[8][12][9] In terms of laws protecting women's rights, the rapid progress made since about 2018, when the social-democratic party PSOE regained power, placed Spain ahead of most of the world.

[15][16] On 20 August 2023, Spain won the 2023 Women's World Cup in a run that included winning a knock-out match for the first ever time and defeating England, the team that had sent them out of the Euro 2022, in the final hosted in Sydney, Australia.

Testimony from Debbie Hewitt, the chair of the Football Association (FA), included in the decision report also said Rubiales "stroked" the face of Laura Coombs and gave a "forceful kiss" to Lucy Bronze.

[18][19] After the final whistle, Rubiales was spotted grabbing his crotch while standing in the authorities' box near Queen Letizia and next to her 16-year-old daughter Infanta Sofía.

[21] During the medal presentation, Rubiales forcibly kissed Spain's all-time top-scorer Jenni Hermoso on the lips after grabbing her by the head with both hands.

[22] Hermoso said shortly afterwards that she did not expect nor like the kiss when asked about why it happened,[23] to Spanish radio and television,[24][25] and in a social media video recorded in the locker room, saying "I didn't like it" then "but what am I supposed to do?

[22][25] Having initially described his critics as "idiots", "dickheads", and "losers"[31] – and initially calling the incident "an unimportant gesture of affection" – on a Spanish radio show before leaving Australia,[22] Rubiales published an apology video on 21 August, recorded while the delegation was on a layover returning from Australia; in it, he described the kiss as spontaneous and said that he had no bad intentions and was sorry for distracting from the celebration, saying: "I have to apologise, learn from this, and understand that when you are president you have to be more careful.

[28] Beyond the cabinet, political parties of all alignments criticised Rubiales,[26] and Adrián Barbón, the President of the Principality of Asturias, said the kiss was "an abuse that neither the moment, nor the euphoria, nor the joy justifies".

[27] The Association of Spanish Footballers (AFE) issued an official communiqué stating that if Rubiales did not resign immediately, they would demand that the Ley de Deportes (a section on punishable conduct) be applied.

[35] Team captain Ivana Andrés had also been asked to appear in the video: the RFEF considered her one of the players who saw them more positively and so may be more likely to comply, and hoped her presence would be interpreted as being on behalf of the whole squad.

[43] The speech was notably erratic; only the next day Público journalist Esther Rebollo wrote in an article that she would not "repeat the phrases that [Rubiales] used to defend himself ... because rivers of ink have already been written about his unsportsmanlike, antisocial, ultra-sexist and even legally condemnable attitude.

[38][49] He spent time recounting his version of events from the final, claiming to have had a full conversation with Hermoso and received her consent, though he continued to describe the kiss as "spontaneous".

[44] Sports journalists, particularly those familiar with Spanish women's football, responded to the speech by placing it and Rubiales within the "systematic issue"s that Spain and other women's teams face;[51][52][30] freelance journalist Alex Ibaceta lamented in The Guardian that it took a World Cup victory for the team to receive enough attention that Rubiales "simply being himself" on camera could "give a taste to the world of what has been going on behind the scenes for decades at the Spanish federation.

[55][56] Two former Spain national goalkeepers, David de Gea and 2010 World Cup winner Iker Casillas, also criticised Rubiales' speech on Twitter.

[54][55] Spain was in the final stages of bidding to co-host the 2030 FIFA World Cup; following the speech it was widely understood that they would not be awarded the tournament if Rubiales remained in charge.

[57][58][59] Beatriz Alvarez, the president of Spain's Liga F, told RTVE that Rubiales' "ego is above his dignity" but she was still shocked by the speech and how "every time he speaks he shows what kind of person he really is.

[71][26] Influenced by the speech, former, current, and eligible players for the Spain women's team organised in a WhatsApp group, choosing to challenge the RFEF.

On 22 August, the Spanish domestic women's league, Liga F, filed a complaint with the government sports council, Consejo Superior de Deportes (CSD), asking for Rubiales' dismissal and describing him as an "unprecedented international embarrassment".

[82][45] In response, Rubiales shared an "explosive" letter on Twitter saying that he had already proven his innocence (through RFEF communiques calling Hermoso a liar) and would "prove the truth", as well as claiming that he was advancing feminism and saying he felt that the media were "lynching" him by "marginalising" him in their reporting.

According to Ibaceta, Rubiales was only concerned with how his presence or absence would affect men's football, and that he alluded to only agreeing to resign if the federation does not significantly change from his plans for it.

[94] On 28 August, Rubiales' mother, Ángeles Béjar, stayed inside the Divina Pastora church [es] in Motril after service, announcing that she was going on hunger strike as a protest against the "inhumane and bloodthirsty hunt" against her son.

[21][45] The Prosecution Ministry opened preliminary investigations into whether Rubiales' actions constituted sexual assault on 28 August, including offering Hermoso the opportunity to make a formal complaint.

[102][101] On 28 September, RFEF press officer Patrica Perez told the Spanish National Court that the Federation coerced her into trying to release a joint statement from Rubiales and Hermoso.

With you, teammate @Jennihermoso A wider anti-sexual violence, anti-machismo, and pro-women's equity movement in society and sports developed out of the Rubiales affair.

Based on a tweet from Alexia Putellas, the movement is known by its hashtag call #SeAcabó (in Spanish; "S'ha acabat" in Catalan, "Acabouse" in Galician, "It's over" in English).

[113] Patricia Moreno Barberá of Vogue opined that it made sense for Spain's movement to come from football, which she wrote has a similar presence in Spanish society as Hollywood does in the United States.

[115] A further statement of support from FIFPro was released on this day and shared on social media by past and present women's footballers it represents from across 66 countries.

[115][118] The Ministry of Equality campaign for International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on 25 November 2023 was titled "Ahora ya España es otra" ("Now Spain is different"), a paraphrased lyric from the successful 1978 song "Se acabó" by flamenco singer María Jiménez, who had died in September.

[119] It had been noted when Jiménez died that the song had been the previous major usage of the phrase as feminist, being about domestic abuse, though it was considered unlikely that it might have influenced Putellas' choice of words.

Bonmatí spoke in English for all of the ceremony except when talking about Rubiales, both on stage and in the press room; this was seen as her choosing to address these comments for an exclusive Spanish audience, so that people in Spain would understand her as she showed that she was not backing down.