Spain beat Argentina 1-0 in extra time on Sunday to win the World Cup. Within hours, the result belonged to a very different scoreboard, one measured in statements from Tehran, Gaza and Sanaa rather than shots on target.
Iran’s government, Hamas, Yemen’s Houthi movement and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas all congratulated Spain publicly, framing the win as a defeat for Israel and the United States by proxy. The praise traces back to Madrid’s own foreign policy and to a single photograph of a 19-year-old Barcelona forward on an open-top bus. It is also the latest chapter in a fight over political speech at World Cups that FIFA has never actually resolved.
A Congratulations Line Forms Within Hours
Iran’s state news agency IRNA carried remarks from Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the country’s top negotiator, who said Spain’s players and their government had shown that Gaza residents cheered Spain’s winning goal on projector screens across the enclave even as their own circumstances stayed grim. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei had already praised Spain’s national team and government for what he called opposition to “aggression, genocide and oppression.”
The reactions arrived in different registers, but the throughline was consistent.
- Iran’s government credited Spain’s stance for making “the hearts of many free and independent and justice-loving nations of the world” happy, per Ghalibaf’s comments carried by IRNA.
- Hamas official Basem Naim said the group congratulated “Spain on its deserved World Cup win,” and separately congratulated “Palestine and its supporters on their joy,” in a statement circulated by Palestinian media.
- Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas sent letters to Spain’s King Felipe VI and to Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, calling the win a “major global sporting achievement,” according to Turkish news agency Anadolu.
Yemen’s Houthis, who have fired missiles at Israel and attacked shipping in the Red Sea, joined in too. Senior Houthi official Nasr al-Din Amer offered the bluntest version of the argument making the rounds online.
Even in sports, whoever the Israeli enemy supports loses, and whoever stands against it wins. Congratulations to Spain, which holds an honorable stance supporting Gaza and opposing the Israeli enemy, on the World Cup.
Amer’s remarks were reported by the Israeli daily Israel Hayom. None of these governments or groups have any formal role in Spanish football. What they share is a read of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s government as an ally against Israel, and a photo of Lamine Yamal that circulated for months before a ball was kicked at this World Cup.
Argentina Carried Israel’s Banner and Still Went Home Runner-Up
Israeli politicians picked a side well before kickoff. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Argentina’s ambassador to Israel, Rabbi Shimon Axel Wahnish, on July 18, a day ahead of the final, and many Israeli soccer fans openly backed Argentina. The pull was personal as much as political: Argentine President Javier Milei has been one of Israel’s most vocal supporters on the world stage.
It did not translate into a trophy. Ferran Torres, a Spain forward brought on as a substitute, scored the winner just 39 seconds into the second half of extra time, an 8-yard strike that finally broke a stalemate at a sold-out MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, branded for the tournament as New York New Jersey Stadium. Demand for seats had been extreme all tournament, a market that produced one final ticket listed at $2.3 million that never sold.
The numbers from the match tell their own story about how one-sided it was.
- Final score: Spain 1, Argentina 0, decided in extra time.
- Shot count: Spain fired 20 shots to Argentina’s two, with neither Argentine attempt on target.
- Expected goals: Spain generated 1.94 xG against Argentina’s 0.2.
- Saves: Argentina goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez made a World Cup final record 11 saves to keep the score close.
Argentina played most of extra time a man down after a player named Fernandez picked up a second yellow card in second-half stoppage time. Lionel Messi, in what looks like his final World Cup match, watched the closing stages from the bench area as Spain celebrated a second world title, 16 years after its first in 2010. Argentina finished runner-up for the fourth time in seven final appearances, falling short of becoming the first team since Brazil in 1962 to win three consecutive major tournaments.
Morocco Wrote This Script by Beating Spain in 2022
The irony sits close to the surface. Four years before Spain lifted this trophy, it was Spain that got eliminated by a team wrapped in the Palestinian flag. Morocco knocked Spain out of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar on penalties, and its players unfurled Palestinian flags on the pitch afterward, the second time in that tournament they had done so after a win. A pro-Israel legal group, UK Lawyers for Israel, formally complained to FIFA’s Disciplinary Committee, arguing Morocco had breached Article 11.2 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code, which covers using a match for “demonstrations of a non-sporting nature.” FIFA never sanctioned Morocco over it.
The sequence connecting that moment to this one runs in a straight line.
- December 2022: Morocco eliminates Spain in Qatar, then celebrates with Palestinian flags for the second time in the tournament.
- May 28, 2024: Spain formally recognizes the State of Palestine alongside Ireland and Norway.
- May 11, 2026: Lamine Yamal waves a Palestinian flag from Barcelona’s open-top bus during the club’s La Liga title parade.
- June 27, 2026: Iran is eliminated in the World Cup group stage after three draws.
- July 19, 2026: Spain beats Argentina to win the World Cup, and Iran, Hamas, the Houthis and the Palestinian Authority congratulate Madrid within hours.
