Match (o) culture in Spanish football : A qualitative content analysis on how the Rubiales–Hermoso case is produced in Swedish and international media

What was meant to be a celebration for the Spanish women’s football team, in Australia and New Zeeland 2023, quickly turned into an unusual situation that sparked media debate. The sudden kiss, that the former president of the Spanish football federation Luis Rubiales gave to football player Jennifer Hermoso, led to headlines across the world. Headlines that debated the equality in Spanish sports. The purpose of this study was to identify patterns in how the media framed and constructed the news coverage of this case. The analysis for this study was constructed by applying a qualitative content analysis of 20 articles from 4 different newspapers: Dagens Nyheter, El País, The Guardian, and The New York Times. This study was based on several theories, such as framing theory and gender theory, to be able to identify patterns in how different frames, connected to gender and power, were narrated in the news coverage. The theories were complemented by previous research, which made it possible to achieve a result in this study. The result showed that the Rubiales–Hermoso case was not framed just as a individual scandal but was a part of a bigger issue in society. The results also showed that narrative, responsibility framing and language changed across the 4 newspapers as the case developed. Overall, this case worked as a symbol that provides a new perspective on how sports journalism framed a case involving topics such as gender, power, responsibility, and social change.