The President of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) Luis Rubalies has issued an apology for kissing Jennifer Hermoso during the presentation ceremony after Spain's World Cup triumph on Sunday.
After the match ended, Rubiales was present on the ground to celebrate the team's victory and was handing players medals.
He gave a kiss on the cheeks of every player as they were receiving their gold medals, but the 45-year-old ended up kissing Hermoso on the lips.
Hermoso reacted to the incident in an Instagram live session, the striker did not approve of the incident according to a post by Spanish journalist Irati Vida on X, she said: “Hey, I didn’t like it, eh."
Even though the FA president earlier told Spanish broadcaster COPE that it was nothing more than a "kiss between two friends" and anyone who sees it the other way is an "idiot and stupid" but has now apologised for his action.
"I was completely wrong, I have to admit it," Rubiales said. "It was without bad intention at a time with a lot of excitement. In the moment, we saw it as natural, but outside a commotion has formed.
"I have to apologise, learn from this, and understand that when you are president you have to be more careful."
Rubiales faced outrage from fans on social media and Spain's government minister Irene Montero also addressed the incident and called it a form of "sexual violence".
"It's a form of sexual violence women suffer on a daily basis," she said. "We should not assume kissing without consent is something 'that happens'."
Spain's sports minister Miquel Iceta told Spanish public radio that what happened was "unacceptable" and asked the FA president to apologise.
"The first thing he has to do is to give explanations and make apologies, it is the logical and reasonable thing to do," Iceta said.
It must be noted that Spain beat England 1-0 in the final of the FIFA Women's World Cup at the Stadium Australia thanks to a 29th-minute strike by left-back Olga Carmona, who at the age of 23 years and 69 days became the second-youngest player to score in both the semi-final and final of a single edition of a FIFA Women's World Cup tournament, behind only United States’ Alex Morgan in 2011 (22y 15d).