Spain women's coach says she was not punishing Hermoso by omitting her after the Rubiales kiss

MADRID (AP) — Spain women’s coach Montse Tomé told a judge Monday she was not trying to punish Jenni Hermoso by omitting her from the national team in the fallout of the kiss by former soccer federation president Luis Rubiales.

Rubiales is accused of sexual assault for kissing Hermoso at the 2023 Women's World Cup final presentation ceremony, as well as of coercion for allegedly trying to convince the player to support his version of the kiss. Hermoso says she did not consent to the kiss while Rubiales denies wrongdoing and says it was consensual.

Three other former federation members are also on trial for coercion for allegedly trying to get Hermoso to downplay the kiss.

Hermoso's brother had testified last week that former team coach Jorge Vilda, one of the accused of coercion, tried to threaten Hermoso by saying that her future could be in danger if she refused to record a video together with Rubiales to make light of the incident.

Tomé, a former assistant to Vilda who took over the main coaching job shortly after the World Cup, decided not to include Hermoso in her first squad. She said at the time that the decision was made to protect the player from the media circus surrounding the case.

“It wasn’t a punishment,” Tomé said a couple of times while testifying at the start of the second week of the trial in Madrid. “I did not include her in the first call-up because of sporting reasons. What I said about protecting her, because of the exceptional situation that we were going through, was also part of the sporting reasons.”

Tomé claimed that the attention being given by the media to the case at the time could’ve affected Hermoso’s performance.

“Everything affects the sporting performance,” Tomé said.

The other two federation officials on trial for coercion are former sports director of the Spain men’s team, Albert Luque, and former head of marketing Ruben Rivera.

Rubiales is expected to testify on Tuesday. He resigned under pressure three weeks after the scandal surfaced and was banned by FIFA for three years. Rubiales had said he was the victim of a “witch hunt” by “false feminists.”

Hermoso testified on the first day of the trial last week and said she "felt disrespected" by Rubiales after winning the Women's World Cup final. She said that the kiss "stained one of the happiest days of my life."

The kiss prompted outrage in Spain about the prevalence of sexism in sports and beyond.

Prosecutors, Hermoso and the Spain players’ association want Rubiales jailed for two and a half years, fined 50,000 euros ($51,800 US) for damages, and banned from working as a sports official. They want the other three defendants sentenced to one and a half years in prison.

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