Spanish soccer federation to hold urgent meeting over kiss scandal

MADRID :Spain's soccer federation will hold an urgent meeting on Monday as its president, Luis Rubiales, faces a FIFA suspension and a storm of criticism over allegations he gave a player an unwanted kiss on the lips after Spain won the Women's World Cup.

Rubiales has refused to resign over the incident with player Jenni Hermoso last Sunday in Sydney, saying the kiss was consensual. Players and a string of coaches on the women's squad are demanding he go, and the government also wants him out.

The Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) has called regional federations to the "extraordinary and urgent" meeting "to evaluate the situation in which the federation finds itself" following Rubiales' suspension, a RFEF spokesperson said on Sunday.

Global soccer's governing body FIFA opened disciplinary proceedings against Rubiales on Thursday and announced on Saturday he had been suspended for three months from national and international soccer activities pending an investigation.

Rubiales, 46, said he would use the FIFA probe to show his innocence.

Rubiales played mainly in Spain's second division in a career spanning 12 years. When he was elected to lead the RFEF in 2018, he promised to modernise its structure, increase turnover and make the federation more transparent.

The Spanish government cannot fire Rubiales but has strongly denounced his actions and said on Friday it was seeking to get him suspended using a legal procedure before a sports tribunal.

The uproar has come in a country where gender issues have become a prominent topic in recent years. Tens of thousands of women have taken part in street marches protesting against sexual abuse and violence.

Labour Minister Yolanda Diaz is due on Monday to meet representatives of the