{"id":2817,"date":"2026-10-17T10:03:54","date_gmt":"2026-10-17T05:03:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=2817"},"modified":"2026-10-17T10:03:54","modified_gmt":"2026-10-17T05:03:54","slug":"fifa-orders-stadium-closure-for-spain-over-anti-muslim-chants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=2817","title":{"rendered":"FIFA orders stadium closure for Spain over anti-Muslim chants"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

FIFA has fined the Spanish football federation $20,000 and ordered at least 15% of the stadium seats to be closed for Spain\u2019s next home friendly after supporters directed Islamophobic chants during a 0-0 draw against Egypt in March.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The sanctions follow incidents at the RCDE Stadium near Barcelona on March 31, when some Spanish fans chanted, \u201cWho doesn\u2019t jump is a Muslim,\u201d during the World Cup warm-up match.<\/p>\n

The stadium announcer issued warnings and messages against discriminatory behaviour were displayed on the scoreboard, but the chants were repeated.<\/p>\n

FIFA subsequently opened disciplinary proceedings against the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF).<\/p>\n

The federation argued that the word \u201cMuslim\u201d was neither insulting nor derogatory and that the incident should not be treated as discrimination.<\/p>\n

However, FIFA\u2019s disciplinary committee rejected the argument, ruling that words not offensive in isolation could become discriminatory when used to ridicule or demean a religious identity.<\/p>\n

Under the sanction, the affected seats will primarily be in the stands behind the goals.<\/p>\n

Subject to FIFA\u2019s approval, the RFEF may allocate them to community groups, families, students and anti-discrimination organisations, provided visible anti-discrimination measures are included in its plan, which must be submitted at least 15 days before the match.<\/p>\n

Spain winger Lamine Yamal, who is Muslim, condemned the chants at the time, describing them as disrespectful and racist.<\/p>\n

Coach Luis de la Fuente also called the incident intolerable, while the RFEF denounced the supporters\u2019 behaviour.<\/p>\n

The Egyptian Football Association described the chants as a \u201crepugnant act of racism\u201d, while stressing that the actions of a small group would not damage relations between the two federations.<\/p>\n

The penalty applies to Spain\u2019s next home friendly rather than a competitive fixture, although its implementation could be delayed depending on the team\u2019s Nations League and Euro 2028 qualifying schedule.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FIFA has fined the Spanish football federation $20,000 and ordered at least 15% of the stadium seats to be closed for Spain\u2019s next home friendly after supporters directed Islamophobic chants during a 0-0 draw against Egypt in March. The sanctions follow incidents at the RCDE Stadium near Barcelona on March 31, when some Spanish fans chanted, \u201cWho doesn\u2019t jump is a Muslim,\u201d during the World Cup warm-up match. The stadium announcer issued warnings and messages against discriminatory behaviour were displayed on the scoreboard, but the chants were repeated. FIFA subsequently…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english"],"gutentor_comment":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2817","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2817"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2817\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}