Racism has long been a rampant topic in European football. Leagues like the Spanish La Liga, Italian Serie A, and English Premier League are often on the receiving end of racial abuse from fans.
Despite the various anti-racism campaigns from football governing bodies, players like Lamine Yamal and Vinicius in Spain and Lookman and Lukaku in Serie A have had numerous instances of fans in the stands racially abusing them.
The situation outside the field is even worse, as fans don’t even let the game get over before spamming the comments section of social media posts with racial abuses and monkey or banana emojis.
Recently, the Spanish Observatory of Racism and Xenophobia compiled a list of the most racially targeted footballers in Spain during the 2024-25 season. According to the study obtained by Spanish publication El País, Lamine Yamal tops the list with almost 60% of all racist attacks aimed at him.
The Spanish Observatory of Racism and Xenophobia is the official body of the Spanish government dedicated to combating racism, xenophobia, and all forms of intolerance.
The FARO system, powered by AI (Artificial Intelligence), monitored over 33,000 reportable pieces of content and almost 20,000 offensive posts targeted at the 18-year-old Barcelona wizard.
Out of the monitored posts, only 33% of them got removed by platforms, with Facebook deleting 62% while X deleted just 10%.
The 2nd most abused footballer in Spain was Vinicius, receiving around 29% of the attacks. Vinicius has been constantly facing hate and racist abuse since he became a key player for Real Madrid.
The Real Madrid speedster has faced all sorts of abuses – from Valencia fans creating disturbing Ninots Dolls before games and monkey gestures during them to Barcelona fans chanting Die Vinicius Die to receiving racist taunts from Atletico Madrid fans.
Next up on the list is Kylian Mbappe, who receives 3% of all abuses. While Mbappe has a lot of detractors and faces a lot of scrutiny, he also receives a fair bit of hate seeped in racism as well.
To the surprise of many, next up on the list is a Real Madrid player you wouldn’t normally think would be on the receiving end of racial abuse. That player is none other than Brahim Diaz.
While he’s a white player, Brahim Diaz made the controversial decision to switch from the Spanish National Team to representing Morocco.
Despite being born in Malaga, Spain, Brahim was eligible to represent Morocco through his parents’ origins. There is a lot of hostility between Spanish and Moroccan citizens due to the complex history, including Spanish colonization, political disputes, and recent tensions over immigration.
Albert Luque, a former official of the Royal Spanish Football Federation, made demeaning remarks towards Brahim’s decision to play for Morocco. He said, “It is not the same thing to play with Italy as with Kenya”. This comment caused widespread anger in Morocco and was described by the Moroccan media as “racist and paternalistic reflection”.
Spanish-Moroccans tend to experience racialisation and discrimination in places like education, work, and public space. In fact, data imply that discrimination against Moroccans in Spain tends to be both structural (in media, work, and institutions) and episodic (public protests, violent incidents, and hate crimes).
Additionally, many Spanish-born people of Moroccan heritage also experience a double-bind as they’re neither fully Spanish according to public perception nor totally Moroccan in the sense of belonging in Spain. While their Arab/Muslim ties also get them hate from Spanish citizens, who push the narrative of Spain being a Christian country.
This was evident during the 2023 protests in Madrid when thousands took to the streets to chant “Moros no, España no es un zoo” (No Moors, Spain is not a zoo) and “Spain is Christian, not Muslim” in a blatant display of racism and Xenophobia.
Rounding off the list are players like Alejandro Balde, Inaki Williams, Nico Williams, and Raphinha.
The messages monitored by the system showed explicit and dehumanizing language. Moreover, Oberaxe also found out that the intensity of the racist posts increased during high-visibility matches.
For instance, the first El Clásico (Real Madrid vs FC Barcelona) of 2024-25 coincided with spikes of 3,675 and 2,855 posts on October 27th and 28th, respectively.
The report has also highlighted that sports rivalry, combined with skin color and social issues like religion and immigration, fuels the spread of hate.
🚨🚨| La Liga players with the most racist attacks online, as per @el_pais:
— CentreGoals. (@centregoals) November 9, 2025
1. Lamine Yamal: 60%
2. Vinicius Jr: 29%
3. Kylian Mbappé: 3%
4. Alejandro Balde: 2%
5. Brahim Díaz: 2%
6. Iñaki Williams: 2% pic.twitter.com/f5ioMEz9gJ
The response from social media platforms has been uneven to say the least. Facebook has proven to be much more effective when it comes to reporting content, while platforms like X, Instagram, and Reddit have shown limited action.
Despite the various anti-racism campaigns, programs, pre-match kneeling, and more, racism continues to be a grave issue plaguing modern-day football.
While the Spanish FA tries its best to give out fines and punishments to clubs that get caught in such acts, tougher punishments need to be given so that fans fear committing such vile acts.
What do you think can be done to put a stop to racism in football? Let us know in the comments section.
