Racism has gone down 90% in 2023-24 season, claims LALIGA after internal survey

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Racism has emerged as one of the biggest nuisance in the world football, and Spain has endured a share of blame in the past seasons. Players across the LALIGA clubs have claimed to face racism from the fans, which has tarnished the reputation of the league.

But the latest report from LALIGA claims that the hatred speeches and racism as whole have radically curbed in the recently concluded season.

LALIGA, through M.O.O.D (The Monitor for the Observation of Hate in Sport), has analysed over 21.2 million conversations about sport on social networks in Spain this season. Results show a 45% drop in hate speech and a 90% fall in cases of racism compared to the second half of last season.

The M.O.O.D index, where 0 represents the lowest level of detected hate, decreased to an average of 6.5, down one point from the previous count. This demonstrates the effectiveness of awareness-raising actions by clubs and LALIGA within the framework of the LALIGA VS platform.

Analysing Conversations

Of the 21.2 million conversations analysed, 4.1 million were hateful, accounting for less than 20% of all interactions. Cases of racism were present in just 1.2% (248,000 mentions) of conversations. The M.O.O.D index for each matchday is weighted, giving each message a score based on the severity of the hate speech detected.

Key Matchday Insights

The highest M.O.O.D index ratings of the season correlate with matchdays featuring either a Derby or ELCLASICO. The most recent ELCLASICO in April registered the lowest rating (6.4) detected across the last two seasons. Refereeing controversies, incidents of hate, or racist insults caused the M.O.O.D index to exceed 7 at times.

Overall conversation during these key moments increased to 5.9 million, with an average of over 660,000 conversations. The predominant emotions detected in response were anger and indignation. However, matchdays with a lower index of between 4-6 coincided with celebrations like Real Madrid winning the title and gestures of sportsmanship between clubs.

The final matchdays of the season saw a more positive emotional tone, with joy and pride being the predominant feelings. The lowest M.O.O.D index rating of the entire season (4.7) was detected on Matchday 34. This indicates fans are rejecting negative attitudes on social media and defending football free of hate.

LALIGA and the clubs aim to maintain this trend and keep reducing the M.O.O.D index through ongoing awareness-raising initiatives. Their goal is to make football as hate-free as possible. The launch of M.O.O.D is part of the LALIGA VS project, which aims to inspire society and be an example of respect and sportsmanship, particularly for the younger generation.