MADRID, Spain – Spain’s hopes of hosting the 2030 World Cup finals were dealt a blow after what was supposed to be a friendly against Egypt was marred by racist chants.
Spain is set to co-host the next edition of world soccer’s marquee event with Morocco and Portugal, but the destination of the final has yet to be decided by soccer’s world governing body FIFA.
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Spain were expected to be the favorites to win this year’s World Cup, to be held in the Americas, but their performance on the pitch on Tuesday was rather overshadowed by events off the pitch.
Spanish police have launched an investigation into “Islamophobic and xenophobic” chants that rang out twice during Tuesday’s 0-0 draw in Barcelona.
Authorities issued warnings on public information systems and played video signs saying racist chants were against the law, but some fans jeered.
Some supporters chanted derogatory chants such as “those who don’t jump are Muslims.”
An Al Jazeera correspondent watching the match listened as the whistle rang for the Egyptian national anthem before the start of what was supposed to be a friendly match.
This is the latest in a series of similar incidents that have cast a shadow over Spanish football in recent years, with Real Madrid’s Brazilian striker Vinicius Junior also in the spotlight as a recent victim of racial abuse.
Spain’s star winger Lamine Yamal, whose father is a Muslim who immigrated to Spain from Morocco, issued a condemnatory statement on Instagram following the incident.
“I’m a Muslim. Yesterday I heard chants in the stadium saying, ‘He who doesn’t jump is a Muslim,'” he posted.
“I know I was playing on a rival team and it wasn’t anything personal to me, but as a Muslim it’s still disrespectful and intolerable.”
Yamal, who has never made a political statement, added: “I understand that not all fans are like that, but for those who sing these things, using religion as a mockery on the field seems ignorant and racist.”
Analysts said the anti-Muslim chants against Spain represented new evidence of the structural racism that exists in Spanish society, where the largest foreign-born population is from Morocco, a Muslim nation.
“Spain is still a country that suffers from structural racism, and there is very little recognition of it. In contrast, structural racism exists in other countries, such as the UK, France and the Netherlands, but there is much more recognition,” Moha Gerehou, a journalist specializing in xenophobia and former head of the national anti-racism organization SOS Lacismo, told Al Jazeera.
“This exists in access to accommodation, schooling, personal relationships and jobs. When incidents like this happen, they still make excuses as if the player is a provocateur like Vinicius Jr., or as if Islam is the problem in this case.”
Gerehou pointed to the rise of the far-right party Vox, the third-largest party in Spain’s parliament, and groups that use racism to win votes and justify xenophobia.
“On the other hand, I think there are many more organizations in Spanish society that are aware of racism and are doing something to counter it,” he says.
In 2024, a report by the Spanish National Observatory on Racism and Xenophobia, a Spanish government agency, found that discrimination in sports and education begins at an early age.
About 40% of the children questioned said their black friends received special treatment in sports and school in Madrid.
Last year, another report from the same group found that abuse in sports venues had moved from stadiums to online.
There were 33,400 hate messages in the 2024-25 season, of which 62% appeared on Facebook and 10% on X.
In response to the chants during the match against Spain, Spain’s best-selling sports newspaper, Marca, published a quote from Yamal on its black front page, usually reserved for announcing the death of an important figure.
The incident was widely condemned, with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez posting on social media: “Spain, a diverse and tolerant country, cannot tolerate a minority that disrespects the reality of the country.”
However, Vox president Santiago Abascal posted a message on X condemning those who criticized the chant.
“Today, those same people are tearing their hair out at a chant that isn’t even an insult, it’s just a show of identity,” he posted.
“And they turn it into a national affair. They expect Spaniards to endure the Islamist invasion and the mafia government in silence and obedience.”
Catalonia’s regional police force, Mossos d’Esquadra, said it was investigating “Islamophobic and xenophobic” chants during the friendly match between Spain and Egypt.
The Spanish Football Federation condemned the chant, as did many leading soccer players.
Vinicius Jr. has become a lightning rod for racist abuse since arriving in the Spanish capital from Flamengo, Brazil, in 2018.
In January 2023, Atletico Madrid fans hung a statue of Vinicius on a bridge near Real Madrid’s training ground.
In 2025, five Real Valladolid fans who hurled racist abuse at Vinicius during a 2022 match were found guilty by a court of hate crimes, the first conviction in Spain for insulting a soccer stadium.
Graham Hunter, a British journalist specializing in Spanish football, said efforts to combat racism in the sport had improved since he moved to Spain in 2002.
“There are racist right-wing sections of society, otherwise the Vox party would not get the votes. But I am very encouraged by the progress made in addressing racism in Spanish football,” he told Al Jazeera.
“From the time I first arrived here until today, the progress has been remarkable. La Liga and the clubs are working hard to identify the perpetrators and expel or prosecute them.
“Football media puts far more blame on racism than it actually does. These factors are part of a slow movement towards both punishment and re-education.”
