Right up until the moment Luis Rubiales took to the stage at the Spanish Football Federation's (truly) Extraordinary Assembly last Friday afternoon, the whole football world expected him to resign as president. His behaviour during and after the Women's World Cup final just five days previously had been a disgrace, a total embarrassment, with Rubiales first grabbing his crotch in the ultimate show of toxic masculinity after Spain had opened the scoring.
It would have been a wholly undignified gesture no matter where he was in the stadium - but the fact that he was sitting in the directors' box alongside the Queen of Spain only made it even more disrespectful. Far worse was to come, though, with Rubiales planting a kiss on national team captain Jenni Hermoso while she and her team-mates were receiving their winners' medals.
In the space of half an hour, Rubiales had managed to make the greatest triumph in the history of Spanish women's football all about him. He had effectively robbed them of the finest moment of their careers, because the news cycle quickly, inevitably and rightly became dominated by Rubiales' gross conduct.
For Spain, the build-up to the tournament had been dominated by the mutiny staged in response to the draconian measures imposed upon the players by coach Jorge Vilda - the after-party overshadowed by the lewd behaviour of the head of the RFEF. It was a sporting tragedy.