Jennifer Hermoso speaks out for the first time since the forced kiss affair

“These months, with everything that happened, sometimes I forgot that I was a footballer. But I’m going back to training, on the pitch, putting on the jersey, and I want to give the best of myself again.” A little more than two months after lifting the World Cup trophy and being forcibly kissed by the boss of the Spanish Football Federation Luis Rubiales, footballer Jennifer Hermoso spoke on Monday, November 6, in the columns from the Spanish edition of GQ. Having become a feminist symbol despite herself, the player was elected woman of the year 2023 by the magazine.

“I had to assume the consequences of an act that I did not provoke, that I did not choose or premeditate. I even received threats and that is something you don’t get used to Never”, explains number 10, who filed a complaint for “sexual assault” against Luis Rubiales. The former president of the Spanish Football Federation ended up resigning after weeks of trying to justify what he presented as “a little consensual kiss”.

Supported by her teammates, who went on strike to demand immediate changes within their federation, Jenni Hermoso also received the support of many personalities, from the actress Natalie Portman to her male counterparts like Isco or Hector Bellerin: “I am very grateful that so many people are with me, with us. Actresses, singers, players, including rivals we faced in the World Cup, or the English team we beat in the final… All this gave me the strength to continue.”

“We never asked to be paid like the boys”

In the article of GQthe player from Pachuca (Mexico) confides having worked a lot with her psychologist to get back on her feet after “very difficult weeks”. “We were called capricious. People said we wanted to be paid like the boys, but that’s not true,” she says. The top scorer in the history of the Spanish selection says “very angry” faced with the findings which insist on the fact that women’s football “does not generate as much income as men’s football”: “We know that and we never asked to be paid like them. We just wanted the essentials: a minimum salary, respect and the opportunity to do something big. As soon as we had it, we won a World Cup.”

Absent from the first list which followed the World Cup, for the “protect” according to the words of new coach Montse Tomé, Jenni Hermoso was recalled to the colors of La Roja in October. Her return, on October 27, was triumphant since she gave victory to Spain against Italy in the League of Nations by scoring the only goal of the match in the 89th minute.