Why Some Real Madrid Fans May Not Be Supporting Spain at the World Cup 2026

When Spain head coach Luis de la Fuente announced his World Cup 2026 squad on May 25, it immediately sparked a heated debate at Real Madrid. Not among the players. Not in the dressing room. But among the fans, the media, and even those competing to lead the club itself.

The reason was simple, and for many, shocking. For the first time, not a single Real Madrid player was included in the Spain squad.

The Squad That Left Madrid Out

De la Fuente named a 26-man group that included eight players from Barcelona, alongside representatives from Atletico Madrid, Athletic Club, Real Sociedad, Celta Vigo and Osasuna. It was a broad, domestically diverse selection, but one with a very conspicuous absence.

There was no room for Dani Carvajal, who is leaving Madrid at the end of June. Alvaro Carreras and Dean Huijsen were also omitted, though 22-year-old back-up striker Gonzalo Garcia was called up for Spain’s World Cup warm-up friendlies. Still, when it came to the tournament itself, Real Madrid’s name was nowhere to be found on the team sheet of the reigning European and world champions.

A Political Football

The absence quickly became a talking point that extended well beyond football. Madrid’s presidential election campaign was underway, and the omission handed ammunition to Florentino Perez’s challenger, 37-year-old businessman Enrique Riquelme.

Riquelme promised to sign “Madrid stars who can make Spaniards proud” if elected, repeatedly criticising Perez over the issue. Perez, who won the June 7 election with a 65 per cent share of the vote, did not address the topic publicly.

Perhaps the 79-year-old always had a plan. With the €60 million signing of Marc Cucurella from Chelsea confirmed in the build-up to Spain’s 0-0 draw against Cape Verde, Madrid now do have a Spanish World Cup star. The 27-year-old is De la Fuente’s favoured option at left-back, and he is expected to compete with Carreras for a starting spot at the Bernabeu next season.

Madrid’s unbroken record of having at least one player in Spain’s World Cup squad has been preserved, even if it required a transfer window move to achieve it.

But the controversy that swelled up before Cucurella’s arrival is instructive. It illuminates something important about Real Madrid’s domestic fan base and its relationship with the Spanish national team, a relationship that is considerably more complicated than it might appear from the outside.

A History of Friction Between Madrid Fans and La Roja

Spain’s golden era, which produced back-to-back European Championship victories in 2008 and 2012 and the nation’s first ever World Cup triumph in 2010, is remembered as a period of national unity and footballing brilliance. But for a section of Real Madrid supporters, the experience was more nuanced.

Before that golden run, Spain had repeatedly fallen short on the international stage. Some Madrid fans had long contrasted this with their club’s continental dominance. Zinedine Zidane’s iconic volley at Hampden Park in May 2002 sealed Real Madrid’s ninth European Cup. Just one month later, Spain were eliminated from the World Cup quarter-finals by co-hosts South Korea.

The tension was sharpened further on the road to Euro 2008, when Spain manager Luis Aragones made the controversial decision to drop club legend Raul from the national squad. It was a move that alienated many Madrid supporters, even as Spain went on to win the tournament.

The successful national side of that era did include significant Bernabeu figures. Iker Casillas, Sergio Ramos and Xabi Alonso, who was then at Liverpool, were central to Spain’s success. But the squad was more heavily influenced by Barcelona, and that fact did not go unnoticed.

It would be far-fetched to suggest that Real Madrid fans did not take any joy from Spain’s successes during this period. But such is the toxicity of the El Clasico rivalry that Barcelona’s dominance of the national setup was, for some, a genuine tempering factor.

The Galactico Mentality and the Individual Over the Collective

There is another layer to this that goes beyond club rivalry. At Real Madrid, even among what some might call the legacy fan base, loyalty has often gravitated towards the individual rather than the collective. It is almost written into the Galactico philosophy. Madrid pursue the best talent wherever they find it, and their supporters tend to follow suit.

After Perez won re-election earlier this month, one of the first images posted on the club’s official social media was a celebration of Madrid players who would be representing their countries at the tournament this summer. Jude Bellingham for England. Vinicius Junior for Brazil. Arda Guler for Turkey. Kylian Mbappe, captain of France, was for some reason absent from the image, but the symbolism was clear. Each player featured could be considered their nation’s leading figure. Madrid wanted their fans to know who to watch, and it was not necessarily Spain.

