The president of the Spanish Football Federation is set to resign amid growing criticism for his behavior during celebrations of the country’s Women’s World Cup victory, according to El País.
Luis Rubiales, president of the Spanish Football Federation since 2018, informed colleagues on Thursday that he will step down when the federation holds its shareholders meeting on Friday, according to news reports.
Players, politicians and the media spent a week urging Rubiales after his team won the World Cup final on August 20 after grabbing Jennifer Hermoso’s head and kissing her Si resigned. He also faced backlash for grabbing his own testicles during a match. Celebrating the goal in the director’s box, he stood next to Queen Letizia of Spain and one of her daughters.
Several professional clubs issued statements on Thursday saying Rubiales should step down, including Atletico Madrid, one of Spain’s strongest clubs.
The union representing Hermoso called the actions “unacceptable,” while FIFA – the sport’s global governing body – Open Disciplinary action against Rubiales.
Spain’s acting prime minister, Pedro Sanchez, joined the criticism earlier this week, saying it showed the country was a long way from achieving equality, while the Spanish women’s football league submit complaint. American star player Megan Rapinoe said the incident made her “think about how much pain we have to endure” and that the lewd gestures showed “there’s such a deep level of misogyny and sexism in this league and that man.” discriminate”.
The scandal is the latest controversy over equality in sport as women’s football continues to suffer from a large gender pay gap and funding shortfalls, with broadcast rights and sponsorship lagging behind that of men’s.
The Women’s World Cup has drawn intense scrutiny for the sport’s leaders after FIFA president Gianni Infantino took power explain The best female athlete in the world if”convince us men“First.
Rubiales initially called the kissing issue “nonsense,” but later posted a video response in which he said he needed to apologize because people outside the team didn’t understand that “there was no malice on either side of the kiss.” .
Rubiales has already been criticized for his handling of complaints that led to a boycott of the World Cup by some of Spain’s female star players who refused to play for them because of coach Jorge Verda’s management style.
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