Hermoso Jenni, who was kissed in a public by Spain’s former football chief, Luis Rubiales has told the court that the kiss he gave her at the 2023 World Cup has left with a bad memory and jeopardized one of the happiest days of her life.
The Spanish footballer was the first witness in Rubiales’ trial over the kiss, where he is accused of sexual assault and coercion.
She told the court in Madrid: “My boss was kissing me, and this shouldn’t happen in any social or work setting.”
Rubiales sparked major controversy when he kissed the female footballer on the lips during the medal ceremony for the side’s World Cup victory in Australia, triggering protests and calls for his resignation.
He however, denies any wrongdoing.
Hermoso told the court that she had never given permission to be kissed and felt “disrespected” as a woman.
“I greeted the queen, I greeted her daughter. The next thing was meeting Rubiales,” Hermoso said and the then-president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation hugged her in celebration.
“The next thing he did was to grab me by the ears and kiss me on the mouth. I didn’t hear or understand anything,” she said.
She went on: “A kiss on the lips is only given when I decide so.
“No one came to ask me how I was after the kiss,” she told the trial on Monday. The footballer said she felt “completely abandoned by the federation.”
Read also: Ex-Spain Football Chief Luis Rubiales faces trial over unsolicited kiss
“There was no place for me to be crying or lying in the corner of the dressing room.”
The other players initially made fun of the incident before one, Irene Paredes, intervened to say: “Stop, this is serious.”
Hermoso said she was pulled aside soon after the kiss and asked to consent to a statement minimising the incident, which she refused to do.
She added that Rubiales asked her to record a video with him on the flight home because he was being accused of assault on social media.
“I said no, that I was not going to do anything, that I was not the cause of this.”
She said people were huddled around Rubiales during the flight, and that she saw his daughters crying. The footballer said her life had been “on stand-by” until the trial began on Monday.
She said she had received death threats that prompted her to leave Madrid with her family. She now plays club football in Mexico, as well as for Spain’s national team.
Prosecutors are calling for Rubiales, 47, to receive a one-year prison sentence for sexual assault.
