Barcelona cancels World Cup winners celebration after fan arrest

Updated: Aug. 28, 2026 10:58:00

Barcelona fans hold up Estelada flags, a symbol of the Catalan independence movement, during their game against Athletic Club. (Alex Caparros via Getty Images)

By Laia Cervelló Herrero

Barcelona had planned a celebration for Thursday night on the Camp Nou pitch, honoring the eight players who won the World Cup with Spain this summer.

That number would have been higher had Ferran Torres — who scored the winning goal in the final against Argentina on July 19 — not left for Paris Saint-Germain earlier this month. The Catalans still have Lamine Yamal, Pedri, Gavi, Eric Garcia, Joan Garcia, Dani Olmo, Pau Cubarsi, and new signing Rodri.

The plan, arranged with the Spanish football federation (RFEF), was for these players to pose with the World Cup trophy before kick-off against Athletic Club in Barcelona’s first home match of the new La Liga season. Other clubs around the country had done the same — including Real Madrid on Wednesday night.

Mikel Oyarzabal and Marc Cucurella at the Bernabeu this week (Denis Doyle/Getty Images)

But Barcelona cancelled it. To understand why, we need to rewind to last Sunday and an incident before their season opener at Elche.

The Incident at Elche

A short video shared on social media that day showed police officers confronting a Barcelona supporter queuing to get into the ground before kick-off. The officer went over to him and grabbed his Estelada flag — a symbol of the Catalan independence movement.

In the video, the Barcelona fan — who authorities later confirmed was 17 years old and therefore a minor under Spanish law — was then dragged out of the queue. The police officer and other colleagues struck him with truncheons, and he physically retaliated, throwing punches towards the officers before he was knocked to the ground and held there.

The supporter was arrested and has been charged with assaulting a police officer. If the case proceeds, it will be heard by a juvenile court. As a minor, he would almost certainly not face jail time were he to be found guilty. Judges tend to favour rehabilitation measures such as community service in such instances.

Barcelona's Response

The following day, Barcelona’s president Joan Laporta called the fan and his family and offered to provide legal support via the club, which has now been arranged.

Barcelona also issued a statement that read:

“The club considers that the procedure for detaining one of our supporters was disproportionate and lacked the necessary proportionality and appropriateness in the use of force.

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“Likewise, FC Barcelona regrets that, once again, police officers confiscated Estelada flags from Barca supporters. The Estelada is a legal symbol and its display constitutes a legitimate exercise of freedom of expression and cannot, in itself, be considered an incitement to hatred or violence.”

Legal and Political Context

The Estelada is not a banned symbol in Spain, and football fans are permitted to bring the flag into stadiums. It is not classified by the police as a symbol that incites hatred, although it may be confiscated if the police perceive it is being used to provoke.

The case also attracted comment from further afield. The president of Catalonia’s regional parliament, Josep Rull, sent a letter to the Spanish government’s minister of the interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, asking him to clarify the reasons behind the police officers’ actions and who had ordered it, describing the use of force as “disproportionate”.

Omnium Cultural (a group founded to defend Catalonia’s language, culture, and identity) and the Catalan National Assembly (ANC, a pro-independence organisation) called on their members to fill the Camp Nou with Estelada flags for the match against Athletic Club on Thursday. The ANC handed out 10,000 flags.

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