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Spain’s soccer chief is hit with a complaint over his ‘unacceptable’ kiss of female World Cup player

By
Irene García Pérez
Irene García Pérez
and
Bloomberg
Bloomberg
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By
Irene García Pérez
Irene García Pérez
and
Bloomberg
Bloomberg
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August 23, 2023, 4:42 PM ET
Spanish Federation president Luis Rubiales and Claudia Zornoza Sanchez of Spain and Real Madrid after the FIFA Women's World Cup final.
Spanish Federation president Luis Rubiales and Claudia Zornoza Sanchez of Spain and Real Madrid after the FIFA Women's World Cup final. Jose Breton—Pics Action/NurPhoto/Getty Images

The Spanish women’s professional football league has filed a complaint against the head of the country’s football association for inappropriate behavior during the Women’s World Cup final. 

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Liga F asked Spain’s High Council of Sports — a government body in charge of overseeing the country’s sports federations — to disqualify Luis Rubiales as the chief of the football association due to obscene gestures in the director’s box during the game, kissing one of the players on the mouth after Spain won, and insulting journalists that asked him about the incident in the aftermath, the league said in a statement on Wednesday evening.  

“Having a boss grabbing the head of an employee and kissing her on the mouth is, simply, unacceptable,” the league said.

A representative for the High Council of Sports confirmed it received the complaint, while a spokesman for the Spanish football association declined to comment. 

The football association will hold an extraordinary general assembly on Friday to decide the future of Rubiales and it has opened an internal procedure to look into integrity matters on the back of the incident.  

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