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Scandal ahead of the 2030 World Cup: Shame hangs over Spain and global condemnation following the disaster of the Egypt match

Mashin's defiance threatens to bring about severe penalties

Spain’s surprise draw at home against Egypt caused a major stir in the Spanish press, with commentary focusing on what some described as a “disgrace” following racist abuse directed at Muslims by the Spanish crowd whilst the Egyptian national anthem was being played.

From a technical perspective, the press blamed head coach Luis de la Fuente for making too many changes against the Pharaohs, despite this being the final warm-up match before the announcement of the final squad with which La Roja will contest the 2026 World Cup.

Given that Spain are in Group H alongside Saudi Arabia, Uruguay and Cape Verde, De la Fuente wanted to test his players against a nearby team and chose Egypt, who in turn saw the match as a strong opportunity to boost their players’ confidence against the world number one, who, ironically, dropped two places in the FIFA rankings due to yesterday’s result (0-0).

Racist chants: ‘Islamophobia’
The newspaper *AS* focused on the racist incident that occurred whilst the Egyptian national anthem was being played, as boos rang out alongside shameful chants such as “Anyone who refuses to jump is a Muslim”, which were repeated several times during the first half.
"AS" wrote on the front page: "A global disgrace", and at the top of its cover published today, Wednesday, it wrote: "Shameful racist chants at the Cornella stadium", emphasising that "Spain could face a potential sanction".
It also featured a background image of the stadium’s main screen during an attempt to curb fan racism at half-time when FIFA’s anti-racism protocol was activated, with the screen displaying: “It is worth noting that legislation on preventing violence in sport prohibits and punishes active participation in acts of violence, hatred or racism against foreigners”.
"AS" also noted that the international press (including the Egyptian media) condemned the incident as a "scandal" damaging Spain’s image ahead of the 2030 World Cup.

Discrimination against Egypt
The front page of the Catalan newspaper *Sport* focused on Barcelona goalkeeper Juan García’s international debut for the Spanish national team.
It also stated that the racist chants from a section of the crowd were the “worst news” of the match, describing them as “shameful” incidents during the first half that spoiled the atmosphere of the match despite Spain’s technical dominance.
As for the newspaper Marca, it wrote “Shameful chanting in Cornellà”, adding: “A lack of goals and an increase in booing”, whilst describing the chants as discriminatory against the Egyptian national team.
Mundo Deportivo ignores the incident... A lacklustre performance
Some Catalan newspapers were even more scathing in their criticism of the fans’ behaviour, such as *Ara* and *El Periódico*; the former ran the headline “If you don’t jump, you’re a Muslim” alongside a photo of Yamal, whilst the latter described it as a “global scandal”, asserting that the match was “marred by racist chants”.
For its part, Mundo Deportivo highlighted goalkeeper Juan García’s first appearance for La Roja, writing: “Juan at last”, whilst in small print on the side of the front page it read: “The Barcelona goalkeeper made his debut for the Spanish national team at the Cornella stadium. Spain dominated the match but failed to find the net in a game marred by racist chants”.
El Confidencial highlighted the 0-0 result, noting that it demonstrated the difficulty of breaking down Egypt’s defence despite Spain’s dominance for most of the match.
It was also noted that “some fans chanted unsporting slogans whilst the Egyptian national anthem was being played”.

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Translated by

Racist chants: ‘Islamophobia’

Discrimination against Egypt

Mundo Deportivo ignores the incident... A lacklustre performance

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