Spain international Jenni Hermoso told a court today Luis Rubiales' unwanted kiss after she helped her country win the women’s World Cup “stained” one of the happiest days of her life. The 34-year-old striker said she had felt ex-Spanish FA president Rubiales had “abused” her as a woman by kissing her on the lips without her consent on the medal podium after her team’s 1-0 triumph over England in the 2023 final in Sydney.

She told the Audiencia Nacional court in Madrid she had been reduced to tears after accusing Rubiales and his aides of trying to pressure her into claiming the kiss was just a ‘spur-of-the-moment’ peck on the lips which hadn’t bothered her after it went viral on social media. Rubiales looked on impassively as Hermoso took the stand on day one of the much-anticipated ‘Kissgate’ trial to claim he had done something which was “wrong” as a superior and had contributed to leaving her “completely unprotected” as he and his management team tried to salvage their reputations in the ensuing media storm.

The 47-year-old dad-of-three is accused of sexual assault and coercion over the kiss and his subsequent alleged behaviour. Public prosecutors want him jailed for a year if convicted of the first offence and handed an 18 month prison sentence if found guilty of the second crime in relation to his alleged attempts with the help of aides to pressure Hermoso into declaring the kiss had been consensual.

Former Spain’s World Cup women’s team manager Jorge Vilda, ex-men’s team director Albert Luque and former Spanish FA marketing director Ruben Rivera are Rubiales’ co-defendants and are facing 18 month prison sentences if convicted of coercion. Taking the witness stand on Monday, Hermoso said: “From the first day it was clear to me I wanted to denounce what happened. I told him, ‘What a blast we’ve had’ and he replied: 'We’ve won this World Cup thanks to you'. He put his hands on his ears and then came the kiss.

“It was a thousandth of a second. I felt it was totally out of context. My boss was kissing me and what was happening shouldn’t occur in any working context.”. Asked whether she felt “abused” as a woman, she added: “Yes, I felt very little respect. Luis Rubiales never asked if I wanted a kiss before he kissed me. It was a moment that stained one of the happiest days of my life.”. Hermoso claimed the pressure on her to tell the world Rubiales' kiss wasn’t something that had bothered her started almost immediately. She said she was called off the team coach at the stadium by a press officer who showed her a statement she was supposed to have penned herself.

Hermoso told the court: “I skim-read it and said and knew I hadn’t written a word of it. It was a statement I had supposedly drafted myself and consented to being put out to fan the flames of the fuss that was being created by the kiss. “The statement said Luis Rubiales and I were good friends and the kiss happened in the effusiveness of the moment. I said I didn’t agree to it going out.”. She added that Rubiales himself approached her during a stopover in Doha on the plane on the way back to Spain. Hermoso said: “He helped me to assist him by doing a video with him because of all the social media reaction. I told him I wasn’t going to do anything, that I wasn’t the one who had started things.

"He told me ‘Please, my two daughters are in the back of the plane crying.’ I repeated that I wasn’t going to do it and I remember him saying he had a girlfriend at that time and it hadn’t bothered her.”. Alleging then-manager Vilda had approached her brother on the plane to try to put pressure on her to change her mind, she said: “I felt totally unprotected in what should have been a safe place for me which was my team. No-one asked me if I needed anything.

"The only thing Luis Rubiales and his aides did was to try to protect their reputation. From the first moment I reached Spain I had cameras after me 24 hours, people following me, people taking photos while I was having breakfast with my family. “I had to leave Madrid with my family. I felt fear at times of being in the street. I received death threats and messages of all types and we had to leave Madrid because the situation was unbearable.. It was a change in my life and I still say my life changed from that minute.”.

Asked how many times she had been asked to put out a press release or statement supporting Rubiales, Hermoso said: “Too many to count. The situation prevented me from enjoying being a World Champion. Two of Rubiales' three daughters, the ones who were on the plane, are due to give evidence on his behalf next Monday. Barcelona striker Alexia Putellas, part of the women’s World Cup-winning team, will give evidence on Hermoso's behalf on Thursday.