The grotesque serial that Luis Rubiales has starred in since the women's soccer team became world champion three weeks ago experienced its most important chapter this Sunday, but not the last. Late on Sunday, as if wanting to go unnoticed, with the moon already dominating the sky, the leader announced that he has finally decided to resign and that he will not return to preside over the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) after five years in office. “After the swift suspension carried out by FIFA, plus the rest of the procedures opened against me, it is evident that I will not be able to return to my position. Insisting on staying and holding on is not going to contribute to anything positive, among other things, because there are de facto powers that will prevent my return," he wrote in a letter made public and after revealing his decision in an interview with English journalist Piers Morgan.
Rubiales published a long letter on his social networks explaining the situation and the reasons that have led him, now, to resign his position. The letter was accompanied by the message: “I will defend my honorability. I will defend my innocence. I have faith in the future. I have faith in the truth.” It should be remembered that Rubiales has opened a complaint of sexual assault and coercion in the Prosecutor's Office against him and is currently sanctioned for 90 days by FIFA in his position as president of the RFEF.
At 9:30 p.m. the leader informed the interim president of the Federation, Pedro Rocha, that he was resigning from his position and also from that of UEFA vice president, so that he could be replaced. With Rubiales out of the equation, the RFEF is now left in a sort of limbo, with the obligation to call elections next year, the Olympic year, but almost with the moral duty to do so as soon as possible since the current leaders came from the hand of the Rubiales himself.
The former president of the RFEF is in the eye of the hurricane after touching his genitals in the authorities' box with the Queen of Spain and, especially, after giving Jenni Hermoso a kiss on the mouth, both acts committed during the celebration of the world title won by the women's team. After holding on to the position despite suffering enormous social pressure, a scenario that even pushed his mother to go on a hunger strike in protest, and even being criticized internationally, Rubiales has chosen to finally step down. side and uses Spain's candidacy for the 2030 World Cup as the main reason. "I do not want Spanish football to be harmed by this disproportionate campaign and, above all, I am making this decision after having made sure that my departure will contribute to the stability that will allow both Europe and Africa to remain united in the dream of 2030, which will allow us to bring the largest event in the world to our country,” he recalled in his letter.
Despite being in the media spotlight daily for the last three weeks, Rubiales has stayed away from the spotlight since on August 25 he repeated that “I am not going to resign” during the extraordinary Assembly of the RFEF. A time in which he has clearly reflected on the magnitude that his case has reached and that has pushed him to resign, not to rectify. At no point in his writing does Rubiales ask for forgiveness and seems determined to defend his honor before the Prosecutor's Office. “Now there is something that occupies me firmly. I have faith in the truth and I will do everything in my power to make it prevail. “My daughters, my family and the people who love me have suffered the effects of excessive persecution, as well as many falsehoods, but it is also true that on the street, more and more each day, the truth is prevailing,” he assured.
But that will be the next chapter. This Sunday's one is definitive. Rubiales leaves.
