MADRID (AP) — Five Valladolid fans who racially insulted Real Madrid star Vinícius Júnior in 2022 have been found guilty in the first ruling in Spain that condemns racist insults in a soccer stadium as a hate crime, the league said Wednesday.
A Valladolid court convicted the fans for their insults in a league match, sentencing them to one year in prison plus a fine of up to 1,620 euros ($1,837). The jail time is suspended on condition they don't commit any offense or visit soccer stadiums hosting official national competitions for three years.
The league called Wednesday's ruling “a firm step towards eradicating racism in sport.”
“This judicial decision represents an unprecedented milestone in the fight against racism in sport in Spain,” the league said.
Last year, three Valencia fans were handed eight-month prison sentences after pleading guilty to racially insulting Madrid forward Vinícius Júnior.
That was the first conviction for racism-related cases in professional soccer in Spain, but it was not based on a hate crime. The Valencia fans were convicted of a crime against moral integrity, with the aggravating circumstance of discrimination based on racist motives.
“The fact that this ruling explicitly refers to hate crimes associated with racist insults reinforces the message that intolerance has no place in football,” the league said.
The league first filed the complaint against the Valladolid fans. It was later joined in the case by the player, Real Madrid, and the public prosecutor’s office.
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Real Madrid's Vinicius Junior, right, and Barcelona's Lamine Yamal compete for the ball during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Barcelona and Real Madrid at the Lluis Companys Olympic Stadium in Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, May 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Breton)
Real Madrid's Vinicius Junior, left, passes the ball challenged by Barcelona's Eric Garcia during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Barcelona and Real Madrid at the Lluis Companys Olympic Stadium in Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, May 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Breton)
LONDON (AP) — The U.K.'s home secretary on Wednesday urged the head of one of the country's leading police forces to resign following a report on how fans from Israeli soccer team Maccabi Tel Aviv were banned from a match against Premier League side Aston Villa in Birmingham last year.
Shabana Mahmood told lawmakers that the independent report found “a failure of leadership” on the part of West Midlands Police Chief Constable Craig Guildford, adding that he "no longer has my confidence.”
The ban came at a time of heightened concerns about antisemitism in Britain following a deadly attack on a Manchester synagogue and calls from Palestinians and their supporters for a sports boycott of Israel over the war with Hamas in Gaza.
The decision to ban Maccabi fans from the match with Aston Villa on Nov. 6 was widely criticized, including by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
West Midlands Police said at the time it had deemed the match to be high risk “based on current intelligence and previous incidents,” including violence and hate crimes that took place when Maccabi played Ajax in Amsterdam last season.
Guildford did not immediately comment on the report Wednesday but West Midlands Police said “mistakes were made” without mentioning its chief constable.
Mahmood said the report by the chief inspector of constabulary, Andy Cooke, found that West Midlands Police had overstated the threat posed by Maccabi fans while understating the potential risks to them, and “conducted little engagement with the Jewish community" before a decision was taken.
She said the report noted that "the force sought only the evidence to support their desired position to ban the fans.” The report did not find the police force was antisemitic.
Mahmood also noted a police reference at the time to a nonexistent match between Maccabi and Premier League side West Ham in 2023, which was deemed to be an “AI hallucination.” Guildford previously denied that AI was to blame for that error but apologized for it Wednesday ahead of the report’s publication.
Mahmood said she didn't have the power to fire Guildford as a result of a policy change by the previous Conservative government in 2011, but she was looking to reinstate that power to home secretaries. Currently, locally elected police and crime commissioners have that power.
Simon Foster, the West Midlands commissioner, acknowledged the “significant strength of feeling” surrounding the controversy and said he would seek further answers from Guildford at a public meeting on Jan. 27 of his accountability and governance board.
FILE - Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer, left, is reflected as Britain's Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood speaks to members of the Jewish community at the Community Security Trust (CST) in north west London, Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025. (Carlos Jasso, Pool Photo via AP, file)
FILE - Maccabi Tel Aviv's fan is escorted by police ahead of the Europa League soccer match between Aston Villa and Maccabi Tel Aviv in Birmingham, England, Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Darren Staples, file)
