The Rubiales Kiss and Spain's #SeAcabó Movement

Timeline

1. Aug 20, 2023Spain beats England in the Women's World Cup final; Rubiales kisses Hermoso during the medal ceremony.
2. Aug 25, 2023Rubiales tells an RFEF assembly he will not resign; 81 players announce a boycott of the national team.
3. Aug 26, 2023FIFA provisionally suspends Rubiales.
4. Sep 5–6, 2023Coach Jorge Vilda is dismissed; Hermoso files a formal complaint with prosecutors.
5. Sep 10, 2023Rubiales resigns as RFEF president.
6. Oct 30, 2023FIFA bans Rubiales from football-related activity for three years.
7. Feb 20, 2025Spain's National Court convicts Rubiales of sexual assault and acquits him and three others of coercion.
8. Jun 25, 2025An appeals panel of the National Court upholds the verdict.

The ethical issues

• Consent: whether a celebratory kiss by a superior can be consensual, and who decides.
• Abuse of power: the federation president's authority over players' careers.
• Institutional response: the federation's statements and alleged pressure on Hermoso to support Rubiales.
• Collective action: players using a boycott to force leadership change.
• Proportionality: a modest fine for a conviction that ended a career and changed a country's debate.

Stakeholders

Stakeholder	Interests & obligations
Jenni Hermoso	Recognition that the kiss was not consensual, and freedom from pressure.
Spain's players	Respect, safety and professional conditions.
Luis Rubiales	Reputation, due process and his career.
RFEF	Credibility and governance after its leader's conduct.
FIFA and UEFA	Enforcement of conduct standards for officials.
Spanish government and public	Gender equality and the integrity of national institutions.

The case

Spain’s women’s team won its first World Cup on August 20, 2023, beating England 1–0 in Sydney. The victory came after years of conflict between players and the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF). In 2022, 15 players had withdrawn from selection over concerns that included the leadership of coach Jorge Vilda.^[1]

Background

The 2022 dispute was not the first time the players had challenged their leadership. Earlier players had tried to call out abuse under a previous head coach, Ignacio Quereda.^[1] After the final, Hermoso’s locker-room words were “I didn’t like it,” followed by “but what am I supposed to do?”^[1] She then placed her interests in the hands of her union, FUTPRO, which said it would work to see the act punished and to protect women players from unacceptable conduct.^[1] The global players’ union FIFPRO also called for action and backed her.^[1]

Before the August 25 assembly, Rubiales had told people close to him and the press that he would resign. Instead, he refused, repeating “I’m not going to resign” five times.^[1] He described the kiss as “spontaneous” while claiming to have had Hermoso’s consent.^[1] The case also had national stakes. Spain was in the final stages of bidding to co-host the 2030 World Cup, and after the speech it was widely understood that the bid would suffer if he stayed.^[1]

The rules and governance

FIFA’s disciplinary case covered more than the kiss. Its decision identified four incidents: a crotch-grab in the dignitaries’ box, the forced kiss, carrying player Athenea del Castillo over his shoulder, and a “peck on the cheek” for Olga Carmona during celebrations.^[1][7] Its sanction was separate from Spanish sports law. On November 17, 2023, Spain’s sports legal panel imposed its own three-year ban, barring him from sports employment in Spain.^[1]

The criminal trial separated the kiss from what happened afterward. The court convicted him of sexual assault for the kiss itself but acquitted all four defendants of coercion, the charge that related to pressure on Hermoso to call the kiss consensual.^[1][4] The sentence included a restraining order requiring Rubiales to stay at least 200 meters away from Hermoso for 12 months.^[1]

The final

During the medal ceremony, RFEF president Luis Rubiales grabbed forward Jenni Hermoso’s head with both hands and kissed her on the lips, live on FIFA’s broadcast. Moments later, in a video recorded in the locker room, Hermoso said she had not liked it. FIFA’s later disciplinary decision also described other incidents involving Rubiales that night, including a crotch-grabbing gesture in the dignitaries’ box near Spain’s Queen Letizia and her teenage daughter.^[1][7]

