Albert Luque accused the Spain player Jenni Hermoso of “jumping on the bandwagon to kill (Luis) Rubiales” in text messages shown to the court on the fourth day of Rubiales’ trial for alleged sexual assault and coercion.
Rubiales, the former president of the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), kissed Hermoso as she and her team-mates were receiving their winners’ medals after the Women’s World Cup final against England in Sydney on August 20, 2023. He maintains that the kiss was consensual.
The prosecution alleges that Rubiales, 47, and three other RFEF employees — the former Spain women’s coach Jorge Vilda, the former Newcastle United forward and ex-RFEF sporting director Luque and former marketing director Ruben Rivera — coerced Hermoso into publicly supporting Rubiales’ version that the kiss had been consensual. Rubiales, Luque, Rivera and Vilda deny any wrongdoing.
In the days after the final, Luque travelled to Ibiza — where the players were on a holiday paid for by the RFEF to celebrate the World Cup win — to try to speak to Hermoso about what had happened in Sydney. Hermoso refused to talk to him, so Luque spoke with her close friend Ana Belen Ecube, who was with the player in Ibiza. They communicated via WhatsApp messages and in person. Their…
