When Spain won the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2023, their historic achievement was overshadowed by the callous actions of a single man. As the players received their medals, Luis Rubiales, former president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation, grabbed player Jenni Hermoso and kissed her, sparking outrage from the millions of people watching.
Netflix released a documentary earlier this month, titled #SeAcabó: Diario de las Campeonas (It’s all over: the kiss that changed Spanish Football), which portrays the events leading up to the kiss and its aftermath. It is told through exclusive interviews with Hermoso and her teammates, including two-time ballon d’or winners Alexia Putellas and Aitana Bonmatí.
The documentary allows the Spanish women’s national team to finally tell their story in their own words. For a long time they had been bullied into submission by the Spanish Football Federation under Rubiales and, in the aftermath of the kiss, their voices had been drowned out by an international media circus.
Hermoso states that while she had been afraid of speaking out before, she was now ready to tell the world what really happened.
There is thrilling footage of Spain’s momentous journey at the world cup in Australia and New Zealand, including the tense battle against England in the final which ended in a 1-0 victory to Spain. However, behind the scenes, the Spanish team were experiencing unprecedented hardships and divisions.
15 Spanish players, known as las 15, refused to be called up to the national team before the World Cup – until working conditions improved and there was a more structured coaching programme. This was taken as a personal attack by Rubiales and former coach Jorge Vilda, who allegedly used their power to guilt-trip and villainise players to gain total control.
As Spain progressed throughout the world cup, Vilda took their success as a personal victory. When they won, Rubiales and Vilda again took centre stage: Rubiales was alleged to have been seen grabbing his genitals in front of the royal family, and inappropriately picking up the professional female athletes.
The public kiss between Rubiales and Jenni Hermoso helped to expose the corruption and male egoism that had plagued the Spanish women’s national team for years. But at what cost? Instead of celebrating their ground-breaking victory, there was an international media scandal about the kiss, and their achievement was drowned out by this exploding narrative. Hermoso was relentlessly pressured by the Spanish federation to exonerate Rubiales, and they even fabricated an official statement to try to clear his name.
Jenni Hermoso became the involuntary centre of a debate about cancel culture and sexual abuse in male-dominated environments. While many people supported her position, they neglected to consider how this spiralling news story would affect Jenni, who was now being presented as a helpless victim instead of a sporting hero who had just won the world cup.
This documentary aims to take back the narrative, and to place the spotlight back on the players after it had been stolen from them by attention-seeking men.
In a speech at the end of the documentary, Hermoso says “We did not become champions to hold a trophy to be displayed. We became world champions because that was the only way we could be heard, respected and valued.”
The Spanish women’s players spread a global message – #SeAcabó (meaning “it all ends”) – to champion the importance of making your own voice heard, especially when those in power threaten to silence or speak for you.
Photo Credits: “Partido España – Bélxica en Riazor, clasificatorio Eurocopa 2025 227 (cropped – Jenni Hermoso)” by Estevoaei is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.