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Rabat – Police in Spain have opened an investigation after fans shouted Islamophobic and xenophobic chants during a friendly football match between Spain and Egypt on Tuesday night.
The match took place at the RCDE Stadium in Cornellà, near Barcelona. Authorities said the crowd was heard chanting phrases such as “If you don’t jump, you’re a Muslim.”
Videos shared online showed large sections of the crowd repeating these chants as they jumped.
The regional police force, the Mossos d’Esquadra, confirmed today that they are looking into the incident. The investigation will examine what happened in the stands and whether any laws were violated.
Spanish outlets reported that organizers responded by showing messages on stadium screens and making announcements over loudspeakers to deter such behavior. These reminders told fans that discrimination and offensive behavior are not allowed. However, the chants had already spread among large parts of the crowd.
Spain’s football federation (RFEF) condemned the chants after the match. Its president, Rafael Louzán, described the situation as an “isolated incident” and said that, aside from this, the atmosphere in the stadium was positive.
“What we’ve done is condemn these kinds of attitudes and to say they must not be repeated,” he added.
Players and coaching staff reacted strongly. Midfielder Pedri said that the team was unsettled by what they heard and stressed the need to eliminate such behavior from football. Head coach Luis de la Fuente also condemned the chants, calling them “intolerable” and expressing “total rejection” of what happened.
The game was initially scheduled to take place in Qatar, but was moved due to the ongoing war in the Middle East.
