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Rabat – Morocco’s national team and supporters, along with Spain international Lamine Yamal, were among the principal targets of racist and xenophobic content posted online during the 2026 FIFA World Cup, according to an official Spanish report.
Spain’s Observatory on Racism and Xenophobia, known as OBERAXE, detected 54,771 pieces of hate speech and discriminatory content between June 11, when the World Cup began, and July 21, when the main celebrations of Spain’s title victory took place.
The observatory, which operates under Spain’s State Secretariat for Migration, found that 52% of the racist and xenophobic messages recorded during that period were associated with sport. The proportion was substantially higher than in previous months, demonstrating the tournament’s effect on online discussions monitored by the agency.
Morocco and North Africans heavily targeted
People of North African origin were the most frequently targeted group, accounting for 66% of the messages detected during the World Cup monitoring period.
OBERAXE said much of that content was connected to the Moroccan national team and incidents involving its supporters. The report did not provide a detailed breakdown separating attacks against Morocco’s players from those directed at fans or North African communities more broadly.
The findings followed Morocco’s second consecutive run to the latter stages of the World Cup. However, the report stressed that the online hostility extended beyond football results and reflected broader racist and xenophobic attitudes.
Messages targeting Muslims represented 13% of the content reported. OBERAXE said many of those posts reproduced stereotypes, questioned the place of Muslims in European societies or promoted exclusion based on religious identity.
The World Cup final between Spain and Argentina also produced an increase in discriminatory content.
Messages directed against people from Latin America accounted for 15% of the total recorded during the tournament period, with activity intensifying around the final.
Yamal attacked after religious celebration
Yamal was identified as one of the players most heavily targeted by racist and Islamophobic abuse.
The Barcelona winger, whose father is Moroccan and whose mother is from Equatorial Guinea, was repeatedly subjected to messages questioning his legitimacy as a representative of Spain because of his family background and Muslim faith.
The report recorded a particular increase in abuse after Yamal scored his first World Cup goal during Spain’s 4-0 group-stage win over Saudi Arabia on June 21.
After opening the scoring, Yamal performed sujud, the Muslim act of prostration expressing gratitude to God.
OBERAXE said the celebration triggered hostile posts containing racist insults and claims that he was not worthy of representing Spain.
France’s national team was also targeted because several of its players have African family backgrounds.
The Observatory said some users questioned whether those players could legitimately represent France, demonstrating how footballers’ nationality and identity became central themes in discriminatory online discussions.
