Ceuta migrant crisis spills onto Spain's pitches as World Cup co-hosting row grows

Two months after an estimated 70,000 migrants surged into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta from Morocco in two deadly days, the political and humanitarian fallout is now playing out across Spanish football — and threatening the country's role as co-host of the 2030 men's World Cup finals.

Ceuta, a Spanish territory on the North African coast with a population of just over 83,000, is still recovering from the events of late July, when border authorities were overwhelmed by arrivals by land and sea. According to Spain's prime minister, Pedro Sanchez, 141 people died attempting to reach the city on July 30 and 31. Although around 90 per cent of those who crossed returned to Morocco within 72 hours, some 5,000 have remained, including an estimated 1,200 minors who now require food, shelter and health services.

Patriotism on the pitch at Betis v Real Madrid

Over the past week, tensions have been impossible to ignore at Spanish grounds. When Real Betis hosted Real Madrid in Seville on Friday, two huge flags — one in Ceuta's black and white, the other Spain's red and yellow — were unfurled on the pitch. Many of the 66,046 crowd waved Spanish flags and chanted 'Viva Espana' as the stadium announcer voiced support for the people of Ceuta, with the national anthem — not usually played at La Liga matches — ringing around the ground. There were also insulting chants aimed at Sanchez, a sign of the noisy debate over the government's handling of the crisis.

Earlier that day, Spain head coach Luis de la Fuente brought the men's World Cup trophy his team won in July to Ceuta, saying he travelled there with "the support and backing of the whole country, all of Spain".

Flags at the Bernabeu and a Madrid denial

The mood reached the Bernabeu on Monday night. A group of Real Madrid fans had called on fellow supporters to bring Spain and Ceuta flags to the club's 2026-27 Champions League opener against Inter, amid rumours circulating on X and other platforms that Madrid would outlaw such flags — reportedly linked to Morocco-born Anas Laghrari, a close advisor to club president Florentino Perez.

Real Madrid moved to respond on Monday evening, issuing a statement saying it was "categorically untrue" that they had banned Spanish or Ceuta flags. Before kick-off in Madrid's 2-1 win over Inter, Ceuta flags and banners of support were handed out to fans outside the ground, with the organised block of supporters in the Bernabeu's south stand holding the flags up in unison.

Ceuta's club at the sharp end

Among those living through the crisis are the players, coaches and staff at AD Ceuta, who finished 11th in Spain's second division last season but now sit bottom of the table after four straight defeats.

"For me, Ceuta should not be playing games in this situation," head coach Jose Juan Romero told a press conference on August 13. "Nobody (outside Ceuta) realises how big this all is. If this happened in any other Spanish city, there would have been a much bigger and faster mobilisation. Me, the team, all of us, are in a bad way. My family usually comes here at this time of the year, but they are afraid to now. I know many friends who won't let their children leave their houses. But nobody does anything about it."

At their first home game of the new campaign on August 22, Ceuta's players wore T-shirts reading: "Ceuta is not for sale, Ceuta will defend itself." After kick-off they gathered with their arms around each other and stood still for the first 30 seconds.

"Of course it has affected everyone; the players, staff, coaches," said Luhay Hamido, president of AD Ceuta. "They are people, with families, children, but they are professionals. We've tried to protect everyone and just focus on our jobs, which is difficult, but we'll manage it. Of course, it was more difficult to make new signings (this summer).

"Any other city in the world would have exploded. But the people of Ceuta are strong, united, and an example on a global level of four cultures living together in such a small space. We're trying to go about our lives as normal, although it is difficult. We'll come through it, as we are strong people."

World Cup co-hosting row and a diplomatic storm

The crisis has reignited a political battle in Madrid. Spanish opposition parties — the centre-right People's Party and far-right Vox — blame the immigration policies of Sanchez's Socialist Party, while the Spanish and Moroccan governments point to a viral social-media misinformation campaign by smuggling gangs. Left-wing party Sumar, a junior partner in Spain's minority coalition, has called on the country's FA to refuse to co-host the 2030 World Cup with Morocco (Portugal is the third co-host).

Fears in Ceuta of further problems have grown after Morocco's justice minister, Abdellatif Ouahbi, called for talks over the territory's future and that of Melilla, another Spanish city on the African side of the Mediterranean. On Sunday, supporters of Morocco's champions Maghreb Fez displayed a banner reading 'Ceuta and Melilla. Two cities, one homeland: Morocco' during an African Champions League tie against Rahimo of Burkina Faso.

Earlier this month, Sanchez called for an investigation into what happened, while defence minister Margarita Robles apologised to "those who felt abandoned" when the government took centralised control of the crisis in late August. In his parliamentary speech last Thursday, Sanchez said: "I can assure you that no institution, not the diplomatic service, nor the European Commission, nor any international body, has provided the Spanish government with any solid evidence that Morocco planned or carried out the incident."

Football success had previously been a rare good-news story for Ceuta, where the population is almost evenly split between Christian and Muslim backgrounds alongside smaller Jewish and Hindu communities. For now, though, the city's club is fighting a battle far bigger than results on the pitch — and, as Hamido put it, de la Fuente's visit "is another way to make clear that Ceuta belongs to Spain".