Spanish soccer has been affected by the ‘kiss’ controversy© AFP
The Spanish soccer federation on Tuesday despatched its “most honest apologies” for the “completely unacceptable behaviour” of suspended president Luis Rubiales over his forcible kiss on a Girls’s World Cup participant. The RFEF provided its “most honest apologies… for the completely unacceptable behaviour of its highest institutional consultant throughout the remaining of the FIFA Girls’s World Cup 2023 and within the moments that adopted”, it stated in an announcement. Rubiales, 46, sparked worldwide outrage when he forcibly kissed Spain midfielder Jenni Hermoso throughout the medal ceremony after Spain defeated England to win the Girls’s World Cup in Sydney on August 20. He has been suspended by FIFA pending an investigation however has refused to resign, defending the kiss as “only a peck” which he claimed was consensual.
However Hermoso stated it was not and it had left her feeling just like the “sufferer of an assault”.
“The harm brought on to Spanish soccer, to Spanish sport, to Spanish society and to the values of soccer and sport as a complete has been huge,” the RFEF stated in extending the apology to FIFA, UEFA “and particularly the gamers of the Spanish nationwide ladies’s staff”.
Rubiales’ statements after the incident have been “inappropriate and meaningless” and “not (the place) of the RFEF” which was “saddened and embarrassed” by the misery that they had brought on.
The federation, which initially got here beneath fireplace for not calling for Rubiales’ resignation till eight days after the incident, stated it had opened an investigation into his actions so as “to make sure that such behaviour just isn’t repeated”.
It had additionally dedicated to conducting “an intensive evaluation of all insurance policies and procedures of the organisation”, pledging to current “within the coming days a complete set of actions to enhance the governance of the Spanish soccer federation and to restore, so far as attainable, the harm brought on”.
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