World Cup kiss trial: Spanish coach says he was ‘unaware’ of Luis Rubiales’ forced kiss scandal backlash

Spanish FA president Luis Rubiales. kisses Jenni Hermoso.

Spain coach Luis de la Fuente on Tuesday told the forced kiss trial of ex-football federation chief Luis Rubiales that he initially knew nothing of the scandal’s scale or efforts to silence it.

Rubiales provoked worldwide outrage for kissing Jenni Hermoso after she had just helped Spain beat England in the 2023 Women’s World Cup final in Australia.

The scandal forced Rubiales to resign in disgrace that year and has made Hermoso an icon of the fight against macho culture and sexism in sport.

Prosecutors are seeking two and a half years in prison for Rubiales, one year for sexual assault for the forced kiss and 18 months for allegedly coercing Hermoso, 34, to downplay the incident.

Rubiales, 47, has called the kiss an innocuous “peck between friends celebrating” and denied any coercion.

De la Fuente told the National Court just outside Madrid that on the trip back to Spain he knew nothing about a press statement prepared in Hermoso’s name to hush the growing furore.

The men’s team coach, appointed during Rubiales’ 2018-2023 tenure, said he found out about the kiss on the plane but was “unaware of the scale” of the backlash.

He denied participating in a crisis meeting between top federation officials on August 23, 2023, saying he “didn’t exchange a word” with federation press chief Patricia Perez Requena.

“They told me ‘We’re getting into a huge mess with the kiss business’, but we went on to speak about matters that concerned me,” De la Fuente said.

Former communications director Pablo Garcia Cuervo, sacked by the federation after the scandal erupted, defended his role in the drafting of the statement.

He told the court he wrote it from an interview Hermoso had given to Spanish media and obtained her permission.

He denied asking Hermoso to appear in a video with Rubiales as the scandal grew back home because he feared she would “change her version”.

“Hermoso is a rather influence-prone and pretty manipulable person, so she can change her opinion,” Cuervo said.

Hermoso told the opening day of the trial on Monday that she felt “disrespected” after a non-consensual kiss that “should not happen in any social or work setting”.

The trial is due to continue until 19 February.