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      Judge Vacates Convictions in Bribery Case Over Soccer Broadcast Deals

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      Hernán López, a former Fox employee, and an Argentine sports marketing company had been convicted of participating in a bribery scheme to secure rights to widely viewed tournaments.Less than six months after a federal jury convicted a former Fox employee and an Argentine sports marketing company of participating in a scheme to pay bribes in exchange for lucrative soccer broadcasting contracts, a judge in Brooklyn vacated the convictions on Friday.In a 55-page ruling, the judge, Pamela K. Chen, concluded that the federal wire fraud statute under which the defendants had been convicted did not apply to their actions.In a seven-week trial that ended in March, prosecutors alleged that Hernán López, who holds dual American and Argentine citizenship and who until 2016 worked for a unit of what was then known as 21st Century Fox, had been part of a scheme to make millions of dollars in secret annual payments to the presidents of national soccer federations in order to secure the rights to two widely viewed South American soccer tournaments.Mr. Lopez — who prosecutors also said had leveraged loyalty he garnered through bribes to help Fox beat out ESPN in its bid for the U.S. broadcasting rights for the 2018 and 2022 men’s World Cups — was convicted on one count of money laundering conspiracy and one count of wire fraud conspiracy. He faced up to 40 years in prison.Prosecutors said that Mr. López’s co-defendant, the sports marketing company Full Play Group, had paid bribes for the rights to multiple World Cup qualifiers, exhibition matches and tournaments. Full Play was convicted on six fraud and money laundering counts and could have faced stiff financial penalties.A key factor in Judge Chen’s decision, handed down late Friday, was the scope of a law under which the defendants had been charged, known as the honest services wire fraud statute.Until 2016, Hernán López worked for a unit of what was then known as 21st Century Fox. Fox has not been accused of wrongdoing.Brendan Mcdermid/ReutersJudge Chen cited a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in May, in which the justices threw out two fraud convictions stemming from public corruption prosecutions during Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s administration in New York. In one of the cases, Percoco v. United States, the justices considered whether a former aide to Mr. Cuomo could be prosecuted under a federal law that makes it a crime to deprive the government of “honest services” for conduct that took place after he left his government role.In light of that decision, and the absence of precedent applying that law to bribery of foreign employees of foreign nongovernment employers, Judge Chen wrote in her ruling that she was compelled to “find that the honest services wire fraud statute does not encompass foreign commercial bribery as charged against defendants.”“We are obviously pleased with Judge Chen’s thorough and correct decision,” John Gleeson, a lawyer for Mr. López, said in a statement on Saturday.Lawyers for Full Play wrote in a statement on Saturday that their client “greatly appreciates the court’s complete vindication.”The case in Brooklyn was one of many spawned by a yearslong corruption investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice into international soccer officials, which has led to more than two dozen convictions and over $100 million in forfeitures.Beyond the immediate acquittals of Mr. López and Full Play, the ruling could have significant implications for other defendants in the sprawling case. Two South American soccer officials were convicted after the first trial, in 2017, and could now seek acquittals, and at least four other defendants who have evaded extradition, including the Argentine owners of Full Play, could see the charges against them dropped. So far, the court has not spoken about those issues.John Marzulli, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office for the Eastern District of New York, said on Saturday that the prosecutor’s office was reviewing the decision. More

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      A Shocking Soccer Kiss Demonstrates the Power of Scandal

