Embattled president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), Luis Rubiales, has said he will not resign from his position for kissing Jenni Hermoso after Spain’s Women’s World Cup final victory on Sunday.
According to Sky Sports, Rubiales claimed he is the victim of a witch hunt by “false feminists.”
After initially calling his critics “idiots”, Rubiales apologised on Monday and it was expected he would bow to the pressure of the growing calls for him to stand down.
However, in an extraordinary address to an emergency general assembly of the Spanish Football Federation that lasted over half an hour on Friday he shouted, “I will not resign” repeatedly.
PariPesa Rubiales, who is now under investigation by FIFA, also said of the incident: “The kiss was the same I could give one of my daughters.”
Hermoso had said in a video streamed on social media after the kiss that “I didn’t like it, but what can I do?”
The Spanish players’ union issued a statement on Hermoso’s behalf on Wednesday saying it would defend her interests and ensure that the act “does not go unpunished.”
