Spain's High Court on Thursday convicted former football federation president Luis Rubiales of sexual assault for kissing player Jenni Hermoso without her consent, imposing a 10,800 euros ($11,300) fine in a case that sparked widespread outrage across the country.
The court acquitted him of a coercion charge, it said in a ruling reported by agencies. Rubiales told Reuters he would appeal, saying, "I am going to keep fighting."
Prosecutors had sought a prison sentence for Rubiales, 47, over the incident that provoked a heated debate in Spain about sexism in women's football and wider Spanish society, giving momentum to the "Me Too" movement in the country.
The court also acquitted Rubiales' three co-defendants, who were accused of attempting to coerce Hermoso into saying the kiss at the 2023 World Cup awards ceremony in Sydney was consensual. The ensuing scandal overshadowed Spain's victory in the tournament.
Rubiales, who is the target of a separate corruption investigation into commissions paid over a lucrative deal to stage the Spanish Super Cup competition in Saudi Arabia, has maintained throughout this month's trial that Hermoso had consented to be kissed amid the celebrations.
But Judge Jose Manuel Fernandez-Prieto said he believed Hermoso's testimony that she had not.
He found Rubiales guilty of sexual assault. However, he said that while the assault was "always reproachable," this instance was of minor intensity as there was no violence or intimidation.
As it involved a kiss rather than a more serious action, Rubiales should be spared prison time, Fernandez-Prieto said.
"The pecuniary penalty must be chosen, which is less serious than the custodial sentence," he said in his ruling.
The ruling also banned Rubiales from going within a 200-meter (218-yard) radius of Hermoso and from communicating with her for one year. He will also have to pay Hermoso 3,000 euros as compensation. The fine was set at 20 euros a day over an 18-month period.
Rubiales' gross annual salary at the RFEF federation was 675,762 euros.
During the trial, Hermoso said the unsolicited kiss from her boss and the commotion that followed "tainted one of the happiest days of my life," while her teammates testified it left her overwhelmed, crying, and exhausted in the following hours and days.
The overall sense of the verdict, if not the mild sentence, was hailed as a victory for women's rights in a country where macho attitudes are still deeply ingrained in some sectors of society despite considerable progress in recent decades.
"When there is no consent, there is assault, and that is what the judge certifies in this sentence. The victim's word is honored, as the law stipulates, and should not be questioned," Equality Minister Ana Redondo, in the leftist government of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, wrote on social media platform X.
Prominent feminist politician Irene Montero, a member of the European Parliament, also said the ruling was a victory for the movement, although she lamented the "minimum fine and damages."
"Not long ago, it was unthinkable that a court would recognize a kiss without consent as a sexual assault. Feminism is changing everything: Only 'yes' means 'yes,'" she said.
The ruling can be appealed.
Hermoso's lawyer told Reuters it was up to his client to decide if "she wants to keep up the fight."
The Association of Spanish Footballers (AFE), which was a private prosecutor in the case, said the ruling was "a significant step forward in the defense of women's rights and in the fight for a sport free of abuse and inequality."
