Spanish football boss refuses to resign over kiss scandal

The Star

Royal Spanish Football Federation president Luis Rubiales refused to quit on Friday (Aug 25) for kissing World Cup star Jenni Hermoso on the lips after Spain's Women’s World Cup victory.  WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news SUBSCRIBE: https://cutt.ly/TheStar LIKE: https://fb.com/TheStarOnline

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00:00 Spanish soccer boss Luis Rubiales has refused to quit for kissing World Cup star Jenny Hermoso

00:06 on the lips after Spain's World Cup victory. It's fuelled anger among players and government

00:11 ministers who branded his actions as unacceptable macho behaviour. Speaking at an emergency meeting

00:18 of the Royal Spanish Football Federation on Friday, Rubiales complained what he called

00:22 "false feminists" were "trying to kill me". He described the kiss as a "little peck".

00:28 It was, he said, "spontaneous and consensual" and he repeatedly said he would not resign,

00:33 drawing applause from the predominantly male audience.

00:36 Criticism of Rubiales' behaviour has built throughout the week. The incident occurred

00:46 while the players were being handed their medals after they beat England 1-0 in the

00:50 World Cup final in Australia. As players filed past, Rubiales grabbed Hermoso by the head

00:56 and planted a kiss on her mouth. The government confirmed on Friday it will take the incident

01:01 before a sport tribunal, where, if it can be proven the kiss was non-consensual, he could

01:06 be tried under a sexual violence law introduced by the ruling Socialists last year. Acting Labour

01:13 Minister Yolanda Díaz condemned Rubiales' speech, saying that "impunity for macho actions is over".

01:20 FIFA opened disciplinary procedures against him on Thursday after Hermoso said in a statement

01:25 her union was working to defend her interests and that such acts should "never go unpunished".

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