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      By generating public outrage, scandals make inaction costly: suddenly, doing nothing carries greater risks.After Luis Rubiales, the president of Spain’s soccer federation, forcibly kissed Jennifer Hermoso, a player on the national women’s team, in the wake of their World Cup win, many wondered whether it would be a #MeToo moment for Spain.Whether the televised kiss galvanizes a lasting movement against harassment and discrimination is yet to be seen. But the growing backlash against Rubiales highlights an often-crucial element of such public reckonings: scandal. During periods of social change, there is often a phase of widespread support for an overhaul in principle but a reluctance within the population to actually make those ideals a reality. Changing a system means taking on the powerful insiders who benefit from it and bearing the brunt of their retaliation — a hard sell, particularly for those who do not expect the change to help them personally.A scandal can change that calculus profoundly, as illustrated by the furor surrounding the kiss. Hermoso described it as “an impulse-driven, sexist, out-of-place act without any consent on my part.” (Rubiales, who has refused to resign, has forcefully defended his conduct and insisted that the kiss was consensual.)By generating public outrage, scandals make inaction costly: suddenly, doing nothing risks an even greater backlash. And scandals can alter the other side of the equation, too: the powerful have less ability to retaliate if their erstwhile allies abandon them in order to avoid being tainted by the scandal themselves. Action becomes less costly at the same time that inaction becomes more so.But although scandals can be a mighty tool, they are not available to everyone. Just as the growing backlash against Rubiales has shown the power of scandal, the events of the months leading up to it, in which many members of the Spanish women’s team tried without success to change a system they described as controlling and outdated, underline how difficult it can be to spark a scandal — and how that can leave ordinary people excluded from public sympathy or the ability to enact change.The unifying power of scandalTo see how this pattern plays out, it’s helpful to look at the influence of scandal in a very different context. Yanilda González, a professor at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, researches police reform in the Americas. In the 2010s, she set out to determine why, after Latin American dictatorships ended, democratic reforms often exempted police forces, leaving them as islands of authoritarianism.In her resulting 2020 book, “Authoritarian Police in Democracy,” she describes how police forces can be extremely powerful in political terms, sometimes using the threat of public disorder as leverage over policymakers who might seek to limit their power or threaten their privileges.Politicians were reluctant to incur the costs of pursuing reforms that might provoke a backlash from police. And public opinion was often divided: while some demanded greater protections from state violence, others worried that police reforms would empower criminals.But, González found, scandals could change that. Episodes of particularly egregious police misconduct could unite public opinion in demanding reform. Opposition politicians, seeing an opportunity to win votes from an angry public, would add to the chorus, and eventually the government would decide that change was the least costly option.The Harvey Weinstein scandal followed a similar pattern. For many years, Weinstein’s predatory behavior was an open secret in Hollywood. But then a Times article by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey, in which multiple women detailed the abuses they had suffered at his hands, generated a massive scandal. The public outrage at Weinstein’s behavior meant that the old Hollywood calculus, in which it was safer to keep quiet about the powerful producer’s abuses than to try to stop them, no longer applied. Weinstein’s former allies abandoned him.That generated pressure for change that went far beyond Weinstein. A slew of other #MeToo scandals exposed powerful men as abusers, harassers, and general sex pests. A national reckoning followed.‘The kiss’ shows scandal’s power — but also its limitationsLong before the televised kiss, many members of the Spanish women’s team had lodged protests against Rubiales and the Spanish football association’s leadership. Last year, 15 members of the team, frustrated by unequal pay and general sexism, sent identical letters accusing the team’s coach, Jorge Vilda, of using methods damaging to “their emotional state and their health,” and saying they would not play for the national team unless he was fired.Those 15 women were some of the team’s best players. They were organized. And they were willing to sacrifice a World Cup appearance to achieve change.But they were not yet “Queens of the World,” as one magazine cover proclaimed them last week, with a World Cup win that would put them on the front page of every newspaper in the country. And they didn’t yet have a scandal. No single event had generated