New footage that has emerged showing Luis Rubiales kissing Spanish footballer Jenni Hermoso disputes the football chief's claims about the shocking incident.
Rubiales, the president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation, is still refusing to resign after he non-consensually kissed Hermoso on the lips after the team won this year's Women's World Cup.
The president has insisted the assault was 'a simple peck' and is refusing to step down from his position.
And shortly after an assembly meeting on Friday, Rubiales claimed it was Hermoso who instigated the kiss and how she was the one who lifted him up during the presentation, branding her a 'liar'.
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"Jenni was the one who lifted me up," he said. "I told her to 'forget about the penalty' and I said to her 'a little peck?' and she said 'OK'."
But now, Rubiales' claims that the kiss was a mutual interaction have been disputed after new footage of the incident taken with a wide-angle lens contradicts the Spanish FA’s version of events.
In the footage, it is seen that Rubiales was the one who lifted his feet off the ground and jumped into the players arms.
This revelation comes after the football president’s mother, Angeles Bejar, locked herself in a church near Malaga to begin a hunger strike.
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She is claiming her son is the victim of a 'witch hunt', and has told a Spanish TV station that she 'doesn’t mind dying for justice because my son is a decent person and it’s not fair what they’re doing'.
FIFA will reportedly push for Rubiales to be banned from all football for 15 years, which is the maximum they can state.
Spanish prosecutors have now opened a preliminary investigation into whether the incident amounts to a potential conviction of sexual assault.
In a statement about the incident, Hermoso wrote: “After obtaining one of the most desired achievements of my sporting career… I feel obligated to say that the words of Mr Luis Rubiales explaining the unfortunate event are categorically false and part of the manipulative culture he has created.
“I felt vulnerable and a victim of aggression, an impulsive act, sexist, out of place and without any type of consent from my part. In short, I wasn’t respected.”
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Hermoso and the rest of Spain's World Cup-winning women's football team have even said they will not play until the FA president quits.
UEFA have remained pretty quiet throughout the whole controversy, given that Rubiales is still serving as vice-president of the organisation and earning roughly £214K a year for that role.
Featured Image Credit: Twitter/@CabineSportTopics: Football, News, World Cup
