Ex-Spanish football chief Luis Rubiales says Jenni Hermoso DID consent to his infamous World Cup kiss after he asked if it was okay

Former Spanish football chief Luis Rubiales has told a court that he was ‘totally sure’ that player Jenni Hermoso consented to him kissing her on the lips after her team won the World Cup.

Rubiales is accused of sexual assault and coercion for allegedly trying to downplay the kiss that sparked outrage in Spain and around the world and marred the celebrations of the team’s first World Cup title.

Hermoso earlier told the court that she ‘never’ agreed to the kiss, that she had felt ‘disrespected’ by it and that it ‘stained one of the happiest days of my life.’

Rubiales, who was the head of the Spanish Football Association at the time of the 2023 tournament in Australia, resigned in disgrace later that year.

Prosecutors are seeking two and a half years in prison against Rubiales for sexual assault for the forced kiss and allegedly coercing Hermoso to downplay the incident.

‘She squeezed me very tightly under my armpits, she lifted me, and when I came down I asked her if I can give you a kiss, and she said ‘OK’, that’s what happened,’ he said.

‘What happened had no importance neither for me nor for her,’ Rubiales added during his highly anticipated testimony, describing the kiss as ‘an act of affection’.

He said the kiss was to mark a unique moment because ‘you don’t win a World Cup every day,’ adding: ‘Even when I see my daughters I don’t kiss them, but at New Year’s Eve we kiss each other.’