Spain’s national prosecutor’s office has filed a complaint to the high court from Jenni Hermoso about suspended Spanish football federation president Luis Rubiales.
Rubiales kissed midfielder Hermoso on the lips during the trophy presentation following Spain’s victory over England in last month’s World Cup final, but Hermoso said the kiss was not consensual.
FIFA has suspended Rubiales pending an investigation into his behaviour and while the 46-year-old has refused to resign, Hermoso submitted a complaint to the national prosecutor’s office on Wednesday and that is now with Spain’s high court.
Alongside a complaint of sexual assault by Rubiales, an allegation of coercion was also filed and it will now be down to Spain’s high court to present formal charges against the suspended RFEF president.
The RFEF issued an apology on Tuesday, with current president Pedro Rocha distancing the federation from what Rubiales had done and saying his actions had caused “enormous damage”.
Later the same day the RFEF announced the dismissal of World Cup-winning coach Jorge Vilda.
The 42-year-old had been the only member of Spain women’s backroom staff who had not quit in protest at Rubiales’ refusal to step down. Vilda had also applauded Rubiales at an emergency general assembly of the RFEF on August 25 when the latter said he would not quit.
The RFEF issued a glowing statement in praise of Vilda on Tuesday in confirming his dismissal, but said his exit was the first of a number of “renewal measures” planned by Rocha. Montse Tome was later confirmed as Vilda’s successor.
Concerns over Vilda’s coaching methods and regime were reported to have been a key factor in 15 Spain players refusing to play for the national team last year, but the federation, under Rubiales, refused to budge.
It is not yet clear whether Vilda’s dismissal and Tome’s appointment will be enough to prompt a return to action by Spain’s World Cup-winning squad for the Nations League matches against Sweden and Switzerland later this month.
The 23 players had been part of a group of 81 who had said they would not make themselves available for international duty until Rubiales had resigned.
As well as his conduct towards Hermoso, Rubiales was also criticised for grabbing his crotch in celebration of Spain’s victory while stood in the stadium’s VIP area, metres away from Spain’s Queen Letizia and her teenage daughter.
On August 28, the presidents of the regional Spanish federations called on Rubiales to quit, and in addition to the FIFA investigation, the RFEF regional presidents are working alongside Spain’s Higher Sports Council (CSD) to conduct a thorough review of the federation’s governance.
Last week, the Spanish men’s national team condemned the “unacceptable behaviour” of Rubiales.
Tottenham's Odobert undergoes hamstring surgery
Tottenham have confirmed that Wilson Odobert has undergone surgery for a hamstring injury.
The 19-year-old joined Spurs from Burnley in August and made five appearances in all competitions for the north London side.
He managed just 162 minutes in his three Premier League matches, creating three chances in that time, but has not featured in the competition since their 1-0 loss to Arsenal in mid-September.
His last appearance was a two-minute cameo in the Europa League group stage amid ongoing hamstring problems.
"We can confirm that Wilson Odobert underwent surgery to his right hamstring yesterday (Saturday 16th November)," Spurs said on social media.
"The 19-year-old will continue to be closely monitored by our medical team to determine when he can return to training."
Real Madrid 0-4 Barcelona: Guijarro brace sets visitors up for Clasico glory
Patri Guijarro's first-half brace set Barcelona on their way to a thumping 4-0 win over rivals Real Madrid in Liga F on Saturday.
Claudia Pina and Alexia Putellas were also on target as Barcelona continued their perfect start to the season, extending their lead at the top of the table.
The visitors dominated from the off, as Guijarro broke the deadlock inside the fourth minute, tapping in from Putellas' flick-on from a corner.
Cata Coll was forced into a big save to deny Alba Redondo an equaliser shortly after, but Madrid's hope was soon dented as Guijarro picked out the bottom corner with a superb long-range strike for her second.
Pina strengthened their lead six minutes before the break, clinically slotting past Misa with her low strike.
Putellas added some more gloss to the scoreline with four minutes remaining of normal time, beating the Madrid keeper with a lovely dink to bring up her 199th goal for the club.
Barcelona have won all 10 of their games, and now sit eight points clear of Madrid, who suffered their first league defeat of the campaign.
Data Debrief: Total dominance
Madrid will have felt fairly confident coming into this game after a strong start to their season, but they once again failed to find a way past their Clasico rival.
Los Blancos have lost every single game they have played against Barcelona in all competitions, with this their 15th such meeting.
Barcelona smothered their attack early on, restricting their hosts to just one shot in the first half, while they had 10.
Indonesia 0-4 Japan: Visitors stay unbeaten with rout
Japan continued their unbeaten start to World Cup qualifying with a 4-0 victory over Indonesia on Friday.
Two goals from the visitors in either half were enough to seal the three points and get them back to winning ways after a stalemate with Australia last time out.
Ragnar Oratmangoen should have put Indonesia ahead, but he hesitated one-on-one with the goalkeeper, and Japan did not look back after that. They got a bit of fortune with their first goal, Justin Hubner deflecting a cross into his own net in the 35th minute.
Takumi Minamino got their second just before the break, finishing off a pacy counter-attack by darting onto the end of Kaoru Mitoma’s cross to sweep it past Maarten Paes.
While there was not much the goalkeeper could do with that one, he was at fault for the third as he gifted the ball to Hidemasa Morita, who coolly picked out the bottom corner just after the break.
Yukinari Sugawara came off the bench to round off the scoring in the 69th minute. He raced down the right wing and instead of looking to his options, he rifled it in from a tight angle at the near post.
Japan are up to 13 points after five games, sitting top of Group C, while Indonesia are bottom, still in search of their first win.
Data Debrief: Clinically done
For a team still chasing their first win, Japan are probably not high on the list of opponents they would want to face, and Indonesia were undone by their visitors.
Hajime Moriyasu's side created 0.79 expected goals (xG) to Indonesia's 0.72, while they only had four more shots than their hosts (12 compared to eight).
Japan took their chances, and though the win margin may look harsh, they were deserving of the three points, having dominated throughout the game.
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