Who is Luis Rubiales – the Spanish FA boss at the centre of the World Cup kissing row?
Instead of celebrating its Women’s World Cup triumph, Spanish football has been overshadowed by the actions of one of its most powerful men.
Luis Rubiales, the president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), has been suspended by FIFA for 90 days after grabbing and kissing player Jenni Hermoso after the final in Sydney on 20 August.
She says that in “no moment” did she consent to the kiss.
He has remained defiant in the face of mounting criticism, saying he’s the subject of a “witch hunt” by “false feminists”.
In an extraordinary speech last week, the 46-year-old said: “Do you really think I deserve this hunt? People demanding my resignation? Is this so serious for me to resign, having done the best management of Spanish football?”
He asked: “Do you think I need to resign?” – before going on to say five times that he would not.
As his fate hangs in the balance ahead of an “extraordinary and urgent” meeting of the football federation later today, Sky News looks at his rise to the top of Spanish football – and the controversies along the way.
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Spain FA boss: ‘I’m not going to quit’
Late start to footballing career
Luis Rubiales was born on the Spanish Canary Islands in 1977 and grew up in the southern province of Granada.
It wasn’t until the early 2000s and his late 20s that his football career took off.
As a defender, he played mainly in Spain’s second division league for clubs such as Mallorca B, Lleida, Xerez and Levante.
Playing for Levante in February 2007
During his time at Levante, they were promoted to La Liga, with Mr Rubiales making 53 appearances for them between 2004 and 2008.
The first minor controversy of his career also came while he was there, leading his fellow players out on strike over unpaid wages.
At the age of 32, in 2009, he signed a one-year deal to move to Scotland and play for the Hamilton Accies – but left after just two weeks and retired back to Spain.
Union chief
The following year he became the president of the Association of Spanish Footballers (AFE) union.
While his time there was free of scandal, since the World Cup kissing row emerged, the union’s then-marketing and commercial director, Tamara Ramos, has claimed she quit the AFE having been publicly humiliated by Rubiales on several occasions.
The Spanish federation has accused Ms Ramos of “taking advantage of the current media climate”.
Last year Mr Rubiales insisted there is a “campaign to discredit him”.
He claimed that he “cannot guarantee one day they will put a bag of cocaine in the boot of my car” – without making clear who he was referring to.
Spanish FA boss
Mr Rubiales remained president of the union until November 2017 when he took his current job as head of the football federation. He had already been on the board of directors there for six years.
The federation runs Spain’s men’s and women’s national football teams and its semi-professional and amateur leagues. It also organises the referees for La Liga.
A few weeks into the job, he made a big decision: firing Julen Lopetegui, the coach of the men’s team, just two days before their first match at the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
In June 2019
Mr Lopetegui had signed to join Real Madrid after the tournament, and Mr Rubiales accused him of being disloyal to his national team.
With a hastily appointed replacement, Spain failed to get beyond the final 16.
The following year, Mr Rubiales became vice president of UEFA.
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Spain’s World Cup kiss controversy explained
Read more:
Explainer: Who said what in the kiss row
Spanish FA boss accuses player he kissed of lying about it
FIFA opens disciplinary proceedings over World Cup kiss
That same year he was back in the headlines for expanding the Spanish Super Cup from two teams – the winners of La Liga and Copa del Rey – to four – including the runners up as well.
He also moved the competition to Saudi Arabia for $40m (£32m) a year. While the move was lucrative, it drew widespread criticism because of the country’s poor record on human and women’s rights.
A Spanish judge is still examining the contracts awarded for the cup, with accusations of a conflict of interest with former Barcelona star Gerard Pique’s company. Mr Rubiales strongly denies all the allegations.
In 2021, an architect tasked with renovating his Valencia home accused him of non-payment and assault.
Mr Rubiales was found not guilty of both charges against Yasmina Eid Macchet.
