I’ll keep defending myself, Rubiales

The president of Spain’s banned football association, Luis Rubiales, declared that he would keep defending himself and establishing the truth following the opening of an investigation by the top sports court of the nation into his forced kiss of player Jenni Hermoso’s lips.”I intend to persist in defending myself in order to establish the truth,” he declared in a statement released on Friday by El Mundo, the Spanish national daily.

He hasn’t made a statement in public since August 25.”This is not about gender, this is about truth,” he declared, “I want to send a message to all the good people in our country and beyond our borders, including those women who have really been attacked and who have my full support and understanding.”After kissing Hermoso after Spain won the Women’s World Cup, Rubiales was temporarily suspended by FIFA for ninety days.

The highest criminal court has launched a preliminary investigation into the incident, and Spain’s sports court is looking into it.While expressing regret for his actions in Sydney, the federation chief maintained his opinion that the kiss was consensual, despite Hermoso’s assertions to the contrary, saying she felt like a “victim of an assault.”In his statement, Rubiales added, “On August 20, I made some obvious mistakes, for which I sincerely, from the heart, regret.”

“I’ve discovered that sports leaders should be held to exemplary behaviour, and mine was not, regardless of how great the joy and how deep the emotion, even when you win a World Cup.

“Rubiales restated that there was “overflowing jubilation on both sides” and that the kiss was “a mutual and consensual act.”