Former Spanish Football Federation president Luis Rubiales endured a shocking and surreal attack at his book presentation in Madrid on Thursday evening when his own uncle pelted him with eggs in front of a stunned audience. The 48-year-old disgraced football official, who was convicted of sexual assault earlier this year for forcibly kissing player Jenni Hermoso, was promoting his controversial memoir “Matar a Rubiales” (Killing Rubiales) when the family drama unfolded in spectacular fashion. The incident, which ended with police arresting the egg-throwing relative, adds another bizarre chapter to Rubiales’ ongoing saga of public disgrace and legal troubles.
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The Dramatic Moment Unfolds
The attack occurred late Thursday at a book launch event on María de Molina Street in Madrid, where Luis Rubiales was seated on a stool on a low stage discussing his 500-page memoir. Video footage captured the chaotic moment when a man suddenly entered the venue shouting “scoundrel” before hurling three eggs toward the former football chief.
| Incident Timeline |
|---|
| Date: Thursday, November 13, 2025 |
| Location: María de Molina Street, Madrid |
| Event: Book launch for “Matar a Rubiales” |
| Attacker: Luis Rubén Rubiales (uncle, age 48) |
| Projectiles: 3 eggs thrown |
| Outcome: Uncle arrested by Spanish National Police |
| Injuries: None reported |
Luis Rubiales reacted instantly, jumping up and spinning quickly in an attempt to dodge the incoming projectiles. Despite his evasive maneuvers, one egg struck him squarely on the back of his dark jacket, while another splattered dramatically against a screen behind him. In a moment of confusion and apparent fear, Rubiales charged into the small audience, attempting to confront his attacker before being restrained by other attendees.
“A man entered who I later saw was my uncle, who is a troubled man, and always has been,” Rubiales told reporters immediately after the incident. “He had some eggs and threw some at me, but I didn’t know what he had in his hands, and when I first saw him I thought he might be carrying a weapon.”
The Uncle Behind the Attack
Spanish media quickly identified the egg thrower as Luis Rubén Rubiales, an actor who shares his nephew’s first name and is approximately the same age. The uncle has appeared in several domestic Spanish television shows and reportedly still lives with his grandmother.
Luis Rubiales later confirmed the family connection in an interview with Radio Marca, expressing both shock and concern about the attack. “He’s my uncle, his name is Luis Rubén,” Rubiales explained. “He’s a troublemaker and he’s unwell. I think he’s been arrested. We’ll see what we can do to prevent these things from happening again. It’s a shame.”
The former federation president revealed his initial terror during those chaotic seconds. “I didn’t know what he had in his hands,” he told Radio Marca. “I thought he might have a gun… I wasn’t thinking about myself.”
| Luis Rubiales’ Family Feuds |
|---|
| Uncle #1 – Luis Rubén Rubiales: Actor, threw eggs at book launch (November 2025) |
| Uncle #2 – Juan Rubiales: Former federation employee, falling out several years ago |
| Relationship Status: Estranged from multiple family members |
| Reported Grievance: Family divisions blamed on Hermoso controversy |
According to reports from Euro Weekly News, Luis Rubén Rubiales has been harboring resentment since the Jenni Hermoso controversy erupted in 2023. He reportedly blames his nephew for causing deep divisions within the family—grievances that apparently reached boiling point during Thursday’s book launch.
Spanish National Police confirmed they arrested a Spanish man following the incident but declined to officially verify the family connection. The uncle was detained and removed from the premises immediately after the attack, with video footage showing him being escorted away by multiple men before police took him into custody outside the venue.
The Controversial Memoir at Center Stage
The book launch that became the scene of family drama was promoting “Matar a Rubiales” (Killing Rubiales), a 500-page memoir in which Luis Rubiales presents his version of the events surrounding his spectacular fall from grace. The controversial tome details his professional demise following the infamous non-consensual kiss he planted on Spain forward Jenni Hermoso during the medal ceremony after Spain’s 2023 Women’s World Cup victory.
