MADRID: Regional leaders of the Spanish football federation have called on national president Luis Rubiales to resign immediately over the Jenni Hermoso scandal.

Hermoso, 33, said Rubiales’s kiss on her lips at the trophy presentation after the Women’s World Cup Final was not consensual and Spanish prosecutors have opened a preliminary investigation into whether the incident amounts to a crime of sexual assault.

While Rubiales’s mother, Angeles Bejar, has locked herself in a Spanish church and gone on a hunger strike in protest of the treatment of her son several cities have seen protests called by feminist groups in support of Hermoso.

Rubiales was suspended on Saturday by world football’s governing body FIFA, a day after he had insisted he would not resign.

An RFEF statement said: “After recent events and the unacceptable behaviour that has seriously damaged the image of Spanish football, the [regional] presidents request that Luis Rubiales resign immediately as president.”

The presidents also gave their “unanimous support” to interim chief Pedro Rocha and called for an overhaul of the federation’s management.

Spain’s Sports Tribunal (TAD) also met on Monday to discuss the Spanish government’s request to suspend Rubiales while the Madrid criminal court said it was opening its investigation in light of the “unequivocal nature” of Hermoso’s statements, saying it was necessary “to determine their legal significance”.

Spain’s acting labour minister Yolanda Diaz said on Monday that male chauvinism was “systemic” in the country and had been shown in its worst form in the incident involving Rubiales.

Diaz, who is also deputy prime minister and head of the far-left Sumar coalition, called for social attitudes to change more generally in the country – and for victims of sexual harassment and violence to be better protected.

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