Spanish football star Jenni Hermoso believes the guilty verdict against Luis Rubiales sets an 'important precedent'.

Rubiales, the former president of the Spanish football federation, was found guilty of sexual assault after kissing Hermoso without her consent at the 2023 women's World Cup final.

He is banned from going within a 200-metre radius of the striker and has been ordered to pay a fine of €20 per day for the next 18 months - a total sum of £8,250.

Prosecutors were seeking two-and-a-half years in prison against Rubiales for sexual assault for the forced kiss and allegedly coercing Hermoso to downplay the incident.

However, he avoided a custodial sentence in addition to being acquitted on the charge of coercion.

'After all, this will create an important precedent in a social environment in which much remains to be done,' Hermoso wrote on Instagram.

'My heart is full of every single person who has been, is, and will continue to be with me in this fight.

'And now, it's over.'

Rubiales stood accused of sexual assault and coercion for allegedly trying to downplay the kiss that sparked outrage in Spain and around the world and marred the celebrations of the team's first World Cup title.

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

'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,' he said.

'What happened had no importance neither for me nor for her,' Rubiales added during his highly anticipated testimony, describing 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.'

Prosecutor Marta Durantez, asked him whether he would have acted the same 'if it had been a man', to which he responded: 'It depends on whether it had been a player with whom I have a great relationship.'

He said that in the national team there were 'three or four players with whom I have a great relationship and one of them was Jenni Hermoso.'

Referring to celebrations with male footballers, he said that the World Cup win was not comparable to the UEFA Nations League but added: 'I used to kiss a lot of footballers.'

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.'

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

'It was a mistake, I was the president of the federation and from the outset I recognised it was a mistake,' he said. 'I acted like an athlete who was a member of the group and I should have adopted a more institutional role.'

Rubiales resigned under pressure three weeks after the scandal surfaced and was banned by FIFA for three years. He had said he was the victim of a 'witch hunt' by 'false feminists.'

The kiss prompted outrage in Spain about the prevalence of sexism in sports and beyond.

His three co-defendants, former women's national team coach Jorge Vilda, the federation's former sports director of the men's national team, Albert Luque, and the former head of marketing, Ruben Rivera were also found not guilty of the charge of coercion against Hermoso.