The former president of the Spanish Football Federation has been ordered to appear before a Spanish judge on Friday.
ADVERTISEMENTAfter weeks of controversy over Luis Rubiales' kiss on the lips to Spain's Jenni Hermoso at the Women's World Cup final in Australia, the former president of the Spanish Football Federation has been ordered to appear before a Spanish judge.
Judge Francisco de Jorge ordered Rubiales to answer questions at the National Court in Madrid on Friday.
This decision comes after Hermoso accused Rubiales of sexual assault and the judge accepted the prosecution's complaint, which included an alleged crime of sexual aggression and another of coercion.
Spanish prosecutors formally accused Rubiales last week of sexual assault and an act of coercion when, according to Hermoso, he pressured her to speak out in his defence immediately after the scandal broke.
Hermoso's testimony was also requested by the prosecution, but the judge has yet to call her to testify.
However, the process includes the Spanish player's statement, in which she said she felt "vulnerable and the victim of an aggression, an impulsive, sexist act without any consent on my part (...). I was not respected".
Rubiales announced on Sunday that he was resigning from his post, from which he had already been provisionally suspended by FIFA.
De Jorge is carrying out the preliminary investigation into the accusations against Rubiales, and will then decide whether the case should go to trial.
According to a sexual consent law passed in Spain last year, he could face a fine or a prison sentence of one to four years if found guilty of sexual assault.
In an interview with British journalist Piers Morgan, the former president insisted that he had "faith in the truth".
"I will do everything in my power to make it prevail. My daughters, my family and the people who love me have suffered the effects of unscrupulous persecution and many falsehoods".