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Rabat – What happened during Spain’s friendly against Egypt should not be treated as a one-night scandal, then filed away as an embarrassing moment caused by a few fans. That is the easiest response, and also the least honest one.
At the RCDE Stadium near Barcelona, supporters were heard chanting “who doesn’t jump is a Muslim” during Spain’s 0-0 draw with Egypt.
Catalan police opened an investigation into Islamophobic and xenophobic chants, and Spanish officials quickly moved to condemn what happened.
Lamine Yamal, who is Muslim, called the chants disrespectful and ignorant. Spain’s coach, Luis de la Fuente, and the Spanish federation also denounced and distanced themselves from what they have termed as inexcusable and un-Spanish.
Not an isolated moment
Yet the real issue is whether Spain is ready to admit that what happened was not random.
It came from a climate that has been visible for years in football grounds, in public language, and in the everyday treatment of people perceived as inferior or deserving of dehumanizing treatment simply because they happen to be Muslim, Arab, or Moroccan.
As veteran political analyst and MWN co-founder of MWN has argued, “What happened… is neither a coincidence nor something unrelated to public debate or Spanish culture,” the view goes.” Instead, Bennis stressed, the unsufferably condescending attitude of these Spanish fans was the culmination of “something that, regrettably, has been normalized for centuries.”
Amigos españoles, lo que ocurrió ayer no es una casualidad ni algo ajeno al debate público o a la cultura española. Es algo que, lamentablemente, se ha normalizado desde hace siglos. No debemos intentar presentar lo sucedido como un hecho aislado. No lo es.
Como marroquí,…
— Samir Bennis (@SamirBennis) April 1, 2026
Incidents like this do not appear from nowhere. They grow in an environment where mockery of Muslims can still pass as humor, a legitimate way of expressing sporting rivalry, or crowd culture.
Condemnation without accountability
Spanish PM Pedro Sanchez did has notably called the chants “unacceptable” and said they must not happen again, while arguing that an “uncivil minority” should not stain the image of a plural and tolerant Spain. While that was necessary and even commendable, it fell short.
A condemnation is not the same as a reckoning. It is not the same as an apology to those targeted. And it is not the same as admitting that the problem runs deeper than one bad night in Cornellà.
It goes without saying that the fans who chanted and made the racist gestures do not represent Spain as a whole. But stopping at that adds to the problem at hand. Because those fans do represent something that Spain has not fully confronted for decades.
If the country wants to present itself as open, democratic, and respectful, then it cannot keep treating these episodes as isolated accidents.
A pattern that keeps repeating
Spanish football already carries a long record here, and Vinicius Junior has become the clearest example of this trend.
In 2023, Spanish football itself admitted it had a racism problem after the abuse directed at the Real Madrid forward, and continued to describe him in 2026 as a player who has repeatedly suffered racist abuse in Spain.
And this pattern did not stop with Vinicius. Just last month, a La Liga match between Espanyol and Elche was interrupted after Espanyol defender Omar El Hilali reported racist abuse, prompting the referee to activate the anti-racism protocol.
Such incidents matter because they show the issue is still current, still active, and still unresolved.
Now add Lamine Yamal to that picture. He was not even the direct target of this week’s chants, but he still felt compelled to react because he understood what the whole occasion meant.
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After the game, he wrote that using religion to mock people in a stadium makes those chanting look “ignorant and racist.” He is right. And the fact that a young Spanish international had to say that in 2026 tells you this is not a closed chapter in Spanish football.
Football cannot hide social realities
Some will argue that football grounds everywhere produce ugliness. That is true, but it also misses the point.
The question is not whether Spain is uniquely guilty. The question is whether Spain has been fully honest with itself about the way anti-Muslim and anti-Moroccan prejudice can still surface in public life.
When those attitudes appear in a stadium, they do not become less political just because they are wrapped in chants.
This is also why the response cannot stop at police investigations and statements of condemnation by politicians and a few public figures.
Policing matters. Sanctions matter. But institutions also need clarity. And for now, that clarity about the equal humanity of Muslims — be they foreigners or Spanish citizens — is criminally missing in Spanish socialization.
That is the root of such anti-Islam bigotry and discrimination, and until Spain is honest with itself, we will unfortunately continue to witness the same vile and reprehensible attitude and behavior in Spanish stadiums or on streets across Spain
Read also: Spanish Fans’ Anti-Muslim Chants Expose Centuries of Racism
