"Spain team quits as federation boss refuses to resign in kiss scandal"

MADRID, Aug 25 (Reuters) - Spanish soccer boss Luis Rubiales on Friday refused to resign for grabbing star player Jenni Hermoso's head and kissing her on the lips after Spain's Women's World Cup victory, leading the national team to mutiny and the government to denounce his "macho actions".

In a joint statement sent via their FUTPRO union, all 23 of the cup-winning squad including Hermoso, as well as 32 other squad members, said they would not play internationals while Rubiales remains head of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF).

In the same statement, Hermoso denied Rubiales' contention that the kiss he gave her at the medal ceremony after Spain beat England 1-0 in the final in Sydney, Australia, was consensual.

"I do not tolerate it when my word is put into doubt and less so when words that I have not said are invented," she wrote.

Later, in a statement on social media on Friday, Hermoso added: "I felt vulnerable and a victim of aggression. I was simply not respected."

She said she had been put under "continuous pressure to justify Mr Rubiales' actions" by the RFEF. She added that the incident was "the final straw" in a long list of situations that players had been denouncing for years.

The federation, which has not responded to her latest comments, called an emergency meeting on Friday at which Rubiales had been widely expected to stand down. But instead he said repeatedly that he would not quit and complained that "false feminists" were "trying to kill me". [...]

FIFA opened disciplinary procedures against Rubiales on Thursday after Hermoso said in a statement her union was working to defend her interests and that such acts should "never go unpunished". [...]

The international football players union FIFPro said in a statement it had written to UEFA, where Rubiales is vice president, requesting that it start disciplinary proceedings. UEFA declined to comment. [...]

The Royal Spanish Football Federation has since released a statement defending Rubiales and announcing "its intention to take any necessary legal actions in defense of the honorability of the President".