In May 2018
World Cup scandal could have cost him key ally
The current controversy over the World Cup kiss isn’t his first involvement with the Spanish women’s side.
When 15 players went on strike, citing their coach Jorge Vilda’s attitude to their “emotional and physical wellbeing”, Mr Rubiales was quick to back him.
Mr Vilda has stayed loyal to him until now, being quoted after Spain’s semi-final victory over Sweden as saying his support “means so much and will always stay with me”.
Mr Rubiales said in return on Friday: “Jorge Vilda, they wanted to do to you the same thing that they are doing to me now. We’ve been through a lot, but we’ve been together.”
Protesters outside the Spanish Football Federation in Las Rozas
Atletico Madrid players in support of Jenni Hermoso
When Mr Rubiales delivered his fiery speech to the RFEF’s general assembly last week in which he repeatedly said he would not resign, Mr Vilda applauded him.
Mr Vilda said at the weekend that the controversy was “real nonsense” that had “tarnished a well-deserved victory” – but also criticised Mr Rubiales’ “inappropriate behaviour”.
He did not resign, even as 11 members of Spain’s staff did.
Meanwhile, players, fans and women across Spain and beyond have made which side they are on abundantly clear.
World
‘Daylight robbery of land – sanctioned by Israeli authorities’: Inside ‘terrorised’ West Bank village
What’s unfolding in the Palestinian village of Ras al-Ayn is more than a land dispute – according to human rights groups, it is the systematic displacement of an entire community.
Activists on the ground report a surge in violence and intimidation by Israeli settlers aimed at driving Palestinian families from their homes.
Footage captured by Rachel Abramovitz, a member of the group Looking The Occupation In The Eye, shows activists trying to block settlers from seizing control of the village centre.
Palestinians say they are being forced off their land by intimidation
“They gradually invade the community and expand. The goal is to terrorise people, to make them flee,” Ms Abramovitz said.
Our visit comes as Israel said it would establish 22 new Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank – including new settlements and the legalisation of outposts already built without government authorisation.
The settler movement traces back to 1967, when Israel captured the West Bank, East Jerusalem, Gaza, and the Golan Heights during the Six-Day War.
Settlements began as small, often unofficial outposts. Over the decades, they’ve grown into towns and cities with state-provided infrastructure, roads, and security.
Today, 700,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, in communities considered illegal under international law – a designation Israel disputes.
Since the Hamas-led attacks on 7 October 2023 and Israel’s subsequent 19-month military bombardment of Gaza, violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank has escalated sharply.
According to the UN and human rights groups such as B’Tselem, the overwhelming number of these attacks are carried out with impunity, further pressuring Palestinians to flee.
Salaam Ka’abneh says they face daily assaults
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Nine of Gazan doctor’s children killed
Salaam Ka’abneh, a lifelong resident of the Bedouin village of Ras al-Ayn in the Jordan Valley, says his family has lived on the land for more than 50 years. He fears they could be forced to leave.
Mr Ka’abneh said: “About a year and four months ago, settlers cut off our access to water and grazing land. They also stole more than 2,000 sheep from us in the Tel Al-Auja compound. We face daily assaults, day and night.
“They terrorise our children and women, throwing stones, firing bullets, and creating chaos with their vehicles. We are under siege. We no longer have access to pasture or water, and our sheep remain caged.”
Footage from the area shows settlers driving freely through Palestinian communities, some armed.
While the Israeli army officially governs Area C of the West Bank, where Ras al-Ayn is located, human rights groups say settler violence almost always goes unchecked.
Under international law, an occupying power is obligated to protect civilians under its control. But Sarit Michaeli of B’Tselem, an Israeli human rights group, says Israel is failing to uphold its responsibility.
“Israel doesn’t hold settlers accountable. On the contrary – settlers know that if they act violently, they’ll receive support from all branches of the government. There’s full impunity. In fact, it’s more accurate to say settlers function as a branch of the government.
