Lamine Yamal honors his family roots with a boot tribute at the World Cup

Lamine Yamal made his first World Cup 2026 start for Spain on Sunday against Saudi Arabia, and he was expected to continue a personal gesture from the previous match against Cape Verde, when he wore flags of two countries other than Spain on his boots. Those flags represented the homelands of his parents, Morocco and Equatorial Guinea, the countries his father and mother came from, respectively.

The Barcelona-born winger has led Spain to the European Championship and has long played for Spain’s youth teams, but he is also one of the players most exposed to racist abuse in the country. The article describes his choice as a personal edition of identity, since he could have represented any of the three national teams connected to his background.

Morocco reportedly tried to recruit Yamal, but he told them that he “feels Spanish” and chose to play for La Roja. On Sunday, he also scored in his first World Cup appearance in Spain’s starting lineup.