sufficient public outrage to shift power from the football association to the players. The Spanish football association, including Rubiales, reacted with outrage to the letters, and vowed to not only protect Vilda’s job, but to keep the writers off the national team unless they “accept their mistake and apologize.” Though there is no precise formula, to capture public attention a scandal often needs to involve an exceptionally sympathetic victim, as well as shocking allegations of misconduct. Kate Manne, a philosophy professor at Cornell and the author of two books on structural misogyny, has written about how some people will instinctively align themselves with the status quo, sympathizing with powerful men accused of sexual violence or other wrongdoing rather than their victims — a tendency she calls “himpathy.” To overcome that instinct, she said, victims often have to be particularly compelling, such as the famous actresses who came forward about Weinstein’s abuses.Of course, most victims of harassment and assault are not famous actresses, or queens of the world. Manne noted that Tarana Burke, the activist who founded the #MeToo movement, spent years trying to bring attention to the abuse of less privileged women before high-profile scandals galvanized global attention. “She was trying to draw attention to the plight of the Black and brown girls who can be victimized in ways that don’t ever scandalize anyone,” Manne said. Public outrage has tended to be reserved for high-profile victims. But if norms shift more broadly against abuse and impunity, there can be positive change for ordinary people as well. Famous actresses may have focused public anger on Weinstein, but the #MeToo movement also brought attention to abuses of some less-famous workers, such as restaurant staff.Once the machinery of scandal does kick in, the consequences can be significant. As my Times colleagues Jason Horowitz and Rachel Chaundler report, many Spanish women saw Rubiales’ action as an example of a macho, sexist culture that allows men to subject them to aggression and violence without consequence.As public anger grew, politicians weighed in on behalf of the players. Late Friday night, the entire team and dozens of other players issued a joint statement saying that they would not play for Spain “if the current managers continue.” The next day, members of Vilda’s coaching staff resigned en masse.On Monday, Spanish prosecutors announced an investigation into whether Rubiales might have committed criminal sexual aggression. The same day, the Royal Spanish Football Association, which Rubiales currently leads, called on him to resign.The question now is not just whether he will be fired or step down, but if the broader outrage will lead to real change in Spain. “When we have these women who are, you know, figuratively and literally on top of the world in professional sports — and it’s captured live on video — then we have the makings of a scandal,” Manne said. It is too soon to tell where that might lead. More

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      Pressure Mounts on Rubiales Over Kiss at World Cup

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      Luis Rubiales has defied calls to resign, now echoed by his own federation. Soccer’s world governing body has suspended him, and prosecutors have opened an initial investigation.The pressure is on for Luis Rubiales, the president of Spain’s national soccer federation, to quit.Prosecutors opened a preliminary investigation on Monday into whether his kiss of the forward Jennifer Hermoso, during the medals ceremony after she and her teammates won the Women’s World Cup for Spain last week, was an act of sexual aggression.In an emergency meeting that went on late into Monday night, Spain’s regional soccer chiefs unanimously asked him to step down immediately. The president of the National Sports Council said in a televised news conference on Monday that Mr. Rubiales should have handed in his notice last Friday. And in Madrid on Monday night, hundreds of people took to the streets, waving red cards and demanding Mr. Rubiales’s resignation.But Mr. Rubiales has remained defiant. Since Friday — when he said “I will not resign” five times — he has been holed up with his family in his hometown, Motril.Mr. Rubiales, a former professional soccer player, had hoped to play a match with friends on Saturday evening at the town’s municipal stadium. Feminist groups threatened to protest outside the gates, and the town council ordered it canceled, saying it could not guarantee Mr. Rubiales’s safety.There are also some signs of backing for him in the town, however.Mr. Rubiales’s mother has been on hunger strike in a church in Motril since Monday, protesting against what she has called the “inhumane and bloody hunt” against her son. On Monday night, responding to a call by Mr. Rubiales’s cousins, people congregated outside the church in support, some with posters aimed at Ms. Hermoso saying: “Jenni, tell the truth.” A police estimate cited in the Spanish media put the crowd at around 200.On Monday, Spain’s public prosecutors opened a pretrial investigation to establish whether the nonconsensual kiss Mr. Rubiales pressed on Ms. Hermoso was an act of sexual aggression, a crime that is punishable by up to four years in prison. Ms. Hermoso was widely reported to have been given 15 days to come forward with a formal complaint that would allow the prosecutors to proceed.As a young man, Mr. Rubiales, 46, enjoyed a career as a soccer player in the Spanish league. He became president of the Spanish soccer players’ association in 2010 and then took over the presidency of the Royal Spanish Football Federation five years ago. On Tuesday morning, there was no news from Mr. Rubiales. If he refuses to go voluntarily, the federation he presides over may hold a vote of no confidence to oust him.The Spanish government, for the time being, has its hands tied. According to press reports, it can intervene only if the Court of Arbitration for Sport considers the kiss to be a “very serious infraction.” On Monday, the reports said, the court asked for more documentation before reaching a decision.In a news conference on Tuesday morning, the acting sports minister, Miquel Iceta, was questioned about what steps the government was taking to remove Mr. Rubiales. “We all want this matter to be resolved as soon as possible,” Mr. Iceta said. “But we must also ensure that it is done rigorously and with all the legal guarantees — among other reasons, to prevent an appeal that could reverse whatever decisions are made.” More

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      Luis Rubiales and Spain’s Kiss Scandal at the World Cup, Explained

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      An unwanted kiss cast a pall over the Spanish team’s victory at the Women’s World Cup. Some are calling it a #MeToo moment for the country and for soccer there.When the Spanish women’s national soccer team won the World Cup final this month, their compatriots had little time to celebrate before the behavior of the country’s top soccer official prompted a controversy over misogyny and sexual assault.During the ceremony after the team’s victory, Luis Rubiales, the president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation, forcibly kissed Jennifer Hermoso, a star forward, on the lips — a move that Ms. Hermoso later described as “an impulse-driven, sexist, out-of-place act without any consent on my part.”Despite numerous calls for him to resign, Mr. Rubiales has forcefully defended his conduct and insisted that the kiss was consensual. But last weekend, FIFA, the world’s top soccer body, suspended him and barred him from contacting Ms. Hermoso. On Monday, Spanish prosecutors opened a criminal investigation into Mr. Rubiales’s conduct, and later that day, his own association called on him to step down immediately.Here is what to know about the events.What happened?During a ceremony after Spain’s 1-0 victory over England in the final on Aug. 20, Mr. Rubiales kissed Ms. Hermoso on the lips, an act that was captured on video.In a separate incident, he was filmed grabbing his crotch in a victory gesture, while standing a few feet from Spain’s queen and her 16-year-old daughter — for which he later apologized.Jennifer Hermoso during a World Cup match in New Zealand in July.John Cowpland/Associated PressMr. Rubiales initially apologized for kissing Ms. Hermoso but later backtracked, insisting in remarks on Friday that the act had been “spontaneous, mutual, euphoric and consensual.” He also accused his critics of engaging in “false feminism.”Ms. Hermoso said that she had not consented to the kiss and that she had faced pressure to publicly play down Mr. Rubiales’s actions. She said in a statement on Friday that “no person, in any work, sports, or social setting, should be a victim of these types of nonconsensual behaviors.”Does Spanish soccer have a sexism problem?Many in Spain have lamented that the kiss has redirected a jubilant nation’s attention away from the victorious team toward a controversy centered on Mr. Rubiales. But some soccer players and feminist activists have pointed to entrenched sexism in the sport that long predates the scandal.The previous head coach of the Spanish women’s national team, Ignacio Quereda, was ousted in 2015 amid accusations of sexism. And his successor, Jorge Vilda, has also faced complaints. Last year, more than a dozen players refused to play on the women’s national team amid complaints of unequal pay, intrusive treatment by Mr. Vilda and a general culture of sexism.Some Spanish commentators and government officials have called the kiss a #MeToo moment for soccer, one of the country’s most entrenched bastions of machismo — a sense of masculine pride and entitlement. Activists have used the slogan “se acabó,” meaning “it’s over,” to call for changes.