Bonmatí: We cannot allow abuse of power

UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin, left, smiles as Spain’s Aitana Bonmati, right, holds the UEFA Women’s Player of the Year award and Norwegian’s Erling Haaland holds the UEFA Men’s Player of the Year award after the 2023/24 UEFA Champions League group stage draw at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco, Thursday, Aug. 31, 2013. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

Spanish soccer star Aitana Bonmatí used her acceptance speech at a UEFA awards ceremony on Thursday to voice support for her teammate who was forcibly kissed by the country’s soccer federation president after the Women’s World Cup final.

Bonmatí was named women’s player of the year at the annual gala held amid a crisis for European soccer’s governing body caused by the behavior of its vice president Luis Rubiales at the Women’s World Cup final.