Luis Rubiales ‘kissgate’ scandal: Spanish prosecutors to seek two-and-a-half-year prison sentence over World Cup kiss

Spanish FA president Luis Rubiales kisses Jenni Hermoso.

A Spanish prosecutor is seeking a prison sentence of two-and-a-half years for former football federation boss Luis Rubiales regarding his unsolicited kiss on women’s representative Jenni Hermoso after they won the World Cup.

The story made global headlines and instigated a debate about sexism.

Reuters is reporting the news on the basis of seeing a court document. According to the report, the Spanish prosecutor also wanted Rubiales to pay Jenni Hermoso €100,000 ($180,360) in compensation if he is convicted at trial

A restraining order has also been requested, barring Rubiales from coming within 200 metres of Hermoso and from communicating with her for the next seven-and-a-half years.

Rubiales is unlikely to go to prison if convicted and sentenced as requested.

Spain’s criminal code allows judges to suspend jail terms of under two years.

Rubiales is also facing a corruption probe.

Last week Rubiales said he will return to Spain to face a judicial probe into the business deal to hold the Spanish Super Cup in Saudi Arabia, court officials said.

Rubiales was in the Dominican Republic when police raided a property belonging to him in Granada and the offices of the Spanish Football Federation in Madrid on Wednesday in a corruption and money laundering investigation. Officers made seven arrests. Rubiales was identified as one of five additional individuals put under investigation.

A court official told The Associated Press that Rubiales’ lawyer informed a Madrid-based court in the hours after the raids that he was willing to cooperate with authorities and had plans to fly home on April 6, but that he would be willing to come sooner if requested by a judge.

Rubiales’ lawyer included a copy of his plane ticket to fly back from the Dominican Republic. The court official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the case.

No arrest warrant has been issued by the court for Rubiales or any other person of interest in the case.

The office for Spain’s state prosecutors said 11 premises were raided for documents on Wednesday.

During his time as president of Spanish soccer, Rubiales overhauled the format of the Spanish Super Cup in 2020, creating a four-team mini tournament and moving the competition to Saudi Arabia as part of a deal that was reportedly worth 40 million euros (then $42 million) per tournament for the federation.

Prosecutors opened a probe of that deal in 2022 following leaked audio between Rubiales and then-Barcelona player Gerard Piqué regarding millions of dollars in commissions. Piqué's sports entertainment company Kosmos was involved in the deal with the federation and Saudi Arabia.

A company official told the AP that no employee of Kosmos has been detained or placed under investigation and no property of the company has been raided.

- With AP