According to the publisher, Rubiales portrays himself in the book as the victim of a “conspiracy of different powers of Spanish public life,” including the government and what he controversially describes as “the profitable world of feminism.” In television interviews promoting the book earlier this week, Rubiales claimed he was targeted by a “sudden far-left movement” that created a “parallel reality” to capitalize on the kiss controversy.
The former federation president has consistently maintained that the kiss was consensual, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary and his subsequent criminal conviction. His memoir represents an attempt to rehabilitate his reputation and present an alternative narrative to the universally condemned actions that shocked the sporting world in August 2023.
Following the egg-throwing incident, Rubiales and event organizers chose to continue the presentation after his uncle’s removal. The former football chief maintained his composure, insisting that the attack would not overshadow his mission to share his side of the story.
The Fall From Grace
Luis Rubiales’ journey from powerful football administrator to convicted sexual offender represents one of the most dramatic downfalls in modern sports history. The catalyst was a moment that played out before millions of television viewers worldwide: during the medal ceremony following Spain’s Women’s World Cup final triumph over England in Sydney, Rubiales grabbed Hermoso by the head and forcibly kissed her on the lips.
| Luis Rubiales Legal Timeline |
|---|
| August 2023 – Forcibly kisses Jenni Hermoso at World Cup ceremony |
| September 2023 – Resigns under pressure after national outcry |
| September 2023 – Receives three-year FIFA ban from football activities |
| February 2025 – Found guilty of sexual assault by Spain’s High Court |
| April 2025 – Fined €10,800 ($12,500) for the assault |
| June 2025 – Appeals court upholds conviction |
| Current – Appeal pending before Spain’s Supreme Court |
The kiss sparked immediate international outrage and became a flashpoint for discussions about sexism, consent, and macho culture in sport. Despite initial defiance—Rubiales infamously refused to resign in a combative speech where he repeated “I will not resign” multiple times—the mounting pressure from the Spanish government, soccer officials, women players, and fans eventually forced him from office.
Earlier this year, Spain’s High Court found Rubiales guilty of sexual assault—a classification that under Spanish law encompasses all forms of sexual violence, including non-consensual kissing. The court fined him €10,800, a penalty he continues to contest through appeals to higher courts.
The incident transformed Jenni Hermoso, Spain’s all-time top scorer for the women’s national team, into an international icon of the fight against sexism and harassment in sports. Her courageous stance against a powerful football administrator inspired countless women and prompted widespread reforms within Spanish football.
Additional Legal Troubles Mount
The book launch incident and his sexual assault conviction represent only part of Luis Rubiales’ legal difficulties. The former federation president faces multiple investigations into his conduct while holding one of Spanish football’s most powerful positions.
In April 2024, Rubiales was arrested in Madrid as part of a corruption investigation examining the controversial 2020 deal that relocated the Spanish Super Cup to Saudi Arabia. Spanish authorities are scrutinizing the financial arrangements surrounding that agreement, which involved significant payments and raised questions about transparency and potential kickbacks.
More recently, according to Spanish publication El Español, investigators have traced approximately €567,500 in transfers from Rubiales’ Spanish company to a Dominican Republic-based business shortly after he resigned from the federation presidency. Authorities in the Dominican Republic have reportedly located financial products linked to Rubiales, his close associate Francisco Javier Martín Alcaide (known as “Nene”), and their company Conecta 17 Consulting across five separate banking institutions.
These financial investigations suggest potential attempts to move assets offshore following his resignation—actions that could result in additional criminal charges if prosecutors establish illegal conduct.
Family Fractures and Personal Relationships
Thursday’s egg-throwing incident is not Luis Rubiales’ first experience with family discord becoming public. The former federation president also had a significant falling out with another uncle, Juan Rubiales, several years ago when Juan worked for him at the Spanish Football Federation. The nature of that dispute has never been fully disclosed, but it resulted in Juan’s departure from the organization amid apparent personal and professional tensions.
