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 football 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…
