Spain football president Luis Rubiales’s mother has reportedly gone on hunger strike after kiss controversy. Details on his parents explored.
Luis Rubiales is known for his football career as well as being the president of the Spanish football federation.
During his Spanish career he played as a defender and represented multiple teams such as Guadix CF, RCD Mallorca B, UE Lleida, Xerez CD, Levante UD and Alicante CF.
On August 2023, he was caught up in some controversy. He has come under fire after kissing Spanish football player Jenni Hermoso on the lips after they won the Women’s World Cup.
He has since apologised and although he asserted “the kiss was consented,” in a statement on Friday, Hermoso said: “I felt vulnerable and a victim of an assault, an impulsive, macho act, out of place and with no type of consent on my part.”
Following the drama, his mother was in the news as she protest for her son. Per reports, mom of embattled Spanish football federation president Luis Rubiales has locked herself in a church and is on hunger strike. But who are his parents? Read on for more.
Who are Luis Rubiales’s parents?
Spanish football official Luis Rubiales was born on August 23, 1977, in Municipality of Las Palmas, Spain.
His parents are Luis Manuel Rubiales Lopez (father) and Ángeles Béjar (mother).
His dad is a primary school teacher, and mother a hairdresser.
Lopez and Ángeles raised in Motril in the Province of Granada and were supportive of their son’s career choice.
It is not known if Luis is an only child of his parents or he has other siblings as no reports about him suggest he has a brother or a sister.
Rubiales attended CEU Cardinal Herrera University (2014), and Camilo Jose Cela University before he kickstarted his football career.
Image Source: EPA
Luis Rubiales’s mom goes on hunger strike amid son’s kiss drama
Meanwhile Rubiales’ elderly mum launched a bizarre hunger-strike protest over what she called an “inhumane witch-hunt” against her son.
She has demanded World Cup winner Jenni Hermoso tell the “truth” about the kiss – which Hermoso has made clear was not consensual.
The retired hairdresser is carrying out her protest at the Divina Pastora Church in the Andalucia coastal resort of Motril east of Malaga where the suspended Spanish FA president grew up.
She began her hunger strike on Monday (August 28, 2023) morning accompanied by a sister, 48, hours after her son travelled to Motril for a holiday.
Angeles, whose husband is a former mayor of Motril, says she will continue her radical action until father-of-three son Luis receives “justice” and Hermoso “tells the truth”.
What did Luis Rubiales do to Jenni Hermoso?
Luis Rubiales kissed Jennifer Hermoso, a Spanish professional footballer who plays for Liga MX Femenil club CF Pachuca and for the Spain women’s team.
The kiss was on the lips after they won the Women’s World Cup.
Immediately video from the incident started to gain traction on social media, he came under fire.
He was also criticised for grabbing his crotch as he celebrated La Roja’s historic victory at the final whistle.
It has been reported that he also went into the dressing room after full-time, vowing to take the women’s team on a holiday to Ibiza and to marry Hermoso.
FIFA suspended him from his post in the wake of footballer Jennifer Hermoso stating that she did not consent to a public kiss from Rubiales during the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup final award ceremony.
What has Luis Rubiales said?
Few hours after the incident, FIFA opened a disciplinary proceeding into the matter by suspended Luis Rubiales and on September 10, 2023, he announced he will resign from his position.
Before that, he held a press conference where Rubiales said he would not resign – prompting mass walkouts of players and staff and plunging the World Cup-winning nation into crisis. As many as 11 members of women’s football staff in the Spanish football federation have also resigned from their posts.
Explaining his crotch grab, he said: “In a moment of euphoria I grabbed that part of my body.”
On the kiss, he said: “I was very moved when after winning the World Cup you turned around and dedicated it to me. There I made the gesture.
“I apologise to the Queen and the Infanta for a very unedifying gesture. I do not justify myself: sorry.
“The kiss was consented. We had very affectionate moments in this concentration.
“The moment Jenni appeared, she picked me up from the ground and we almost fell. And when she left me on the ground, we hugged. She took me up in her arms and we hugged.
“I told her ‘forget the [missed] penalty, you’ve been fantastic in this World Cup’ and she told me ‘you’re a crack’ and I told her, a little peck? and she said okay.”