On May 21, 2023, Vinicius Junior was racially abused by fans at Valencia’s Mestalla Stadium. The Real Madrid forward’s reaction, confronting the individuals responsible and criticizing Spanish football’s failure to deal with the issue — he said “racism is normal in LaLiga” — sparked a global surge of support for the player, and he’s been a leading voice in this fight. In 2023, the Vinicius Jr. law was passed in Brazil to combat racism at sporting events.
It wasn’t the first time that Vinicius, who is one of LaLiga’s best and most exciting footballers since coming to the league in 2018, had faced racist abuse inside a stadium. As the player himself said, “It wasn’t the first time, or the second, or the third.” And although the incident led to widespread discussion of Spanish football’s problem with racism and promises from its governing bodies to act decisively, it wasn’t the last incident, either.
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In Spain, racist abuse is classified as a hate crime. The country’s criminal code says those who publicly encourage, promote or incite hatred against an individual or group because of their race can face a prison sentence of up to four years, along with a fine. Sports’ governing bodies — in football’s case, the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) — can order temporary venue closures, and individuals can be banned from entering stadiums. Crucially, LaLiga itself does not have the legal power to punish culprits directly, a situation the league is keen to change.
In this timeline, ESPN chronicles the racist abuse Vinicius has faced while playing for Real Madrid, details what (if any) were the consequences, and discusses where things go from here.
