Jenni Hermoso, August 20, 2023, in Sydney. HANNAH MCKAY / REUTERS
For Spain, this is a symbolic step forward. The Spanish player Jenni Hermoso, forcibly kissed on August 20, after the final of the Women’s World Cup by Luis Rubiales, the former president of the football federation, will be present when the clock strikes midnight at the Puerta del Sol, in Madrid, an event followed by millions of viewers.
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Having become, despite herself, a national and global symbol of the fight for equality between women and men, Hermoso will participate, on Sunday evening, December 31, in the New Year’s Eve broadcast, presented live from the famous Madrid square, where the twelve strokes of midnight are struck from the big clock.
Tradition has it that the Spanish swallow twelve grapes to the sound of these twelve knocks for good luck. Broadcast live on television, the event is followed by millions of viewers both in Spain and Latin America.
Heard Tuesday by the judge
Jenni Hermoso, elected woman of the year 2023 by the Spanish edition of the American magazine GQmust be heard Tuesday by the judge in charge of the Rubiales case, while many witnesses have already been heard.
On August 20, a few minutes after the world coronation of the women’s “Roja”, in Sydney, against England, the boss of Spanish football, aged 46, kissed Jenni Hermoso on the mouth by surprise, causing the indignation in Spain and across the world.
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Under pressure from public opinion, Rubiales, who always explained that the kiss was consensual, ended up resigning, on September 10, from his post as president of the Spanish federation, saying he was the victim of a “disproportionate campaign”. He was also charged with sexual assault.