Pre-match gesture at Elche

Before Real Madrid played against Elche on Tuesday, 15 September, players from both teams were provided with white t-shirts bearing the slogan "Todos somos caballas" in solidarity with the residents of Ceuta. The initiative, organised by the Valencian Association of Entrepreneurs and approved by La Liga, followed a border crossing on 30 and 31 July in which more than 70,000 migrants entered the Spanish exclave from Morocco. Video footage from the stadium tunnel showed Real Madrid forward Kylian Mbappé, winger Vinícius Júnior, and defender Ibrahima Konaté folding the shirts upward toward their chests to obscure the text before stepping onto the pitch. The three players took the garments off seconds later before standard pre-match greetings began.

Explanations and Spanish reaction

Mbappé explained his decision on Wednesday in an interview with the Spanish sports newspaper AS, stating that he wanted to recognise the plight of both the local population and the migrants.

“I have full solidarity for Ceuta and all the victims because before being a player, I am human. But I also wanted to offer a gesture and thought for all the immigrants who have lost their lives and who are in tough conditions.”

Mbappé added that he did not wish to prioritize suffering. In Spain, the gesture drew criticism from La Liga president Javier Tebas, who publicly condemned the action. Conservative People's Party spokesperson Esther Muñoz called the players' conduct very embarrassing and questioned why they refused to defend Spain. José María Figaredo of the far-right Vox party argued that Spaniards had the right to feel outrage at wealthy athletes living in Spain who declined to back the public. Conversely, José Manuel Rodríguez Uribes, president of Spain's High Council for Sports (CSD), urged respect for personal conscience and pointed to online harassment and death threats directed at players on both sides of the issue. Casualties during the July border crossing have been reported between 83 and 141 deaths, mostly from drownings.

French political dispute

The controversy escalated to French politics on Thursday evening when far-right presidential candidate Éric Zemmour appeared on the television network BFMTV. Zemmour accused Mbappé of expressing Islamic solidarity that superseded French solidarity or loyalty to Spain, claiming the forward had taken the side of migrants over Spanish citizens. The remarks provoked condemnation from left-wing lawmakers in France. Manuel Bompard, coordinator of France Unbowed, criticized the platform given to Zemmour, while Paris Mayor Emmanuel Grégoire described the commentary as dangerous racism on prime-time television. Ecologist lawmaker Léa Balage El Mariky lodged a formal complaint with the French broadcasting regulator Arcom, asserting that the interview contained unchecked hate speech and xenophobic remarks.

Florentino Pérez visits Ceuta

To calm public sentiment, Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez travelled to Ceuta on Friday, 18 September. Pérez arrived by helicopter via Gibraltar alongside honorary club president José Martínez, who was born in Ceuta, and institutional relations director Emilio Butragueño. The club delegation met with Ceuta regional president Juan Jesús Vivas and signed the municipality's book of honour. The visit aimed to demonstrate institutional backing for the exclave, where several thousand migrants remain in temporary shelters following the July influx.