On the day of the UEFA Champions League final, Chinese blogger @球迷汇SHOWMI encountered racial discrimination from Real Madrid fans. According to a June 11 announcement on the “Chinese Embassy in Spain” WeChat account, the embassy responded to remarks made by a few Real Madrid fans insulting Chinese people:
“The Chinese Embassy in Spain has noted that recently, a few Real Madrid fans made vulgar and maliciously discriminatory comments against Chinese people during an interview. We are shocked and outraged by these remarks and immediately lodged a strong protest with Real Madrid Club.
Real Madrid Club opposes the inappropriate behavior of these individual fans, emphasizing that the club rejects and condemns all forms of racial discrimination and xenophobia. The club considers these to be isolated actions that contradict Real Madrid’s values and principles and do not represent the club or its vast fan base. Real Madrid Club values and loves its Chinese fans, cherishes the friendly ties with the great country of China, and is grateful for the support from Chinese fans. The club hopes to continue playing a positive role in Sino-Spanish friendship.”
Additionally, according to a previous report by China Youth Daily’s @青蜂侠, a Chinese blogger experienced racial discrimination from a Real Madrid fan who sang a song insulting Chinese women during a post-match interview after the Champions League final. The video showed the companion immediately separating from the singer as he began. The blogger later understood the offensive nature of the lyrics from friends who speak Spanish. A foreign blogger claimed that the individual was the grandson of former Real Madrid president Lorenzo Sanz and the son of Real Madrid commentator Lorenzo Sanz Durán.
Following the incident, @球迷汇SHOWMI filed a complaint with La Liga and Real Madrid via email. La Liga responded, stating, “We learned about your complaint regarding the incident after the Champions League final through the video you posted and the La Liga platform.”
La Liga expressed regret over the incident and reaffirmed its commitment to combating hate crimes. Over the years, La Liga has led efforts against racial discrimination through awareness, detection, and reporting. “As we have previously stated, we learned about your complaint through the La Liga platform, and we inform you that La Liga has notified the authorities of this matter following standard procedures for such incidents.”
La Liga also expressed its willingness to keep the blogger informed about the latest developments in the case and its ongoing efforts to combat racism.
However, Chinese fans are generally dissatisfied with Real Madrid’s response, believing that the club has not apologized nor announced any punitive measures. They consider the response to be perfunctory and see it as shielding the racist individual, the grandson of the former Real Madrid president.
