¡GOOOL!: Meet the team behind the scoop that brought down Spain’s football chief
Part of the Reuters Institute global journalism seminar series
Wednesday 22 November 2023 13:00 to 14:00Speakers: |
Sandra S. Riquelme, Football Editor at Relevo; Fermín Elizari, Communities Editor at Relevo |
Location: |
Virtual Event |
About
Soon after Spain won the FIFA Women’s World Cup, the celebration turned into outrage when Spanish Football chief Luis Rubiales kissed Spanish player Jenni Hermoso on the lips without her consent. Prompted by criticism in Spain and beyond, Rubiales recorded a non-apology apology and put out a statement from Hermoso saying the kiss had been consensual. But those were not Hermoso’s words. Rubiales’ team had made them up.
Spaniards learnt about the coverup from Relevo, a young sports news site founded in 2022. Relevo revealed two crucial things: that Hermoso never said the words in the statement and that she refrained from helping Rubiales, who pressed her to appear in the video in which he apologised. Relevo’s exclusive story put further pressure on the Spanish football chief, who was suspended by FIFA in late August and resigned from his position two weeks later.
This piece we published in early September explains that this crucial scoop felt like a coming of age for Relevo, a sports news site with a young newsroom and an innovative strategy. From its launch in the spring of 2022, Relevo has covered women’s sports much more extensively than any other news brand in Spain. In this seminar we’ll hear from two key members of Relevo’s newsroom: its Football Editor Sandra S. Riquelme and its Communities Editor Fermín Elizari, who’s leading an innovative social media strategy with a focus on TikTok, Instagram and Twitch.
More information
Part of the Reuters Institute for Journalism’s Global Journalism Seminars series.
Type: Reuters Institute
