Spanish is now allowed throughout the World Cup. FIFA reversed course and as of this Sunday allows questions and answers in Spanish during press conferences for matches played in the United States, even if Spanish-speaking teams do not participate. The controversy had begun with those who FIFA had not authorized to receive queries or answer them in Spanish during the run-up to the match — and had added a third chapter with Frankie De Jong in the run-up to the Netherlands’ match against Japan in Dallas. That is already part of the past.
The highest football entity did not and will not make any official announcement on the issue, but, after noticing the widespread discontent in Spain and Latin America, it made a decision that will be maintained throughout the World Cup, as EL PAÍS was able to confirm. Spanish is the language spoken in one of the three organizing countries, Mexico, and the second most used in the United States: 57 million people speak it in that country, which makes it the second with the largest number of Spanish speakers, only behind Mexico itself.
This Sunday, in the matches Germany 7-Curaçao 0, Netherlands 2-Japan 2 and Sweden 5-Tunisia 1, and logically also in , Spanish was among the translations available in the FIFA application for the media. A Spanish interpreter joined each of those matches, unlike what had happened in the matches of the previous days, for example, Brazil 1-Morocco 1, which ignited the viral protest. FIFA officials at each press conference have already been notified that they must allow questions from journalists in Spanish and possible answers from players in that same language.
The 2026 World Cup had begun with the usual protocol for FIFA press conferences, which only allows consultations to be made in English and in the language of the two teams participating in the match, except for one addition: each association can provide a list of the languages it believes it needs. Therefore, in the matches scheduled in the United States and Canada, until now questions could only be asked in Spanish when the teams of Mexico, Spain, Argentina, Uruguay, Colombia, Ecuador and Paraguay participated, unless other federations specifically requested it. At the press conferences held in Guadalajara, Mexico, for example, FIFA did allow questions in Spanish to journalists accredited for the Czechia – South Korea match.
The counterpoint began on Friday in New Jersey when Mexican journalist Rodrigo Ornelas took the microphone to address Hakimi in Spanish. It was then that the FIFA moderator interrupted the question and reminded the Paris Saint-Germain figure that he could not answer in that language, but in Arabic or French. The officer also told Ornelas that questions in Spanish were not allowed.
Hakimi—who was born and raised in Madrid—tried to resolve the situation with his perfect Spanish, but the FIFA official explained the reason for the ban: “We can’t do it because of the translations,” he said, alluding to the fact that they did not have an interpreter for Spanish. Finally, with Hakimi’s approval, the Mexican journalist asked him his question in Spanish and Hakimi asked the moderator in which language he should respond: he did so in English.
The Brazil-Morocco press conference had another similar moment. A Spanish journalist, Sergio Quirante, from DAZN, began to ask Brazilian Vinicius a question in English, but the Real Madrid forward asked him to please ask it in Spanish. “I don’t think I can,” Quirante said. Although Vinicius encouraged Quirante to ask him in Spanish, the reporter complied with FIFA’s requirements and asked his question in English.
On Saturday it was the case of Frenkie de Jong in the Netherlands-Japan preview. When a Mexican journalist began to ask, also in Spanish, the Barcelona footballer “Frankie, how do you feel about being the leader of this team?”, the FIFA moderator repeated what had happened with Vinicius and Hakimi. “Excuse me, the question has to be in English, Japanese or Dutch,” he responded in English, to which De Jong – who speaks Spanish perfectly – told him: “It doesn’t bother me.” The FIFA agent explained: “It’s because of the translation.”
It was the last incident. Spanish is no longer banned from the World Cup.
