A recent study has revealed that Lamine Yamal faces more racial abuse on social media than all other players in La Liga combined. The Barcelona forward was targeted by fans from Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu in 2024 and has become the primary target of online hate in Spain.
Racism has increasingly infiltrated both stadiums and online platforms in recent years within Spanish football. There has been a growing emphasis on addressing this issue, with more visibility and stricter penalties being implemented. Vinicius Junior has emerged as one of the leading figures in the fight against racism, receiving the second highest amount of racial attacks online.
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Lamine Yamal Leads in Online Racial Abuse
The study, conducted by the Spanish Observatory of Racism and Xenophobia (Oberaxe), utilized an AI system named FARO to identify instances of racial abuse. During the previous season, a staggering 33,438 instances of reportable content were documented. According to El Pais, the findings indicate that Lamine Yamal has accounted for 60% of all recorded racial abuse online. Together with Vinicius Junior, who received 29%, the two players comprise nearly 90% of such attacks, while Kylian Mbappe, Alejandro Balde, Brahim Diaz, and Inaki Williams follow as the next most targeted athletes.
Image via BeIN Sports
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The study further highlighted that players from Barcelona (32%) and Real Madrid (34%) are the most frequently targeted, followed by Real Valladolid (17%), Valencia (8%), Athletic Club (6%), Real Sociedad (5%), and Atletico Madrid (5%).
Twitter/X Lags in Policing Racial Abuse
Among the social media platforms analyzed, Oberaxe found that Facebook is the most proactive in combating racism, removing 62% of abusive content reported. Conversely, Twitter/X emerged as the least effective platform, with only 10% of reported racial abuse being addressed.
While La Liga has intensified its efforts to combat racism within stadiums, many believe that the punishments enforced by Spanish authorities are neither consistent nor severe enough to serve as a deterrent.