Luis Rubiales, Ex-Chief of Spanish Soccer, to Face Trial Over World Cup Kiss

Luis Rubiales, Spain’s onetime soccer chief, is due to be tried over his nonconsensual kiss of a star player during the Women’s World Cup medal ceremony last summer after a judge recommended on Thursday that he face a court’s judgment in a high-profile case that has upended the sport in Spain.

The judge also recommended that Mr. Rubiales and three officials with the Royal Spanish Football Federation, soccer’s governing body in the country — including Jorge Vilda, who was fired as the women’s team coach in the wake of the incident — be tried on charges of coercion for exerting pressure on the player, Jennifer Hermoso, to show support for Mr. Rubiales in the immediate aftermath of the kiss.

The judge concluded that the kiss by Mr. Rubiales, after the Women’s World Cup final in Sydney, Australia, “was nonconsensual and was a unilateral and surprise act.” Judge de Jorge also found that even if the kiss was more celebratory than sexual in nature, Mr. Rubiales’s behavior was within the bounds of the “intimacy of sexual relations” and he should be held to account.

Public prosecutors and Ms. Hermoso now have 10 days to formalize their accusations, and then a trial will take place. If found guilty of sexual assault, Mr. Rubiales would face a prison sentence of one to four years.

The ruling was the culmination of a pretrial inquiry, presided over by the judge, Francisco de Jorge, in which witnesses including Ms. Hermoso, officials and other players gave evidence regarding sexual assault accusations against Mr. Rubiales in a closed-door hearing that ended on Jan. 2. The judge also examined videos of the kiss from numerous angles and a video recorded on a bus after the medal ceremony, in which Ms. Hermoso initially seemed to make light of the incident.

Ms. Hermoso, who is expected to play for Spain in the Paris Olympic Games this summer if the country qualifies, was not immediately available for comment.

The player filed a criminal complaint against Mr. Rubiales in September, two and a half weeks after he forcefully kissed her on the lips, on live television, on the podium as the team celebrated its victory over England in the World Cup final. That complaint cleared the way for public prosecutors to open a case against Mr. Rubiales.

The public reckoning over the kiss has overshadowed one of Spain’s finest hours in soccer and fed a broader debate about sexism and power imbalances in the sport. The episode also led to the resurfacing of decades-old accusations of disrespect and controlling behavior by male coaches and managers in Spain toward female players.

When players vowed, in protest, not to take the field for the national team and Alexia Putellas, one of that team’s stars, coined the phrase “se acabó” or “it’s over” in support of Ms. Hermoso, comparisons were made to the #MeToo movement.

Even Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez waded into the post-match fray, calling the kiss “unacceptable.”

Mr. Rubiales…