An icon of Catalonia, FC Barcelona is, it maintains, “more than a club.” In Spain, where soccer often has larger political reverberations, it was hugely symbolic that the country secured the lead in its 2-1 victory over England at Sunday night’s Euro 2024 final.
In the 47th minute, Lamine Yamal took the ball on the right, cut in-field ahead of England’s Luke Shaw and played a lovely weighted pass into the path of Nico Williams. He screeched off the left wing, free of marker Kyle Walker, to side-foot the ball into the net with a clinical finish.
Seventeen years old on Saturday, Yamal’s mother is from Africa’s Equatorial Guinea and his father from Morocco. Williams, 22 on Friday, was born in Pamplona, northern Spain, to Ghanian parents.
The two, close friends, have terrorized opponents with William’s speed and Yamal’s dribbling, wrong-footing despairing defenders.
Spain had been vastly superior for most of the final. A late rally by England was not enough. England has proved all force, Spain finesse. Williams, voted man of the match, and Yamal, chosen as young player of the tournament, symbolize a next generation Spain whose Black players are their stars, bringing a sense of verticality and even fun to the game.
That is a larger victory for Spain at large. Its soccer scene has been marred by racist incidents for years.
Playing late April for his Basque club Athletic de Bilbao, Williams complained that when taking a corner, he heard “monkey sounds” made against him. He tried to persuade the referee to stop the game, to no avail. Now, he is a national hero.
Similarly, Brazil’s Vinicius Jr. broke down in tears at a press conference last March remembering the racist taunts he suffers playing for Real Madrid in Spain.
Immigration remains a hot-button issue in Spain. Far-right party Vox has grown into the third biggest force in Spanish politics, winning 24 seats in 2019’s general elections, partly on its call for stricter immigration policies. In 2021, it claimed that “MENAS,” unaccompanied underage immigrants to Spain, cost the Spanish state €4,700 ($5,123) a month.
Vox’s loss of a half million votes in last year’s general elections marks a pushback by Spanish voters against the country’s radical right, also seen in France’s elections this month.
Last Thursday, Vox quit coalition governments with the conservative People’s Party (PP) in five key regions of Spain after disagreements over the PP’s support of Spain’s socialist governments plans to welcome 400 unaccompanied underage immigrants in mainland Spain. Vox’s withdrawal from government was hailed as a great day for Spain by its socialist prime minister Pedro Sánchez.
Spain’s Euro 2024 victory comes just under a year after its women’s team won the FIFA World Cup, despite a soccer association president who kissed a member of the winning team during the trophy presentation and a coach whom some players refused to play for.
Spain’s film and TV industry broadly mirrors its liberal devolved politics. Regional industries are flourishing in Catalonia and the Basque Country, home to Williams and Spain’s goalscorer Mikel Olarzabal. Women score bonus points at film subsidy allocations.
If larger change in countries is often symbolized – and arguably driven – by sports, the larger question now is what will happen if Spain’s young team starts to lose. Heroes can quickly become scapegoats, and their careers wane. For the moment, however, Spain is a fiesta celebrating a joyous team symbolizing its inclusivity.