is an ongoing battle shared by female players everywhere. That may be even more seismic than what they have achieved on the pitch.
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