Yamal, whose father is Moroccan, waved the flag while riding the bus after Barcelona clinched the league title on May 11, a moment photographed by the Associated Press and replayed constantly once the political reactions to Spain’s World Cup win began circulating. Sanchez later said he felt pride in the gesture. The 19-year-old was not the first Moroccan-linked player to make the connection between Spanish football and Palestine explicit, and he will not be the last to test how far FIFA lets that go.
FIFA Bans the Political Gesture, Rarely Bans the Team
FIFA’s own regulations are unambiguous on paper. Stadium safety rules state that Spain formally recognized the State of Palestine the same week its government pushed European allies toward a coordinated stance, a policy shift now colliding with a sport that insists it stays out of politics entirely. The gap between that rule and its enforcement is where this story keeps repeating itself.
| Incident | Tournament | FIFA Response |
|---|---|---|
| Morocco players wave Palestinian flag after beating Spain and Canada | 2022, Qatar | No sanction despite a formal complaint |
| Iran’s pre-1979 lion-and-sun flag displayed by protesters | 2022, Qatar | Barred as a political symbol |
| Fan’s Israeli flag confiscated at an Iran match | 2022, Qatar | Removed by stadium security |
| European captains’ planned “One Love” rainbow armband | 2022, Qatar | Threatened with sporting sanctions, dropped |
| Serbia’s Kosovo map hung in team changing room | 2022, Qatar | Fined the equivalent of £17,000 |
| Egypt coach Hossam Hassan’s pro-Palestinian remarks after wins | 2026, United States | No sanction reported |
A Deutsche Welle correspondent summed up the pattern back in 2022 with a line that has aged well: Rules only make sense if they are consistently applied.
Egypt’s federation faced no discipline this year either, even after Hassan dedicated a win over Australia to Palestinians and delivered an emotional monologue about Gaza casualties following his team’s elimination by Argentina. Egypt’s own path to this World Cup had its own bureaucratic drama, detailed in a paperwork dispute over a dual national recruit that nearly kept a breakout Egyptian player off the roster entirely.
Sanchez Is Cashing a Bet He Placed in 2024
Spain’s recognition of Palestinian statehood was not a passing comment. It was a formal cabinet decision, timed with Ireland and Norway, that Sanchez defended as necessary to help Israelis and Palestinians reach peace.
He said fighting Hamas after October 7 was justified but argued Netanyahu had no peace plan for Gaza. Sanchez laid out the decision himself in a post confirming Spain joins more than 140 countries that already recognized Palestine.
Israel’s response was immediate and personal. Foreign Minister Israel Katz accused Sanchez of being a partner to incitement
of Jewish genocide, and Spain’s own foreign ministry called the backlash unjustified. That fight has simmered for two years, and Spain’s World Cup win just handed it a global stage it never had before. A government that picked a costly diplomatic side is now watching that same position generate goodwill from Tehran to Gaza City, whether or not that was ever the intended payoff of a football tournament.
Why Is Iran Celebrating a Trophy Its Own Team Never Touched?
Iran’s national team never came close to this final. It finished third in Group G with three draws against New Zealand, Belgium and Egypt, eliminated on tiebreakers after failing to crack the World Cup’s expanded knockout field, extending a run of seven tournaments without escaping the group stage. Its government is claiming Spain’s trophy anyway, as a symbolic win over the same two countries, the United States and Israel, that had been actively bombing and fighting Iran only months earlier.
Iran’s own World Cup campaign played out against the backdrop of Iran’s missile strikes on American bases and retaliatory American strikes on Iranian territory, a conflict that had barely cooled by the time the tournament began. The US military reportedly struck islands in the Strait of Hormuz hours before Iran’s own group match against Egypt, and Iran’s team shuttled repeatedly back to Tijuana, Mexico between matches under travel arrangements its federation said left players exhausted. None of that history stopped Tehran from treating a Spanish trophy as vindication.
The pattern is not likely to fade. Morocco, Portugal and Spain will jointly host the next World Cup in 2030, a bid FIFA confirmed as the sole candidacy for that tournament. The same two federations whose Palestinian flag moments bookended each other, Morocco eliminating Spain in 2022, Spain inheriting the same symbolism as champion in 2026, will share a trophy presentation on home soil in four years.
Frequently Asked Questions
Did FIFA Discipline Morocco for Waving the Palestinian Flag in 2022?
No. UK Lawyers for Israel filed a formal complaint with FIFA Disciplinary Committee chair Jorge Palacio, arguing Morocco’s players and officials breached Article 11.2 of the Disciplinary Code. FIFA took no disciplinary action against the Moroccan federation or its players.
Was Lamine Yamal’s Flag Gesture Part of a FIFA Competition?
No. Yamal waved the Palestinian flag during Barcelona’s own victory parade after winning Spain’s domestic La Liga title on May 11, 2026, a competition run by Spain’s football league and federation, not by FIFA. That timing means FIFA’s tournament rules on political displays never applied to the moment at all.
Does the Palestinian Authority Have Diplomatic Ties With Spain?
Yes, and they predate the 2026 World Cup by years. Spain’s government has said Palestine already maintained a diplomatic mission in Madrid before Spain’s formal recognition of Palestinian statehood took effect in May 2024.
