FIFA has fined Spain and ordered a partial stadium closure after supporters sang Islamophobic chants during a clash against Egypt in March.
The ruling, confirmed on Friday by FIFA’s appeals committee following an initial verdict by disciplinary judges, requires Spain to shut down at least 15% of seating capacity.
The governing body noted that the Spanish federation may avoid leaving the affected sectors vacant if it reallocates those tickets to designated groups such as families, students, and anti-discrimination organizations, subject to prior approval.
The disciplinary case stems from a match staged on March 31 at Espanyol’s RCDE Stadium in Barcelona as part of preparations for the 2026 World Cup. During the contest, sections of the Spanish crowd bounced and chanted “whoever doesn’t jump is a Muslim” in both the 10th and 47th minutes, prompting stadium authorities to broadcast public warnings and flash anti-bias notices across venue screens.
Spanish officials attempted to contest the charge by arguing that the word “Muslim” is not pejorative and petitioned to have the matter evaluated under Article 17, which covers offensive messaging, rather than Article 15, which punishes discriminatory and xenophobic misconduct.
FIFA’s disciplinary panel flatly dismissed the defense, determining that Article 15 does not require explicit profanity and ruling that invoking a religious identity to taunt opponents serves as an “objective marker of exclusion and ridicule.”
The Spanish football federation announced today that it intends to challenge the penalty before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). Spanish forward Lamine Yamal, who is Muslim, had previously spoken out against the behavior of the fans, calling the chants completely intolerable and disrespectful.
Following the match, the Egyptian Football Association condemned the chants as an unacceptable act of discrimination while maintaining that the actions of a small pocket of supporters would not harm relations between the two national federations.