the shock wave of the Rubiales affair on world sport, particularly in Europe and the USA

On August 20, 2023, at the victorious exit of the Women’s Football World Cup, Luis Rubiales forcibly kissed the player Jennifer Hermoso. The former boss of the Spanish Federation has since been charged with sexual assault and coercion. Since then, he has maintained his line of defense, claiming that it was a “reciprocal act”. The media repercussions of the affair reached the institutions and crossed the ocean.

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Great indignation in Brussels around the machismo that reigns in the sporting world

With the European institutions, MEPs had put on the agenda of their plenary in Strasbourg a debate on the subject of violence against women in the world of sport. Around thirty MEPs spoke, many women, who solemnly recalled in the Chamber that when a woman says “no” it is “no” and that the absence of a “yes” also means a “No”.

If some MEPs call for strengthening the laws, these will not be enough, we must feminize management in the federations, as well as refereeing and perhaps guarantee a minimum level of protection in all 27 member states .

In the United States, powerful coaches and sometimes overprotected athletes

If the media coverage of the Rubiales affair was not as enormous on the other side of the Atlantic, its impact is largely comparable. At the end of 2021, five of the ten coaches in the American championship were fired for sexual or psychological abuse, a scandal such that the entire system was called into question. The position of strength of coaches from the youth sections was scrutinized, as well as the situation of athletes who are sometimes overprotected and poorly educated and who commit multiple reprehensible acts.

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