Real Madrid's CAS Appeal Over Guardiola Chants Rejected

Real Madrid have been told, in the clearest possible terms, that what happened in the stands against Pep Guardiola was not banter, not satire, and not defensible.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has rejected the club’s appeal against a Uefa sanction imposed after homophobic chants were directed at the Manchester City manager during a Champions League tie at the Bernabéu, confirming both the fine and the threat of a partial stadium closure.

CAS draws a hard line

In its detailed written verdict, released to explain an April 14 decision, CAS backed Uefa’s original ruling that the chant was “of a severe discriminatory nature … to be considered as far more serious and damaging than acceptable satire and banter.”

Madrid had challenged a €30,000 (£25,000) fine and a two-year probation order that would force the closure of a small section of the Bernabéu for one Champions League match if there is a repeat offence. They lost on every point that mattered.

The incident dates back to February of last year, when Madrid hosted City in the knockout play-offs. During the second half of a 3-1 home win, a section of the crowd launched into a chant claiming Guardiola was thin, took drugs and would be seen in Madrid’s most gay-friendly neighbourhood.

It did not end there. An expert witness told the court that the chant carried a further implication: that the former Barcelona coach was “infected with HIV/AIDS.” CAS accepted that interpretation as part of the discriminatory context.

The scenes were filmed, shared on social media and later submitted to Uefa by the Fare Network, which works with Fifa to monitor discrimination at international competitions. That footage formed a central plank of the case.

Madrid’s defence falls flat

Madrid’s legal team tried to frame the chants as something else entirely. They argued that “expressions that are humorous, exaggerated or aimed at powerful institutions or public figures” must be assessed within their specific cultural and sporting context.

They even floated the idea that the song might have come from Manchester City supporters, questioning whether Uefa had correctly identified the source when it first ruled on the case in February 2025. On top of that, they attacked the Fare report, claiming it contained “very serious formal and substantive defects.”

CAS did not buy it. The panel sided with Uefa’s interpretation of the evidence and the seriousness of the abuse, leaving Madrid’s argument about context and authorship without enough weight to overturn the punishment.

Uefa pushes back against football’s “shadow”

Uefa’s lawyers went into the hearing in Lausanne with a wider point to make. They described homophobia as having “cast a long and deeply troubling shadow” over the sport, painting a picture of a game shaped for decades by “a culture of machismo, exclusion, prejudice, and hostility towards individuals based on their sexual orientation.”

That intolerance, they argued, has scarred “the personal and professional lives of countless players, coaches and fans” and, in some cases, led to “tragic outcomes in the past.”

Madrid, they suggested, should be part of the cure, not a reluctant defendant. One line from Uefa’s legal team cut through the legalese: the club “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, they said, represented just 0.03% of Madrid’s Champions League prize money that season, which topped €100 million (£85 million). Symbolic, yes. Insignificant? Not in what it signals about where Uefa wants the line drawn.

Legal battles on and off the pitch

The CAS hearing took place last September in Switzerland, against a fraught backdrop. At the same time, Madrid and Uefa were locked in a separate, long-running legal confrontation over the failed European Super League project.

That dispute finally eased three months ago, just as CAS judges were putting the finishing touches to their verdict in the homophobic abuse case. The timing underlined the complexity of the relationship between one of Europe’s most powerful clubs and its governing body: allies on paper, adversaries in court.

Yet when Manchester City returned to the Bernabéu in March for another Champions League meeting, the tone around the fixture had shifted. Reports in Spain suggested Madrid officials met with fan groups before the game, stressing that Guardiola must not be targeted for abuse.

The message from CAS now leaves little room for ambiguity. The next time a chant crosses that line, the consequences will not be theoretical. They will be visible, in empty seats at one of world football’s most famous arenas.