“We are ready for this to be the #MeToo of Spanish football and for this to be a change,” Victor Francos Díaz, who directs Spain’s National Sports Council, told reporters on Friday.Yolanda Díaz, the country’s labor minister, wrote on social media on Monday that “the fight of female players is that of the whole society.”Who is Luis Rubiales?A career soccer player born in the Canary Islands and raised in Motril in southern Spain, Mr. Rubiales, 46, never became a household name as a defender on the field.But he rose through the ranks off the field, becoming the chief of the Spanish players’ association in 2010 and then head of the federation — Spanish soccer’s governing body, which represents women and men — in 2018.Mr. Rubiales speaking during an emergency meeting of the Spanish soccer federation in Las Rozas last week.Rfef/Europa Press, via Associated PressWhat has the reaction been in Spain and abroad?Spain’s main soccer federation, the main union of professional female soccer players and leading politicians, including government ministers, have denounced Mr. Rubiales’s conduct and called for him to resign.Members of the women’s national team, along with dozens of other players, have vowed not to play for Spain “if the current managers continue.”On Monday, Spanish prosecutors said they were investing the episode as a potential act of sexual assault, a crime punishable under Spanish law by one to four years in prison.Feminist groups organized a rally in support of Ms. Hermoso in Madrid on Monday.Aldara Zarraoa/Getty ImagesThe soccer federation that Mr. Rubiales leads initially backed him and issued a statement saying that he “did not lie.” But late Monday, after a protracted emergency meeting, it reversed course and called for him to step down, citing “unacceptable behaviors that have seriously damaged the reputation of Spanish football.”On Saturday, FIFA, the world’s governing soccer body, said it had suspended Mr. Rubiales while it investigates the episode. FIFA also ordered both Mr. Rubiales and the Spanish soccer federation not to contact Ms. Hermoso. More

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      Spanish Prosecutors Open Inquiry Into Luis Rubiales Over World Cup Kiss

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      Luis Rubiales caused outrage with his conduct after Spain won the Women’s World Cup and then for his defiant stand when he came under heavy criticism.Spanish prosecutors said on Monday that they had opened an investigation into whether Luis Rubiales, the president of the country’s soccer federation, could be charged with committing an act of sexual aggression after he kissed one of the female team’s players on the lips when they won the World Cup this month.Opposition has steadily grown in response to Mr. Rubiales’s conduct and his strident defense of it, and the group he heads, known formally as Royal Spanish Football Federation, has found itself under increasing pressure to take action. The group was meeting later Monday to discuss the issue.Mr. Rubiales was shown on video after the World Cup final in Sydney on Aug. 20 kissing one of the team’s star players, Jennifer Hermoso, and although he apologized the day after, he then took a defiant stand later in the week.He said Ms. Hermoso had lifted him off his feet and “moved me close to her body,” accusing his critics of “false feminism” and saying he was the victim of “social assassination.” Ms. Hermoso countered in a statement, “At no time did I consent to the kiss that he gave me.”The Spanish team has recently found success at the highest levels of women’s soccer, after reaching the Women’s World Cup for the first time in 2015, but the events involving Mr. Rubiales were a reminder that the program has been plagued by sexism and other scandals.Mr. Rubiales is a vice president of UEFA, soccer’s governing body in Europe, and has been leading the joint bid by Spain, Portugal, Morocco and possibly Ukraine to host the 2030 World Cup. FIFA, soccer’s global governing body, had already suspended him from the sport for 90 days. The entire female team and dozens of other players signed a joint statement saying they would not take the field to play for Spain “if the current managers continue.”Criticism of Mr. Rubiales has come from the government, too. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez described his conduct as “unacceptable,” and the secretary of the opposition People’s Party, Cuca Gamarra, called the kiss “shameful.”Players from around the world showed their support for Ms. Hermoso, often using the hashtag “se acabó,” or “it’s over,” after a social media post by Alexia Putellas, a member of the Spanish national team. More

