Luis Rubiales conviction fallout: Appeals coming against sexual assault sentence

On Thursday the conviction of former Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) President Luis Rubiales for sexual assault made global headlines, after he was found guilty having kissed Jenni Hermoso without her consent during the celebrations of the 2023 World Cup. However there were mixed reactions to the verdict.

Rubiales was convicted of sexual assault, fined €10.8k, and given a 200m restraining order against Hermoso for the next year, but he avoided the 2.5-year prison sentence that the prosecution sought. That included a 1.5-year sentence for coerceion, which Rubiales was cleared of, as were ex-manager Jorge Vilda, ex-marketing director Ruben Rivera, and ex-sporting director Albert Luque at the RFEF.

For his part, Rubiales said he would ‘keep fighting’, intimating that an appeal was coming against the sentence from his end. According to Cadena Cope, Hermoso found out the verdict while in Mexico, and the verdict was positively received by the footballer and her camp, and consider it a step forward for women that she was believed and Rubiales was convicted.

All the same, they expected the coercion charges to be successful too, and punishment to follow. Relevo report that as well as Rubiales, both Hermoso’s camp and the AFE (Association of Spanish Footballers) will appeal the sentence on the coercion charges, which they felt had been proven.