52% of the hate messages detected by OBERAXE on social networks during the World Cup were linked to the sports field - Observatorio Español del Racismo y la Xenofobia

The Spanish Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia (OBERAXE) has detected 54,771 hate speech and discriminatory narrative content on social networks during the celebration of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, from its beginning on June 11 to July 21, the day of the main celebrations linked to the victory of the Spanish team in the final.

Fifty-two per cent of the registered racist and xenophobic messages were associated with the sports field, a proportion significantly higher than that observed in previous months - in May for example, only 7 per cent were messages linked to sporting events - reflecting the impact of the World Cup on the monitored digital conversation.

The monitoring carried out by OBERAXE during the World Cup systematically collects possible hate messages directed against individual footballers, national teams, fans and groups linked to the competition. In this section they highlighted the racist and Islamophobic messages directed against Lamine Yamal, in which his membership of the Spanish team is questioned. The messages of hatred rebounded with the celebration of his first goal with La Roja against Saudi Arabia through the Muslim gesture of the suyud. This moment social networks were used to question the legitimacy of Yamal as representative of the Spanish national team with comments such as “our humiliated roots”, “disgusting Moor” or “not worthy of being Spanish”.

Along the same lines, the composition of some national teams, such as the French, was the target of repeated comments that questioned the legitimacy of the players due to their origin or foreign ancestry to represent this country. Many messages reflected exclusionary approaches with frequent expressions such as “they are all Angolans, without football they would be synonymous” or “the French have earned it for not defending their origins”.

The final against Argentina, detonator of hate speech on social networks

The final between the selection of Spain and Argentina also worked as a trigger for the publication of hate content on social networks. While OBERAXE noted that racist and xenophobic messages about Latin American people accounted for 15% of the total detected in the World Cup period, the dynamic reached a greater intensity during the final that pitted the Spanish and Argentine teams.

As for the target groups, people from North Africa were the main focus of hate speech content during the football World Cup, accounting for 66% of the total messages detected. Here we highlight the contents linked to the selection of Morocco and to different episodes related to its followers.

In addition, 13% of the reported content was directed against Muslim people, reproducing stereotypes and exclusionary discourses.

74% of the analyzed contents included messages that dehumanize and degrade

The hate speech detected during the football World Cup reflects that 74% of the messages include content that attacks the dignity of the target groups through dehumanization with messages such as “stop playing garbage” or “fucking argensimio”. Regarding the type of language used, the use of explicit aggressive language predominated, present in 50% of the messages analyzed.

They also highlighted the racist and xenophobic messages that promoted discrediting, which represented 40% of the total, attributing to these people negative characteristics for their mere belonging to the collective through messages such as “ballast of progress these Moors, backwardness and barbarism”.

On the other hand, 15% of the reported comments incited the expulsion of these target groups, while 14% promoted violence against them. With these data, OBERAXE concludes that “the World Cup served as a context for the dissemination of racist and xenophobic prejudices that transcend sports”.

Trend detected in the June monitoring bulletin

The latest monitoring bulletin of the OBERAXE corresponding to the month of June already advanced this trend relative to the World Cup with 16% of the messages analyzed linked to this sporting event. These episodes reflect how sport can serve as a context for the dissemination of hate speeches that not only affect specific athletes, but also the groups with which they are associated.

The report especially collected the volume of hostile content disseminated around the player of the Spanish national team Lamine Yamal, which motivated discriminatory comments related to his origins and identity.