Spain men’s football coach Luis De la Fuente asked “forgiveness” on Friday for applauding Luis Rubiales’ speech in which he claimed his kiss to Jenni Hermoso was “consensual” and denounced “false feminism “.
“I received harsh criticism,” he admitted after applauding last Friday, during an extraordinary general assembly, the speech of the president of the Federation, since suspended.
They “are totally deserved. I regret it, I understand it and I ask forgiveness”, affirmed Luis De la Fuente in a press conference, acknowledging to be “uncomfortable”.
“I came to the assembly convinced that we were going to attend the farewell of a president and it was quite the opposite,” he said, saying he was “in shock” when Rubiales said that he would not resign while his departure had been announced since the day before by all the Spanish media.
“I was not up to it (…) When I saw myself again afterwards… I did not recognize myself”, said De la Fuente again, while most of the questions from the press were about the case of the forced kiss, during a press conference organized before two qualifying matches for Euro-2024.
Luis Rubiales, 46, sparked international outrage when he kissed on the mouth and surprised No.10 Jenni Hermoso during the Women’s World Cup medal ceremony in Sydney on August 20.
A few days later, despite the rain of condemnations and calls to leave, the head of the federation announced that he was not going to resign for “a little kiss”, denouncing “a false feminism” and arguing that he had obtained the permission of the player before kissing her.
A version denied by Hermoso who said he felt “victim of aggression”.
FIFA, world football’s governing body, has provisionally suspended Rubiales for 90 days. Following this suspension, De la Fuente issued a statement criticizing the “inappropriate” and “inappropriate” behavior of Luis Rubiales.