People who have worked closely with Perez for years say he has always taken particular satisfaction in seeing Madrid players exchanging pennants before kick-off in major international matches, sometimes with each other. The club’s identity is bound up in the idea of assembling the world’s greatest individuals. When that idea is exported onto the international stage, Madrid fans tend to follow their players rather than any particular flag.

So Who Are Madrid Fans Actually Supporting?

Faced with the prospect of no representation in Spain’s squad, many Real Madrid supporters felt it entirely natural to back one of their favourite players’ national teams instead. The options are compelling.

Brazil was the first option that came to mind for many. Former Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti is in charge of the Selecao, Vinicius Jr is on the wing, and Endrick is also in the squad after a productive loan spell at Lyon. There is real curiosity about whether Endrick can carry that momentum onto the biggest stage. The rest of Madrid’s Brazilian contingent, Eder Militao and Rodrygo, would likely have been included too had it not been for injury.

France offers the pull of Mbappe, who starred on the road to World Cup success in 2018, came agonisingly close to another title with a hat-trick in the 2022 final, and now has the opportunity to define an international era outright. Supporting France means wishing Mbappe towards the kind of legacy that would cement his status as one of the game’s all-time greats.

England presents a slightly different proposition. Bellingham is hugely popular among the Madrid faithful, but still feels like a player in the process of becoming something even greater. He arrived at the Bernabeu with enormous expectations and immediately met them, before hitting a more uneven stretch. A strong World Cup would reinforce the belief that the best of Bellingham is still ahead.

Portugal carries its own particular emotional weight. Cristiano Ronaldo left Real Madrid eight years ago, but many supporters retain a powerful attachment to a player who defined an era of their fandom. At 41, this may represent his final major chapter on the international stage. For some, that alone is enough to shape loyalties regardless of current form.

Belgium brings Thibaut Courtois, though little expectation of a serious title challenge. Germany offers Antonio Rudiger, always reliable but not a player around whom fan passions tend to organise. Turkey gives supporters a reason to watch Arda Guler, one of the most exciting young talents to emerge from the Bernabeu in recent years.

The World Cup as a Real Madrid Recruitment Brochure

There is one further dimension to this story that is worth considering. The World Cup has historically served as something of a shop window for Real Madrid’s transfer activity, and that awareness shapes how the club and its supporters engage with the tournament.

In 2010, Madrid moved for Sami Khedira and Mesut Ozil after both impressed for Germany. In 2014, James Rodriguez’s performances for Colombia made him one of the most talked-about players in the world, and Madrid responded with a high-profile signing. Toni Kroos, another star of Germany’s 2014 triumph, also joined that summer.

The limelight of a World Cup can create new stars, and Real Madrid have shown repeatedly that they are watching. Their supporters know this too. When they tune in to watch Vinicius, Mbappe or Bellingham, they are watching with the dual awareness of fans and of people invested in the future of the most decorated club in the sport’s history.

A Complicated Relationship That Is Not Going Away

The arrival of Cucurella has papered over the immediate controversy. Madrid now have their World Cup representative in the Spain squad, and the historical record remains intact. But the debate that erupted between De la Fuente’s squad announcement and that transfer confirms something that has been quietly true for some time.

The relationship between Real Madrid’s fan base and the Spanish national team is not the straightforward, assumed alignment that it might appear to be from the outside. It is shaped by decades of Clasico rivalry, by the Galactico philosophy of individual brilliance, by the memory of being left out or overlooked, and by the genuine emotional pull of players who happen to wear another country’s shirt.

Spain kick off their World Cup campaign as European champions and among the favourites for the title. But in living rooms and bars across Madrid, there will be plenty of supporters who find their eyes drifting towards the Brazil match, or the France match, or the Portugal match instead.

And there will be more than a few who would quietly prefer to see Vinicius Jr and Kylian Mbappe facing each other in the final on July 19 rather than watching either of them lift the trophy as Spain’s opponents.

It is complicated. It always has been.

Read More: World Cup 2026: Cristiano Ronaldo Remains Portugal’s Biggest Name But Is He Still Their Biggest Threat?

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