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      Spanish Soccer Chief Finds His Defenders Backing Away

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      Luis Rubiales was widely condemned for kissing a player after the Spanish women’s team won the World Cup, but retained a few public supporters. Many now appear to be reconsidering.When the president of the Spanish soccer federation, Luis Rubiales, kissed Jennifer Hermoso, a star forward on the Spanish national team that had just won the Women’s World Cup, much of the Spanish news media condemned his behavior. Most mainstream outlets, along with Spaniards on social media, called out the kiss as evidence of a callous disregard for Ms. Hermoso and, more broadly, lingering sexism in soccer.Not the radio sportscaster Manolo Lama. Mr. Lama said on a popular late-night show on the Cadena Cope radio station, “Those who are angry, it’s because they have never been kissed.” He used the female pronoun for “they” in Spanish.Earlier, in a post-match interview with Mr. Rubiales, also on Cadena Cope, a popular sports presenter, Juanma Castaño, did not question the federation president about the appropriateness of his behavior. When Mr. Rubiales characterized the kiss as a “peck between two friends celebrating something” and brushed off his critics as “losers,” “idiots” and “stupid people,” Mr. Castaño laughed and said, “I think the same thing.”As the chorus of condemnation grew over the week following Mr. Rubiales’s actions at the World Cup final, it became harder to defend the federation president.Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez waded in, calling it “unacceptable” that the soccer chief had kissed a player on the lips without her consent. The secretary of the opposition People’s Party, Cuca Gamarra, described the kiss as “shameful.” On Saturday, the world soccer federation temporarily suspended Mr. Rubiales. On Monday, Spanish soccer officials will hold an emergency meeting about the situation.Since their initial comments, both sports journalists have apologized to their audiences. Mr. Castaño issued a statement last Monday saying that he now realized the kiss was “more than a mistake with no importance.”Mr. Lama published an apology of sorts on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, asking last Monday for “forgiveness from those I have offended.” But he did not condemn Mr. Rubiales, and wrote of the kiss: “I simply think it is an act produced from euphoria and without malice.”“But Spain has become a country of inquisitors,” he continued, “if you think differently, you’ll be stoned.”The Cadena Cope radio station did not immediately respond to a request for comment.The kiss has brought the ongoing lively conversation in Spain about the treatment of women back into the fore.Some of Spain’s conservative mainstream news outlets have used the incident to take a dig at a controversial law passed in August last year by Mr. Sánchez’s Socialist government. The law classifies all nonconsensual sex acts as rape, but initially contained a loophole that allowed some convicted offenders to lower their sentences.On Saturday, an editorial in Spain’s conservative newspaper, La Razón, described the episode as a “national monstrosity,” and said the progressivism of Mr. Sánchez’s government had created an environment that enabled Mr. Rubiales. “His vulgar and inappropriate behavior in the Women’s World Cup final would have been impossible” the editorial said, without the protection that Sánchez’s government “has provided to his escapades.”The more left-leaning El País has focused on the emergence of a hashtag in support of Ms. Hermoso: “se acabó,” or “it’s over,” coined by Alexia Putellas, a member of the Spanish national team, who is widely acknowledged as the best female player in the world. An editorial on Saturday said that “women are saying enough to the abuse of power and Spanish society is with them.” By Sunday, El País led with the simple affirmation: “Spain no longer tolerates ‘los Rubiales,’” referring not only to Mr. Rubiales, but to sexist behavior in general.Protesters on Friday holding red cards, which signify the sending off of a player in soccer, as a protest against Mr. Rubiales in Las Rozas, Spain.Isabel Infantes/ReutersThe sports newspaper AS, which had seemed to initially back Mr. Rubiales, has dropped its support for the soccer chief.Earlier this week, it ran a headline blaming Ms. Hermoso — “Jenni lets Rubiales take the fall.” By Saturday, after widespread criticism, it was