“It’s daylight robbery of land – sanctioned by Israeli authorities,” Michaeli continues.
“And it amounts to ethnic cleansing – displacing large parts of the Palestinian population to make the area available for Israeli use.”
To understand more, we travelled to a hilltop outpost occupied by settlers overlooking Salaam’s village. But we did not get far. Our car was quickly surrounded, and the atmosphere turned hostile.
Salaam Ka’abneh and his family has lived on the land for more than 50 years
It was clear: we were not welcome. We left with no answers but with a deeper understanding of the fear these Palestinian communities live with daily.
International pressure is growing. The British government recently imposed sanctions on several settlers, including Daniella Weiss.
Read more from Sky News:
Key events since 7 October Hamas-led attack
Hamas’ Gaza chief ‘eliminated’
Known as the ‘godmother’ of the settler movement, Weiss has been a key figure in expanding settlements across the West Bank.
“There will never be a Palestinian state between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean. Never,” Weiss declares. “We annex with facts on the ground. The goal is to block any possibility of a Palestinian state in the heartland of Israel.
“If Netanyahu wanted to stop me, he could.”
The Israeli government calls allegations of ethnic cleansing “baseless and without foundation”.
But human rights groups argue that what’s happening in the West Bank has gone far beyond creeping annexation.
Palestinian land is rapidly being consumed by settlements, military zones, and settler outposts – shrinking the space in which a future Palestinian state might one day exist.
You can watch a Sky News special programme on the conflict in Gaza on TV and mobile, at 9pm UK time, on Thursday.
World
US trade court blocks Donald Trump from imposing sweeping global tariffs – claiming he ‘exceeded his authority’
World
Trump doubles down on Putin criticism – as Russia offers Ukraine a date and location for peace talks
Donald Trump has doubled down on his criticism of Vladimir Putin – adding he will know soon if the Russian leader is just “tapping” him along.
The US president told reporters at the White House that he believed his counterpart in Moscow may be intentionally delaying ceasefire talks, while he also expressed disappointment at heavy Russian bombing over the weekend.
While Mr Trump has so far stopped short of imposing sanctions – to avoid, he says, “screwing up” negotiations – he warned his stance could change.
Ukraine Q&A: Are we any closer to war ending?
The president said: “We’re going to find out whether or not he’s tapping us along or not, and if he is, we’ll respond a little differently,” adding that he “can’t tell you” if Mr Putin wanted peace.
Donald Trump. Pic: Reuters
His comments in the Oval Office came minutes after Russia’s foreign minister announced that the Kremlin had offered Ukraine a second round of talks on 2 June in Istanbul.
Kyiv did not immediately respond to the proposal, which Sergei Lavrov said would see Moscow hand their proposals for a potential peace deal directly to Ukraine.
“We hope that all those who are sincerely, and not just in words, interested in the success of the peace process will support holding a new round of direct Russian-Ukrainian talks in Istanbul,” Mr Lavrov added.
Later on Wednesday, Ukraine’s defence minister Rustem Umerov said his government was “not against” further meetings, but called for Russia to deliver its memorandum to Kyiv beforehand.
Meanwhile, Mr Lavrov also hit out at Germany for agreeing to finance the production of long-range missiles in Ukraine, accusing Berlin of showing it is “already a participant in the war”.
However, German leader Friedrich Merz declined to say that his country would hand over the Taurus missiles that Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy – who was in Berlin on Wednesday – has long wanted.
Ukraine’s need for ammunition has become all the more urgent after Russia launched some of the largest aerial assaults of the war so far over the weekend.
Read more:
Would ‘smart’ missiles allow Ukraine to hit key bridge?
Lavrov accuses West of secrecy over strikes
Russia said it had downed 296 Ukrainian drones over 13 regions overnight, while Ukraine said it had struck several weapon production sites.
Kyiv, in turn, said Moscow had launched 88 drones and five ballistic missiles since Tuesday.
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