It is not enough to intervene and stop a discriminatory call to avoid punishment. This is the essence of the decision that FIFA has given to the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), after what happened last March, during the friendly match against Egypt, on March 31 (ended 0-0). The Spanish Federation must pay a fine of 20 thousand Swiss francs (over 21 thousand euros) and limit at least 15% of the available seats in the stadium, in the next home match that will be covered by this punishment. The decision is dated August 4, but the case has only been finally closed these days, after the first appeal was dismissed. The Federation intends to address the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
The final decision comes after the open procedure for the episode that occurred during the preparatory match for the 2026 World Cup: from the stands of the RCDE stadium, near Barcelona, some fans chanted: "Whoever does not dance is a Muslim." The event caused many reactions, both because Spain will host the 2030 World Cup as co-organizers with Portugal and Morocco, and because Lamine Yamal, the star of the Iberian national team, is of the Muslim faith and himself reacted publicly, condemning these episodes.
The decision is based on articles 15 and 17 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code.
FIFA has dismissed the RFEF's defence, after assessing the overall gravity of those calls: both the insults and the context in which they were made. The decision is based on two articles of the international federation's Disciplinary Code, articles 15 and 17. Article 15 deals with cases of discrimination and racist abuse. Point 1 states that "any person who, through discriminatory, contemptuous or derogatory words or actions, attacks the dignity or integrity of a country, a person or a group of persons, based on race, skin colour, ethnic, national or social origin, sex, disability, language, religion, political opinion, property, birth or any other status, sexual orientation or any other reason, shall be punished by a suspension of at least ten matches or for a minimum period of four months, or by any other appropriate disciplinary measure".
Point 6 expressly provides for the objective liability of the federations: if one or more fans behave in this way, the federation is punished, even if it is not at fault. For the first offence, a match with a limited number of spectators and a fine of at least 20 thousand Swiss francs are foreseen. In the event of “repetition of the offence, repetition of the events or when the circumstances of the case so require”, disciplinary measures may be taken against the member federation or the club concerned, such as: implementation of a preventive plan, imposition of a fine, deduction of points in the ranking, holding one or more matches without spectators, banning the holding of matches in a given stadium, forfeiture of the match, exclusion from a competition or relegation to a lower category.
Article 17, on the other hand, deals with order and security during matches. Point 2 punishes inappropriate behaviour by fans even when it is not discriminatory. In this case, it concerns behaviour that includes “using gestures, words, objects or any other means to convey a message inappropriate for a sporting activity, in particular of a political, ideological, religious or offensive nature”, as well as “disrupting the performance of national anthems”.
The RFEF had appealed the decision, arguing that the matter should have been dealt with under Article 17. FIFA, however, considered that the chant "Whoever does not dance is a Muslim" could not be considered a general inappropriate message, but rather discriminatory conduct on religious grounds.
