World Cup 2018: Female reporter groped and kissed during live broadcast from Russia

'RESPECT! We do not deserve this treatment,' journalist says

A female sports reporter was groped and kissed while filming a live World Cup broadcast from the Russian city of Saransk.

Footage shows Julieth Gonzalez Theran, a journalist working for the Spanish language division of German broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW), being grabbed by the man who then kisses her on the cheek.

She continued the broadcast but later posted a clip of the incident on Instagram with the caption: “RESPECT! We do not deserve this treatment.”

She wrote: "We are equally valuable and professional.

"I share the joy of football, but we must identify the limits of affection and harassment."

The Colombian-born correspondent later told DW the football fan “took advantage of the situation."

She said: “But afterwards, when I checked to see if he was still there, he was gone."

Reporter Julieth Gonzalez Theran was approached by the man while broadcasting live from the World Cup in Russia

It comes after some Latin American fans at the Russian tournament were criticised for posting videos in which they appeared to encourage foreign women to say offensive things in languages they did not understand.

In one of the clips, a group of men from Brazil reportedly surrounded a woman while encouraging her to chant an offensive Portuguese word for female anatomy.

Burger King was also forced to apologise for offering a lifetime supply of Whoppers to Russian women impregnated by World Cup players.

The burger chain launched the promotion on VK - a Russian alternative to Facebook – promising 3 million roubles (£36,000) as well as the free food to “girls who manage to get the best football genes” and “lay down the success of the Russian national football team."

Critics condemned the promotion, which was pulled from Burger King’s social media accounts on Tuesday, as sexist and demeaning.

The fast food company posted a Russian-language statement on local network VKontakte, saying "we offer apologies for the announcement we made. It was too offensive".

And an Iranian women’s activist said she was stripped of a banner she planned to display at the World Cup and blocked from a stadium for two hours after an earlier protest drew international headlines.

Maryam Qashqaei Shojaei said she was held for two hours by security officials at the main stadium in Kazan ahead of the match between Spain and Iran, having planned to raise a banner to protest Iran’s ban on women attending stadium matches.