Ex-Spanish soccer boss who kissed player at World Cup is pelted by eggs at book presentation

Luis Rubiales was pelted by eggs thrown by his own uncle when the former head of Spain’s soccer federation was presenting a memoir late Thursday relating his downfall after kissing a player at the 2023 Women’s World Cup.

Rubiales was seated on a stool on a low stage when he jumped up and spun quickly trying to avoid three eggs hurled his way. One impacted on the back of his dark jacket, and another splattered against a screen behind him as he charged into the small audience.

“A man entered who I later saw was my uncle, who is a troubled man, and always has been,” Rubiales told reporters. “He had some eggs and threw some at me, but I didn’t know what he had in his hands, and when I first saw him I thought he might be carrying a weapon.”

Spanish media reported that the uncle was Luis Rubén Rubiales, an actor who has appeared in several domestic television shows.

Spanish police told The Associated Press they arrested the egg thrower. No motive was immediately given for the incident. A video shows a group of men in the audience grabbing the uncle immediately after he launched the eggs and ***ing him away.

Rubiales also had a falling out with another uncle, Juan Rubiales, several years ago when Juan was working for him at the federation.

His book “Matar a Rubiales” (Killing Rubiales) is a 500-page version of his professional demise after kissing Spain forward Jenni Hermoso during the 2023 Women’s World Cup awards ceremony. It was the first time Spain’s women’s team took home the title.  According to its publisher, Rubiales says he was the victim of a “conspiracy of different powers of Spanish public life” including the government and “the profitable world of feminism.”

Rubiales has always denied he kissed Hermoso without her consent. After initially clinging to power amid a national uproar, he stepped down under immense pressure from the government, soccer officials, women players and fans.

Earlier this year he was found guilty of ***ual ***ault for the unsolicited kiss by a Spanish court. He was fined over $11,000 and ordered not to come within 650 feet of Hermoso or contact her for a year. Prosecutors had pushed for him to spend over two years in prison. Rubiales was acquitted of a separate charge that alleged he and other officials pressued Hermoso to support him in the aftermath of the kiss. 

Hermoso testified in court that Rubiales’ actions “tarnished” what should have been “one of the happiest days” of her life. 

“I’d spent years fighting to win titles for my team, like the World Cup,” she said. “But all that’s happened to me means that I just haven’t been able to enjoy any of it from the moment I set foot back in Madrid. I’m a world champion, but it seems that, even to this day, my life has been on standby. I honestly haven’t been able to live freely.”

Rubiales, 48, is also under scrutiny by Spanish authorities probing his 2020 deal to move the Spanish Super Cup to Saudi Arabia.