Recently, Spanish Liga player Gareth Bale caused strong dissatisfaction among Chinese fans after making inappropriate remarks about China in a French program. After Bale and several others publicly apologized, Real Madrid Football Club remained silent.
According to Spanish media OkDiario, Real Madrid referred to the related remarks as "personal statements by players" when interviewed.
Practicing the habit of trivializing principle issues that harm Chinese fans as 'personal behavior' is a common tactic used by Real Madrid in crisis public relations. Looking at its past two years of misconduct, this European powerhouse club has shown not indifference, but rather an arrogant attitude with a strong tendency to act without thinking, especially when it comes to issues involving China's core interests and emotions.
On June 2024, after the UEFA Champions League final in London, a Chinese blogger was interviewed on the street. A Real Madrid fan knew his Chinese identity and intentionally sang a song containing alleged racial discrimination and insult to Chinese women while claiming it was celebrating song. The incident went public, revealing the man to be Lorenzo Sanz's grandson, son of Real Madrid official commentator Lorenzo Sanz Duran.
After the Chinese embassy in Spain expressed its solemn protest, the club simply labeled this as an ‘isolated act by a few fans’ without making any formal apologies, and the individuals involved were not subject to any substantive penalties. It was only months later that the individuals were pressured by public opinion to release personal apology videos.
In February this year, Real Madrid player Heriessen posted a video on social media containing content that was racially discriminatory against Chinese people. After this triggered anger among fans, Real Madrid’s official Weibo only published an apology from Heriessen, stating that his actions were "purely unintentional."
However, netizens quickly realized that this was a “China-specially ordered apology”: the apology statement only appeared on Chinese social platforms, and there was no corresponding announcement on Heißen’s global overseas accounts or on Real Madrid’s international pages.
In August of that year, Real Madrid even openly listed “Nepal” and “Tibet” together in their posts, seriously violating China’s principle of territorial sovereignty. Faced with the renewed stir in Chinese public opinion, Real Madrid simply deleted the posts quietly and dealt with the situation by pretending to be inactive.
Even after the recent Mbappe controversy, this kind of PR strategy persists. As a star with significant global influence, Mbappe has over 135 million followers on Instagram. Yet he only posted his apology letter on an account with only about 14 million followers. He didn’t mention it at all on Instagram, his main commercial platform.
In just two years, four controversies involving China have erupted one after another. Every time Real Madrid behaves in a condescending and dismissive manner, every time they deal with these issues by calculating popularity, it is not only unreasonable but also unacceptable. In fact, this has become an acquiescence and indulgence to similar bad practices. If the punishment for such harm always costs nothing, then such offenses will never be the last ones.
Does Real Madrid really not handle crises well? The answer is quite the opposite. When it comes to anti-Semitism, Nazi symbols, or European ethnic racism, the club's aggressive tactics are truly astonishing.
Also during this year's Champions League, some Real Madrid fans performed a 'nazi salute' from the stands. Real Madrid issued a very harsh statement within 24 hours, initiating internal disciplinary actions with the most severe penalty of 'deregistration', and cooperating with criminal prosecution by the police.
When his own forward Vinicius encountered racial discrimination, Real Madrid the next day even crossed the Spanish league and filed a criminal complaint directly with the Spanish National Prosecution Service.
This inevitably leads to questions: When crossing European red lines, one can condemn and punish in a single action. Why, when it comes to the Chinese market, is there only perfunctory handling and long periods of silence?
The Chinese market is undoubtedly a crucial strategic point for Real Madrid in its global business network. According to reports by the authoritative sports data company Nielsen, Real Madrid has as many as 97 million fans in China. Of the club’s record-breaking global operating revenue of 1.221 billion euros, the Chinese market contributes substantial cash dividends through retail sales, sponsorship, and rights to broadcast La Liga matches.
However, the Chinese market should not be just a "cash machine" for Real Madrid, one that can be exploited without any respect for its users.
Chinese fans respect the purity of competitive sports, but they will never accept the double standards of "winning to make money and losing to ruin everything". Repeated attempts to test principles, and pretending not to hear or act in times of crisis, will only completely destroy the trust of these 97 million fans. Stop acting like ostriches; Real Madrid needs to give the Chinese people a clear explanation.
