Defiant head of Spanish football Luis Rubiales stands his ground and refuses to step down

A defiant Luis Rubiales has insisted that he will not resign as RFEF president and has survived an extraordinary assembly meeting of the Royal Spanish Football Federation which was called for noon this Friday, 25 August.

The assembly meeting, which lasted almost an hour, heard Rubiales describe the controversial kiss on the lips without consent as "more of a peck than a kiss”. He described the incident, in which he planted on a kiss on the lips of player Jenni Hermoso following the World Cup win, as being made in the same way as if he was “kissing one of my daughters”. There was “no desire” and “no position of dominance”.

Rubiales’s defence comes amid a series of calls for him to resign from leading politicians. Deputy prime minister called the assembly’s decision “unacceptable” as news broke of the decision of the Madrid Public Prosecutor's Office to refer a complaint against the former footballer to the High Court for the crime of sexual aggression.

At the assembly meeting Rubiales also apologised after footage emerged of him in the VIP box, alongside Queen Letizia, grabbing his crotch in “a moment of euphoria” while celebrating Spain’s win over England during the final of the Women's World Cup.

Víctor Francos, President of the Consejo Superior de Deportes (CSD) and Secretary of State for Sport said: "We are going to act, we have activated all the mechanisms to take the appropriate measures".

Jennifer Hermoso had demanded that the CSD intervene over the incident at the end of match in Australia.