The former Spanish football federation boss Luis Rubiales has told a court that he asked the player Jenni Hermoso if he could kiss her before doing so after the Women’s World Cup victory in 2023.

“I am absolutely sure that she gave me her permission,” Rubiales, 47, told the court in Madrid. “In that moment it was something completely spontaneous.”

Rubiales is accused of sexual assault and then attempting to coerce Hermoso, with the help of three other former football federation officials, into publicly saying the kiss on the lips at the awards ceremony in Australia had been consensual.

He has denied the charges, saying the kiss was consensual, while Hermoso has said it was not.

The ensuing scandal eclipsed Spain’s first Women’s World Cup victory and spurred efforts by Spain’s female players to expose sexism and achieve parity with male counterparts.

In court on Tuesday, Rubiales said he had made an error of judgment.

“It’s obvious now that I made a mistake,” he told the court. “It was spontaneous. I behaved like a sports person, like I was one more member of the team. I should have been more cold-blooded and adopted a more institutional role.”

The sixth day of the trial in San Fernando de Henares in Madrid began with evidence from David Morillo, who has been deaf since birth and was presented by the defence as an expert lip reader.

During the pre-trial, Rubiales claimed he asked Hermoso if he could give her a piquito (a peck). Based on video evidence, Morillo said that the accused asked for a besito (little kiss), the same meaning but a different word, a distinction Rubiales dismissed as irrelevant.

Morillo added that, as Hermoso’s back was to the camera, he couldn’t confirm whether she gave her consent.

Rubiales denied trying to coerce Hermoso into making a statement minimising the incident, saying that, given the media attention the kiss had attracted, he suggested they calm things down by making a joint statement, but Hermoso refused to comply.

The court also heard a recording of an interview Hermoso gave to a Spanish journalist immediately after her team’s victory in which she dismisses the kiss as an “anecdote” in the context of the euphoria of becoming world champions.

However, on the trial’s opening day, the footballer told the court that “one of the happiest moments” of her life had been ruined by the kiss and its aftermath.

If convicted, Rubiales – who resigned as the federation president a month after the incident – could face two and a half years in prison: one year for sexual assault over the kiss, and 18 months for allegedly coercing Hermoso to downplay what happened.

The trial continues on Wednesday with the testimony of the former head coach of the women’s national team Jorge Vilda, the former Spanish football federation sporting director Albert Luque and the federation’s former marketing chief Rubén Rivera, for their suspected roles in putting pressure on Hermoso. All three deny the charges against them.

Reuters contributed to this report