FIFA provisionally suspended Luis Rubiales, the head of Spain’s soccer association, following a week of controversy over his behavior at the Women’s World Cup final, including kissing one of the team’s star players on the lips.
The suspension from all football-related activities is effective immediately and will initially last for 90 days while the disciplinary committee of soccer’s governing body conducts an investigation of Rubiales, according to a FIFA statement Saturday. FIFA announced the review Thursday amid outrage sparked by Rubiales celebrating Spain’s victory by kissing Jennifer Hermoso on the lips and making an obscene gesture of grabbing his crotch after a Spanish goal.
The decision comes a day after Spain’s champion women’s team said it would refuse to play another game while Rubiales remained in the post. That threat came after Rubiales made a dramatic appearance Friday, saying five times that he wouldn’t resign. The Spanish soccer association backed him and in a statement Friday threatened legal action to defend Rubiales’s honor, implying that Hermoso had lied about what happened.