After Spanish forward Jenni Hermoso received her medal at the trophy ceremony, Spanish football official Luis Rubiales embraced her in a hug on live television. During their embrace, Rubiales allegedly kissed Hermoso without her consent. This led to Hermoso filing a complaint against Rubiales, accusing him of sexual assault. 

Rubiales was asked to step down but refused to do so and gave a speech claiming that he had been falsely accused. The following day he was suspended by FIFA. A week after Rubiales gave his speech, the head coach of the Spanish women’s team, Jorge Vilda, was fired after applauding Rubiales for not resigning., Two weeks after Rubiales’ suspension, he resigned. He is currently undergoing prosecution for the claims against him. 

Since it happened on such a public stage, the alleged kiss went viral. The game and final were broadcast to millions of people, and over 70,000 people were in attendance for the match. Of those watching the game was freshman Ellie Wiseman, who made the trek over to Australia, although she didn’t get to see the final live.

“I was pretty shocked because the environment was very positive,” Wiseman said. “It’s always bad to see stuff like that happen. But it’s good to see that when it does happen, there’s action taken.”

This issue has affected people worldwide and brought light to the ongoing problems within both women’s soccer and the Royal Spanish Football Federation. Girls soccer coach Barney Guerra, who had watched the game and heard about the allegations against Rubiales, said that this incident was only the tip of the iceberg. To him, the environment was a symbol of toxicity only furthered by Rubiales’ refusal to resign.

“I know that he’s kind of claiming ‘I got caught up in the moment,’ whatever,” Guerra said. “But to me, it’s like if they had a culture of respect and treating each other right and fairness between men and women in that federation. If that did happen and he actually did get caught up in the moment, then the players would have stood behind him.”

Because of how widespread this issue is, Hermoso had the platform to speak out to tons of people, an opportunity that not everyone gets. Her making these allegations on such a large stage has set an example for others to do the same thing.

Junior Ashley Mankinen was actually in attendance for the final, who didn’t see the kiss occur, but was made aware of the situation via social media after the trophy presentation. She was confused by the incident and was surprised by people’s reactions to it. For her, having a professional athlete speak out is important. 

“I think it’ll have a big impact because, like, there was a thing, a quote from one of the players saying that they want to fight for this now so that future generations don’t have to be worried about that,” Mankinen said. “I think that’s really important because like, players shouldn’t have to worry about the coaches doing stuff like that, they should just want to play.”