Barça's Stance: No Ceuta Support T-Shirt

Unlike other La Liga teams, Barça is not wearing a t-shirt to support the population of Ceuta. President Joan Laporta fully stands by this decision.

Going against the trend, while several La Liga teams show solidarity with Ceuta—the Spanish enclave in Morocco facing a migration crisis—Barça chose a different path. Facing Levante last Sunday (4-2) in La Liga’s fifth matchday, Raphinha’s teammates took the field as usual, in their jerseys, not with the ‘Todos somos caballas’ (We are all Caballas) t-shirts. On Wednesday, for the home match against Racing Santander, the players wore training jackets.

'Let everyone do what they believe they should'

Barça president Joan Laporta explained the club's position to Cadena Ser before the match. "The club stands for freedom of expression. Let everyone do what they believe they should. We respect all kinds of actions taken. We know that when politics and sport mix, it creates controversy. This is what happened at Elche and with Ez Abde," he stated. "We give our players the freedom to make these kinds of statements privately, without using the club’s name." (Ez Abde, the Moroccan international from Betis, had to defend himself against claims of political messaging with the same t-shirt.)

Earlier that day, Spanish Football League president Javier Tebas defended wearing the t-shirt in support of Ceuta's population. This follows incidents where players like Kylian Mbappé, Vinicius Junior, and Ibrahima Konaté partially wore the shirts during a La Liga match at Elche (3-2), covering the message 'We are all maquereaux'—a nickname for Ceuta's residents.

Tens of thousands of migrants entered Ceuta forcefully from Morocco in late July. Ceuta, along with Melilla, is one of two Spanish enclaves in North Africa. While most migrants were quickly returned to Morocco, thousands remain in the autonomous city, where the situation has worsened, causing tension with residents. The Ceuta crisis has been a central topic in Spanish political debate for six weeks, sparking daily exchanges between Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez's government and the right-wing and far-right opposition.