These fractured family relationships paint a picture of a man whose professional disgrace has created ripples throughout his personal life. The fact that Luis Rubén Rubiales—a relative close enough in age to be more like a cousin—felt compelled to publicly humiliate his nephew suggests deep-seated anger and resentment about how the Hermoso scandal affected the broader family.
Reports indicate that Luis Rubén blames his nephew for creating divisions that have torn the family apart, with different relatives taking sides in the controversy. For a family that presumably once took pride in Luis Rubiales’ prominent position in Spanish football, his downfall has apparently been a source of shame, conflict, and lasting damage to family bonds.
The Broader Cultural Reckoning
The egg-throwing incident, while bizarre and dramatic, represents a minor footnote in the broader cultural reckoning that Luis Rubiales’ actions precipitated. His forced kiss on Jenni Hermoso became a defining moment in Spanish society’s confrontation with entrenched machismo and sexism in sports and beyond.
The “#MeToo in sports” movement gained significant momentum in Spain following the incident, with numerous women coming forward to share their experiences of harassment and discrimination in athletic environments. The Spanish government implemented new protocols for handling sexual misconduct complaints in sports organizations, and the football federation underwent substantial leadership changes and cultural reforms.
For many Spaniards, Rubiales became a symbol of everything wrong with traditional male-dominated sports leadership—the arrogance, the sense of impunity, the refusal to acknowledge wrongdoing even in the face of overwhelming evidence. His memoir’s attempt to reframe himself as a victim has been met with widespread skepticism and anger from those who view his actions as indefensible.
A Spectacle of Disgrace
As Luis Rubiales stood on that Madrid stage Thursday evening, egg yolk dripping from his jacket, he experienced a visceral manifestation of public scorn delivered by his own family member. The image of a disgraced former football chief being pelted with eggs while promoting a book claiming victimhood carries a certain poetic justice that has not been lost on commentators.
The incident will likely become one of the enduring images associated with Rubiales’ fall—a man so reviled that even his own relatives publicly assault him. Whether the attack stems from genuine moral outrage at his behavior or from personal grievances about family disruption may never be fully known. What remains clear is that Luis Rubiales’ legacy will be defined not by any administrative achievements during his federation tenure, but by a non-consensual kiss, a criminal conviction, and the cultural reckoning his actions helped trigger.
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FAQs
Who threw eggs at Luis Rubiales during his book launch?
Luis Rubiales was attacked by his own uncle, Luis Rubén Rubiales, an actor who appeared in several Spanish television shows. The uncle threw three eggs at the former Spanish Football Federation president during the book presentation in Madrid, with at least one striking Rubiales on the back.
Why did Luis Rubiales’ uncle attack him?
According to reports, Luis Rubén Rubiales has been harboring resentment since the Jenni Hermoso controversy, blaming his nephew for causing divisions within the family. Spanish media described him as a “troubled man” who still lives with his grandmother and reached a breaking point during the book launch.
What is Luis Rubiales’ book about?
“Matar a Rubiales” (Killing Rubiales) is a 500-page memoir detailing his professional demise after the 2023 Women’s World Cup kissing incident. Rubiales portrays himself as the victim of a conspiracy involving the Spanish government and what he calls “the profitable world of feminism.”
What happened to Luis Rubiales after the egg incident?
After being struck by eggs, Rubiales attempted to confront his uncle before being restrained by audience members. His uncle was arrested by Spanish National Police and removed from the premises. The book presentation continued after the incident.
What legal troubles does Luis Rubiales currently face?
Rubiales was convicted of sexual assault in February 2025 and fined €10,800 for kissing Jenni Hermoso without consent. He faces ongoing appeals, a corruption investigation into the Spanish Super Cup deal with Saudi Arabia, and scrutiny over alleged financial maneuvers in the Dominican Republic totaling approximately €567,500.