The speech and the boycott

The federation circulated comments attributed to Hermoso describing the kiss as mutual; reporting later said she had not provided them. On August 25, Rubiales addressed an RFEF assembly. He called the kiss “a peck,” described it as mutual, attacked what he called “fake feminism,” and repeated that he would not resign. That night, 81 players, including all 23 members of the World Cup squad, said they would not play for Spain until the leadership changed. Hermoso issued a statement saying she had not consented “at any time” and that she and people close to her had been pressured to justify Rubiales’s actions.^[8]

FIFA provisionally suspended Rubiales the next day.^[2] The Spanish government sought his removal. Vilda was dismissed on September 5, and Montse Tomé became the first woman to coach the team. Rubiales resigned on September 10.^[1] On October 30, FIFA banned him from all football-related activity for three years.^[3] The disciplinary committee’s written grounds charged him under Article 13 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code, on offensive behavior and fair play, and treated the case as several concurrent breaches with “the Kiss Incident being the most serious one.”^[7] It said it was “comfortably satisfied” that his conduct “tarnished the image of football and/or FIFA.” It found that “from the very first moment it initiated the Kiss to the moment the present decision has been rendered,” he had “repeatedly and continuously violated the basic rules of decent conduct.”^[7] Because Article 13 sets no minimum sanction, the length of the ban was left to the committee.^[7]

The criminal case

Hermoso filed a formal complaint on September 6, 2023, and prosecutors brought charges of sexual assault and coercion. The coercion charge related to alleged pressure on Hermoso to say the kiss was consensual. Vilda and two other former RFEF officials were also charged with coercion.^[1]

On February 20, 2025, Spain’s National Court found Rubiales guilty of sexual assault. It fined him €10,800 and barred him from approaching or contacting Hermoso for a year. He and the three others were acquitted of coercion.^[4] On June 25, 2025, an appeals panel rejected all appeals, from the prosecution and private accusers as well as from Rubiales, and upheld the verdict.^[5][6] The fine was 18 months at €20 a day. The panel also kept the 200-meter restraining order, €3,000 in damages to Hermoso for moral harm, and an order that he pay half the costs.^[6]

The appeal court rejected his argument that a kiss during a public celebration, without sexual intent, could not be sexual assault. The offense, it said, requires no sexual motive, only the absence of consent.^[6] It noted that he had kissed no other player, and no one in the dignitaries’ box, on the lips. His own insistence that he had asked Hermoso’s permission, the court reasoned, “evidently demonstrates that this was not their usual way of greeting each other,” so consent was required. It also rejected collective euphoria as an excuse, since he had restrained himself with everyone else.^[6]

#SeAcabó

World champion Alexia Putellas responded to the speech with a post ending “#SeAcabó” (“It’s over”). The phrase became the name of a broader movement against sexual violence and sexism in Spain, supported across the political spectrum and by men’s teams and players.^[1]

Aftermath

On October 12, 2023, Vilda accepted a job as head coach of Morocco’s women’s team.^[1] Commentators in El País described #SeAcabó as focused on exposing the “less obvious” everyday sexism that “demonstrates gender dominance,” setting it apart from #MeToo.^[1]

The core dilemma

A moment of celebration became a case about consent and power. For Rubiales and his defenders, the kiss was spontaneous euphoria. For Hermoso and the players, it was an unwanted act by the man who controlled their federation, followed by pressure to excuse it. How should sport judge conduct when the person at the top is the one accused?

Competing values

• Consent vs. context: the euphoria of victory against the right to bodily autonomy.
• Due process vs. institutional urgency: waiting for courts against acting quickly to protect players.
• Solidarity vs. individual risk: a collective boycott against each player’s career.
• Proportionality vs. symbolism: a modest fine against the case’s wider meaning.

Strongest arguments

For decisive action: Rubiales held power over the players’ careers, and the federation’s first response appeared designed to protect him. Only collective action and outside pressure produced change. A court later confirmed the kiss was a sexual assault.

