Spain gains unexpected Latin American backing ahead of World Cup final
Spain faces Argentina in the World Cup final with unusual support from across Latin America, a shift driven by growing frustration with Argentina's football dominance and racist incidents involving its fans.
Spain will take on Argentina in Sunday’s World Cup final with an unexpected ally: fans across Latin America. Historically, the region has united behind its representatives against European opposition, but a notable segment of the continent is actively supporting Spain this weekend.
For a European audience, this fracture illustrates how off-pitch controversies and regional sporting power dynamics can alter international allegiances. It transforms a continent that usually views European finalists as the enemy into a sympathetic audience for a Spanish victory.
The shift stems from Argentina’s sustained dominance and off-field conduct. The team has reached three of the last four World Cup finals, winning at least one, while traditional rivals like Brazil have suffered early exits. Nicolás Cabrera, an Argentinian sociologist studying Latin American football supporters, noted the rivalry once stayed within local borders but now extends to Mexicans, Colombians, and Ecuadorians.
Racist behavior by a minority of Argentine fans has accelerated the backlash. Social media has amplified hate speech that previously remained marginal. In Brazil, several Argentine tourists have recently been arrested for racial insults. During the current tournament, an Argentine journalist said on television he hated Mexicans "with all his soul" and falsely claimed Ecuadorians were threatened by a drug cartel, prompting Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, to call the remarks "outrageous."
The controversies are not confined to rival fans. While celebrating their 2024 Copa América title, Argentina players chanted racist and homophobic songs about the French team they defeated in the 2022 World Cup final. Such incidents prompted Brazilian columnist Julia Duailibi to break from politics to write about her disillusionment. “I admit that the racist scenes involving a minority of the fans, and the silence of the majority on the pitch, turned my stomach,” she wrote.
The support for Spain is not universal, however. Brazilian historian Fábio Luís Barbosa dos Santos pointed out Spain’s own issues, recalling the racist abuse directed at Brazilian player Vinícius Júnior by La Liga supporters. “If the issue is racism, then you couldn’t support Spain either,” he said, citing Spain’s colonial history of profiting from the enslavement of Africans.
Santos plans to support Argentina due to shared political histories, noting the presence of right-wing leaders in both countries. “Their misfortunes are ours too, as their joys should be,” he added. Meanwhile, some Brazilians backing Spain, like 32-year-old ride-hailing driver João Felipe Jr, admit their usual support for Argentina is entirely tied to 39-year-old Lionel Messi. “When he retires, I’ll stop supporting Argentina,” he said.
