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The Appeal Committee of the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) rejected the appeal submitted by its Spanish counterpart against a penalty issued against the national team following racist chants during a friendly match against Egypt last March, the local federation announced on Friday.
During the match, which was held at the Cornellà stadium, the home of RCD Espanyol in Barcelona, on March 31, some fans chanted, "Whoever doesn't jump is a Muslim."
On August 4, three weeks after Spain won the World Cup in North America, the FIFA Disciplinary Committee imposed a fine of $20,000 (17,800 euros) and the closure of at least 15% of the stadium's capacity during the next friendly match that "La Roja" will play on home soil.
The Spanish Federation reaffirmed that this offensive behavior "was detected through the federation's own monitoring systems," noting that messages were directed to the fans asking them to stop the chants between the two halves and during the second half, in addition to displaying alerts on the giant screens in the stadium.
It also emphasized its full cooperation to help identify those responsible for these chants, and that it will appeal the decision before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
International striker Lamine Yamal (19), the Barcelona star—the local rival of Espanyol—who hails from a suburb near the Cornellà stadium, described the chants at the time as "a lack of respect and an intolerable matter."
Spain coach Luis de la Fuente also considered the chants "unacceptable."
The 65-year-old Spanish coach said after the match, "Some violent individuals use football to impose themselves. They must be removed from society, identified, and the further away they are, the better."
The Egyptian Football Association issued a statement in which it expressed its "strong condemnation of the hateful racist incident" committed by some fans who "crossed all boundaries."
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