Former Spanish Football Federation president Luis Rubiales has been summoned to appear in a Madrid court on Friday over his kiss of Spain forward Jenni Hermoso.
World Cup-winning Hermoso, 33, filed a legal complaint last week saying the kiss following her country's Women's World Cup final win over England on August 20 was not consensual.
Rubiales, 46, has been summoned by a high court judge to respond to accusations of sexual assault and coercion. Rubiales, who stepped down as head of the RFEF on Sunday, has claimed the kiss was "mutual" and "consensual" and again defended his actions in an interview with Piers Morgan, which was aired on Tuesday on Talk TV. "What we had is a spontaneous act, a mutual act, an act that both consented to, which was driven by the emotion of the moment, the happiness, so I maintain that that is the truth of what happened," Rubiales told Piers Morgan Uncensored.
Rubiales described the kiss as "non-sexual", having previously compared his behaviour to how he would act with his daughters. "My intentions were noble, enthusiastic, 100 per cent non-sexual, 100 per cent, I repeat, 100 per cent," said Rubiales.