leading with a photo of Mr. Rubiales and a more neutral headline in reference to him, “Struck down.”Some of his colleagues at the Spanish soccer federation are shifting their allegiance as well.On Friday, as Mr. Rubiales defiantly announced he would not be quitting, many of his closest colleagues, including Jorge Vilda and Luis de la Fuente, the managers of the Spanish women’s and men’s squads, gave him a standing ovation.Hours later, FIFA announced Mr. Rubiales’s suspension from soccer for 90 days, and the entire female squad and dozens of other players signed a joint statement saying they would not take the field to play for Spain “if the current managers continue.”Mr. de la Fuente and Mr. Vilda have now distanced themselves from Mr. Rubiales, with Mr. Vilda saying that he regretted the “inappropriate conduct” of his boss. 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      Spanish Soccer Body Threatens to Sue Over Player’s Account of Kiss

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      The group said it was defending the honor of its president, Luis Rubiales, who kissed the player, Jennifer Hermoso. Players have vowed not to take the field until he resigns.Spain’s soccer federation late Friday threatened legal action to protect its president’s reputation after a member of Spain’s victorious women’s World Cup championship team said he had forcibly grabbed and kissed her on the lips, prompting calls for his resignation.Luis Rubiales, the Royal Spanish Football Federation chief, has insisted he did nothing wrong with regard to the player, Jennifer Hermoso, who said she never consented to his actions but had faced pressure to publicly back Mr. Rubiales.Mr. Rubiales’s kiss — broadcast live to millions — cast a pall over the team’s celebrations and recalled a history of accusations of sexism in Spanish soccer.“I want to clarify that, as seen in the images, at no time did I consent to the kiss he gave me,” Ms. Hermoso said Friday in a statement issued by the country’s soccer union. “I do not tolerate my word being questioned, much less that it be made-up words that I haven’t said.”In a statement, the federation vowed to take “as many legal actions as are appropriate in defense of the president’s honor” following Ms. Hermoso’s account of what happened. Mr. Rubiales said that Ms. Hermoso lifted him up, citing this as evidence she approved of his actions, and his organization has backed him.Ms. Hermoso has denied intending to lift Mr. Rubiales.Players on the Spanish women’s team, along with dozens of others, have said they will refuse to play for the national team until “the current managers,” including Mr. Rubiales, are gone. More

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      Nike Says It Will Offer Mary Earps’s Goalkeeper Jersey

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      After being criticized for not offering replicas of the jerseys worn by the English goalkeeper Mary Earps and others in the Women’s World Cup, Nike said limited quantities would be available.With each breathtaking save made by Mary Earps, the goalkeeper who helped England’s national team take second place in the Women’s World Cup, the complaints from fans got louder: Why couldn’t they buy a replica of her Nike jersey?Nike, which outfitted the team, has attempted to present itself as being ahead of the curve in terms of offering support to female athletes and emerging sports talent. Though the company, the world’s largest sportswear maker by sales, acknowledged fans’ interest in replica goalkeeper jerseys, it initially did not commit to making them.That changed on Wednesday, after thousands of people had signed a petition requesting that replicas of the jerseys worn by Ms. Earps and other women goalkeepers be released, and after a motion addressing the issue was submitted in the British Parliament.“Nike has secured limited quantities of goalkeeper jerseys for England, U.S., France and the Netherlands to be sold through the federation websites over the coming days, and we are also in conversations with our other federation partners,” a spokeswoman for Nike said in a statement emailed to The New York Times on Wednesday evening, referring to members of FIFA, soccer’s global governing body.Nike is “committed to retailing women’s goalkeeping jerseys for major tournaments in the future,” the spokeswoman said in the statement, which did not specify how many jerseys would be available or when they could be purchased.In the days before, Nike, which outfitted 13 of the 32 teams in the Women’s World Cup, had faced an escalating backlash from soccer fans on the issue. (Replica goalkeeper jerseys were available for four of the men’s teams Nike sponsored in last year’s World Cup.)Many of the complaints centered around Ms. Earps, 