EXCLUSIVE: FIFA to push for Luis Rubiales to be BANNED from football for 15 years after Spanish FA turn on their president asking him to resign after Jenni Hermoso kiss

FIFA will push for Luis Rubiales to be banned from all football for 15 years after the disgraced Spanish FA president’s own federation dramatically withdrew their support for him.

Spain’s FA chiefs asked 46-year-old Rubiales to resign with immediate effect because his “unacceptable” behavior had “seriously damaged the image of Spanish football”.

The reversal followed a threat from FIFA to ban Spain’s national teams and elite clubs from international competition if the Spanish FA refused to accept Rubiales’ punishment.

Sources involved in the disciplinary process have told Mail Sport that FIFA is pushing for a ban for Rubiales of up to 15 years – the maximum allowed by their statutes. That would have enabled them to take action against Spanish national teams and clubs if the verdict had been challenged.

Rubiales was handed a 90-day interim suspension from FIFA last week but retained the backing of the Spanish Football Federation, pending the outcome of an internal investigation into his extraordinary behavior in kissing Jenni Hermoso after Spain’s victory over England on the World Cup.

The Spanish Football Federation has turned around and asked the president to resign with immediate effect

It follows a threat to ban Spain’s national teams and clubs – such as Barcelona or Real Madrid – from international competition if the Spanish Football Federation refuses to accept Rubiales’ sentence.

After a five-hour meeting on Monday, the Spanish Football Federation confirmed they had now asked Rubiales to resign.

In another notable development on Monday, it emerged that one of Rubiales’ last acts before his suspension last Friday was to direct the Spanish Football Federation to write to UEFA complaining about government interference and asking for the federation to be suspended, which would mean that their national teams and clubs would be automatically banned from European competitions.

However, UEFA rejected the request, as the disciplinary procedure is being handled by FIFA, and now considers the letter invalid as Rubiales has since been replaced by interim president Pedro Rocha.

FIFA is likely to hand down a long-term ban on Rubiales after he was embarrassed by his behavior after the World Cup final in Sydney, where he also grabbed his crotch despite being just meters away from Spain’s Queen Letizia and her teenage daughter.

The world governing body’s disciplinary committee collected eyewitness testimony before announcing Rubiales’ suspension “from all football-related activities at national and international level” last week, and has the power to ban him from any involvement in the sport for 15 years.

Rubiales instructed the Spanish Football Federation to ask UEFA to suspend the federation – something that was rejected due to the disciplinary process handled by FIFA

According to the FIFA statutes, any ban would have been extended to all Spanish national teams and clubs in FIFA-affiliated leagues had it not been accepted by the Spanish FA.

Such a ban would have been a huge blow to UEFA as this year Spain has five clubs in the men’s Champions League, two in the Europa League and one in the Europa Conference League, while Barcelona are Champions League holders in the women’s league .

On another notable day in the saga, Rubiales’ mother, Angeles Bejar, was revealed to be on hunger strike at a church near Malaga in protest of the allegations against her son.

In their inflammatory statement released this weekend, the Spanish Football Federation had also accused Hermoso of telling lies.

“The RFEF (Spanish Football Federation) and the President will expose any of the lies spread by anyone on behalf of the player or, if applicable, by the player himself,” it read.