Spanish prosecutors are demanding a retrial in the case that saw Luis Rubiales found guilty for kissing Spain player Jenni Hermoso without her consent following the 2023 World Cup final.

Last month, Rubiales, 47, was found guilty of sexually assaulting Hermoso, 34, after grabbing her by the head and kissing her on the lips in November 2023 after Spain beat England in Sydney.

The former Spanish football chief was ordered to pay more than €10,000 (£8,942) in fines and was prohibited from going within 200 metres of Hermoso or communicating with her for a year.

February's ruling also acquitted Rubiales and three co-defendants of a charge of coercion, with the prosecution seeking a two-and-a-half-year prison sentence.

In the appeal, prosecutor Marta Durantez requested the trial be repeated, arguing that evidence and many of her questions were not admitted.

She said the ruling generated 'a constitutionally relevant material defencelessness, which affects the right to effective judicial protection', while also asking for a different judge to retry the case.

Ms Durantez wrote: 'The judge's conduct throughout the hearing compromised, in our opinion, at the very least the appearance of impartiality'.

She also said the fine and the additional €3,000 (£2,520) in compensation awarded to Hermoso were very low.

'This fine, taking into account the circumstances of the case, is offensive to the victim and to the victims of sexual assault. Undoubtedly a bad precedent,' Durantez said.

'The judge's conduct throughout the hearing compromised, in our opinion, at the very least the appearance of impartiality,' she wrote.

Given that the judge ruled there had been sexual assault, Rubiales should have been sentenced to a year in prison, Durantez added - the penalty she had requested for that charge.

Rubiales and Hermoso have said they will appeal the ruling.

During last month's trial, Rubiales told the court he was 'totally sure' Hermoso consented to him kissing her on the lips after Spain won the World Cup.

He said: 'She squeezed me very tightly under my armpits, she lifted me, and when I came down I asked her if I can give you a kiss, and she said ''OK'', that's what happened'.

'What happened had no importance neither for me nor for her,' Rubiales added in his testimony, as he described the kiss as 'an act of affection'.

He said the kiss was to mark a unique moment because 'you don't win a World Cup every day,' adding: 'Even when I see my daughters I don't kiss them, but at New Year's Eve we kiss each other.'

Although he insisted that the kiss was neither illegal nor immoral during the trial, the football boss admitted that it had been a mistake.

Hermoso told the court that she 'never' agreed to the kiss, that she had felt 'disrespected' by what Rubiales had done and that it 'stained one of the happiest days of my life.'

Rubiales resigned in September 2023 after the incident prompted outrage in Spain about the prevalence of sexism in sports.