30, who received the Golden Glove, an award recognizing the top goalkeeper in the tournament. “She’s the best in the world right now, and she doesn’t have a jersey,” Beth Mead, who has played for England’s women’s national team, told the BBC. “She doesn’t have a shirt that young boys and girls can buy.”Why wouldn’t Nike want to offer replica jerseys for popular goalkeepers?In the past, goalkeeper jerseys have not been best sellers for athletic-wear companies, for a few reasons.With a few exceptions, goalkeepers typically do not cultivate the kind of passionate fan base that other players like forwards can, meaning potentially fewer jersey sales.A goalkeeper’s jersey is also different from that of other teammates to ensure they stand out on the field. (Ms. Earps’s World Cup jerseys were emerald green and pink; her teammates’ were blue and white.) While a team’s main shirt can be produced en masse — with versions for various players requiring a simple name change on the back — a goalkeeper’s jersey requires a much smaller and more customized manufacturing run.Though interest in women’s soccer has risen, the sport still drives fewer apparel sales globally compared to men’s soccer.Did other brands make jerseys for goalkeepers playing in the Women’s World Cup?Adidas, which outfitted 10 teams for the tournament, did not offer replica goalkeeper jerseys. Neither did Puma, which made kits for Morocco and Switzerland.But Hummel, which made jerseys for Denmark’s national women’s team, and Castore, which made them for Ireland, each have released replica goalkeeper jerseys for those teams.How did the controversy start?At a news conference at the start of the Women’s World Cup, Ms. Earps expressed frustration about Nike’s decision not to offer replicas of the jerseys worn by participating teams’ goalkeepers. “It is hugely disappointing and very hurtful,” she said, adding that she had sought talks with both Nike and the Football Association, the governing body for English soccer, after England won the European Women’s Championship tournament last year.Ms. Earps, who is a goalkeeper for Manchester United in the Women’s Super League, also pushed back on the idea that her jersey would not sell. “My shirt on the Manchester United website was sold out last season,” she said.By the time England faced off against Spain in the Women’s World Cup final, Ms. Earps had made several vital saves that helped keep her team in the tournament. Her star performance only intensified questions about Nike’s decision.David Seaman, a former goalkeeper for Arsenal and England’s men’s national team, posted a message of support for Ms. Earps while she was playing in the final. “Bet Nike are regretting not selling the #maryearps shirt now,” he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.Another post on X shared that day read in part: “My 10 year old daughter is the goalie in her school team. She’s just gone online to buy a jersey for next year and wanted one like Mary Earps’s only to find Nike don’t do one. ‘That’s a bit stupid’ she said.”In the absence of an official replica jersey by Nike, some of Ms. Earps’s fans made their own jerseys using tape. Several small retailers also started manufacturing jerseys similar to her Nike shirt.How did Nike respond at first?In a statement released after the Women’s World Cup final on Sunday, which England lost 1-0 to Spain, Nike tried to put the focus on the future.“We are working toward solutions for future tournaments in partnership with FIFA and the federations,” the company said. “The fact that there’s a conversation on this topic is a testament to the continued passion and energy around the women’s game, and we believe that’s encouraging.”That did not satisfy Ms. Earps. On Tuesday, she reposted Nike’s statement to her Instagram account, adding the text: “Is this your version of an apology/taking accountability/a powerful statement of intent?”In another Instagram post, she shared a link to a Change.org petition that had been created in her support. It has received more than 150,000 signatures.Ms. Earps, through a representative, declined to comment for this article.How did Parliament get involved?This week, Tracey Crouch, a member of Parliament and former sports minister, submitted a motion calling on Nike to release a jersey for Ms. Earps.Nike “could have changed this,” Ms. Crouch wrote in an essay published in The Independent on Wednesday. “They still can if they take their fingers out of their tin ears and listen to the hundreds of thousands of women who have signed the petition, gone on social media, listened to the outcry on the media.”The change of course by Nike, and the loud online chorus that apparently prompted it, underscore the growing influence of the global women’s game and its major names. More