Spain players boycott; Hermoso rejects Rubiales consent claim - ESPN

All 23 players of Spain's World Cup-winning squad have said they will not play for their country again as long as Spanish football federation (RFEF) president Luis Rubiales remains in charge.

Forward Jenni Hermoso released a joint statement via her union FUTPRO on Friday in which she denied Rubiales' claim that she consented to his kiss during Spain's World Cup final celebrations.

The statement, co-signed by Spain's entire World Cup squad and 58 former players, added that they would not return to play for the national team while Rubiales remains in his position.

It follows a week of controversy, criticism and widespread condemnation of Rubiales' behaviour after Spain's World Cup win in Sydney.

Earlier on Friday, Rubiales said calls for him to step down were a campaign of «social assassination» by «false feminists» during a speech to the RFEF's general assembly in which he refused to resign.

«I want to clarify, as you can see in the images, that at no time did I consent to the kiss that he gave me,» Hermoso said. «I won't tolerate that my word is called into question, and even less so that words are invented which I didn't say.»

Hermoso and her teammates called for «real change to help the national team to keep growing, to be able to bring this great success to the generations to come» and said they would not play for Spain while «the current management» remains at the RFEF.

The president of Spain's Sports Council (CSD) and its secretary of state for sport, Victor Francos, has confirmed that the CSD is seeking to remove Rubiales by bringing a complaint to the country's Administrative Sports Court (TAD).

«This assembly, far from resolving the situation, increased the controversy,» Francos said. «The explanations given [by