For caution in judging the aftermath: the court acquitted everyone of coercion, so the claim that Hermoso was pressured was not proved to the criminal standard. Some argued the public response outpaced the facts and that a single kiss produced unusually severe consequences.

Applying the frameworks

Rights

A rights lens centers Hermoso’s bodily autonomy and her right to say no, and her right to tell her own story without pressure. It also asks how institutions protect athletes from those who control their careers.

Kantian (duty)

A Kantian lens asks whether Rubiales treated Hermoso as an end in herself, and whether the federation’s later conduct, including statements attributed to her, respected her autonomy and truthfulness.

Ethics of care

The care lens attends to the players’ welfare and to the solidarity that formed around Hermoso. It asks how a federation that cares for its athletes would have responded in the first hours after the final.

Walk it through: the Simple Decision Model

1. Spot the issue. You are a senior federation official in the hours after the final. Video shows the president forcibly kissing a player, and she has said she did not like it. The stakeholders include the player, the team, the federation staff, FIFA, sponsors, the government and fans. The codes in play are FIFA’s Disciplinary Code, Spanish law and federation statutes.
2. Gather facts. What does the player say, in her own words and without pressure? What did the broadcast show? What other incidents occurred that night?
3. Test options. Options: (a) issue a statement downplaying it; (b) apologize, support the player and open an independent review; (c) also refer the matter to FIFA and the authorities and remove the president pending review. Weigh institutional loyalty against the player’s rights.
4. Check codes and law. Would you be comfortable if your messages to the player became public? Are you asking her to protect the federation?
5. Decide and document. Record your actions and communications.
6. Communicate and follow up. Communicate support for the player publicly, respect her wishes about privacy, and cooperate with investigations.

What’s settled and what’s contested

• Settled: the conviction for sexual assault, upheld on appeal; the FIFA ban; the resignations and dismissals.
• Contested: whether Hermoso was pressured, given the acquittal on coercion; whether the sanctions were proportionate; how far the RFEF has actually changed.

Why this case matters

The Rubiales case moved a debate about consent from courtrooms to the world’s biggest sporting stage. It shows how athletes can use collective power to hold a leader accountable when internal governance fails.

Key terms

Consent and autonomy

Whether people have agreed freely and with full information, and whether their right to make their own choices is respected.

Institutional accountability

Structures that make a sport organization explain its decisions and face consequences: clear authority, transparency, appeals, independent oversight and enforcement.

Crisis ethics

The obligations that apply when an organization is under pressure: honesty, timeliness, accountability and care for those harmed.

Framing

How the choice of angle, language and emphasis shapes the way a story is understood.

Definitions from the Ethics Cases glossary.

Discussion questions

1. Rubiales said the kiss was spontaneous and mutual. Why might consent be different between a federation president and a player than between equals?
2. The players' boycott led to rapid change. When is collective refusal to play justified, and what are its risks?
3. Rubiales was acquitted of coercion. Does that change how we should judge the federation's response in the days after the final?
4. Was a €10,800 fine a proportionate criminal sanction, given the ban and career loss? What should the role of criminal law be in cases like this?
5. What structural reforms would prevent a federation leader from wielding this kind of power again?

Sources

1. Rubiales case — Wikipedia
2. The FIFA Disciplinary Committee provisionally suspends Luis Rubiales, president of the RFEF — FIFA
3. Former Spanish Football Association president Luis Rubiales is banned for three years — FIFA
4. Spain's ex-football boss Luis Rubiales fined for World Cup kiss — BBC News
5. Spain's High Court upholds conviction of ex-soccer chief Rubiales in kiss case — Reuters
6. La Audiencia Nacional confirma 18 meses de multa para el expresidente de la Federación Española de Fútbol — Consejo General del Poder Judicial
7. Decision of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee, 26 October 2023, on the case of Luis Rubiales — FIFA
8. Spain players boycott as Hermoso rejects Rubiales consent claim — ESPN