Real Madrid Loses CAS Appeal Over Homophobic Chants Directed at Guardiola
Real Madrid have lost their fight to overturn a Uefa punishment for homophobic abuse directed at Pep Guardiola, after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) backed the original sanction and delivered a blunt warning about discrimination in football.
In a detailed verdict explaining its 14 April decision, sport’s highest court upheld a €30,000 (£25,000) fine and a two-year probation order that will see a small section of the Bernabéu closed for one Champions League match if there is a repeat offence.
CAS did not mince its words. The judges ruled that the chant aimed at Guardiola during a Champions League tie against Manchester City was “of a severe discriminatory nature … to be considered as far more serious and damaging than acceptable satire and banter.”
A line crossed at the Bernabéu
The incident dates back to February last year, when Madrid hosted City in the knockout play-offs and won 3-1 in the second leg. During the second half, a section of home supporters were heard chanting that Guardiola was thin, took drugs and would be seen in Madrid’s most gay‑friendly neighbourhood.
An expert witness at CAS told the panel that, in context, the chant amounted to a suggestion the former Barcelona coach was “infected with HIV/AIDS.” That interpretation, the court said, pushed the abuse far beyond the realms of terrace taunts or crude humour.
The chant was captured on video inside the stadium, later posted on social media and ultimately submitted to Uefa by the Fare Network, an organisation that works with Fifa to monitor discriminatory behaviour at international competitions.
Madrid’s defence falls flat
Real Madrid’s legal team tried to frame the episode as something different. They argued that “expressions that are humorous, exaggerated or aimed at powerful institutions or public figures” had to be judged in their specific cultural and matchday context.
They also floated the idea that the chant might have come from Manchester City supporters, pointing back to Uefa’s initial decision in February 2025 and attacking the Fare report as suffering from “very serious formal and substantive defects.”
CAS was not persuaded. The panel backed Uefa’s assessment and left the original punishment intact: the fine and the probationary order, which hangs over the club for two years and would trigger a partial stadium closure for one Champions League fixture if similar chants are heard again.
Uefa’s hard line on homophobia
In Lausanne last September, where the appeal was heard against the backdrop of Madrid’s separate, long-running Super League legal war with Uefa, the European body’s lawyers chose to widen the lens.
They told CAS that homophobia has “cast a long and deeply troubling shadow” over football, describing a sport “marred by a culture of machismo, exclusion, prejudice, and hostility towards individuals based on their sexual orientation.”
That “persistent intolerance,” they argued, has shaped “the personal and professional lives of countless players, coaches and fans” and “led to tragic outcomes in the past.”
For Uefa, this case was about more than a single chant in a single game. Their lawyers stressed that a club of Madrid’s stature “should be the first fighting against those chants, instead of hiring high profile lawyers to file an appeal with the CAS.”
They also underlined the scale of the punishment in financial terms. The €30,000 fine represented just 0.03% of Madrid’s Champions League prize money that season, which topped €100 million (£85 million).
A club under scrutiny
The timing of the case added another layer of tension. While CAS judges were finalising their verdict on the Guardiola abuse, Madrid and Uefa were quietly putting the finishing touches to a truce in their bitter Super League dispute, which was formally resolved three months ago.
On the pitch, Madrid and City met again in the Champions League in March. Off it, the tone around the fixture had clearly shifted. Reports in Spain said Madrid officials met fan groups before the game to stress that Guardiola should not be targeted again, an attempt to head off a repeat of the scenes that triggered the sanction.
The message from CAS now leaves little room for ambiguity. Madrid keep their fine, keep their probation, and carry the responsibility that comes with them. The next time a Champions League anthem rings out at the Bernabéu, the club will know exactly how costly it could be if the stands cross that line again.
