China’s public broadcaster CCTV did not air Real Madrid’s match against Racing de Santander on Sunday, despite apologies from Kylian Mbappé, LaLiga and the Spanish club. The broadcaster extended its boycott to all Spanish teams during the weekend, while digital platform Migu streamed nine of the round’s ten LaLiga matches. The only exception was Real Madrid, whose result was also omitted from Migu’s website.

CCTV’s sports website has removed LaLiga from its competition menu and now features leagues from England, Germany, France and Italy. It has also withdrawn older Real Madrid highlights and delayed matches, while retaining content involving other Spanish clubs, including Barcelona and Atlético de Madrid.

Attention now turns to the Champions League, whose broadcasting rights in China belong to iQiyi Sports. The platform’s schedule includes the European matches involving Barcelona, Atlético de Madrid, Betis and Villarreal, but does not list Wednesday’s Real Madrid game against AEK Athens. That omission suggests the match may not be streamed, although the available information does not confirm this definitively.

The boycott followed the viral spread in China of an edited video involving Mbappé. In the clip, recorded months earlier, the player referred to an unnamed “Chinese dictator”; an added image combining his face with Mao Zedong’s left little doubt about the target. CCTV and other platforms subsequently removed content featuring the Real Madrid player. Companies using his image in China, including On, Nike and Dior, also cut related material amid fears of a consumer boycott.

Migu’s decision to continue showing most LaLiga matches is significant for the competition’s presence in China. The platform, which focuses largely on sports streaming, belongs to China Mobile, the country’s largest telecommunications company. LaLiga’s main commercial agreement in China was signed with Migu for four seasons, although its value has not been disclosed. José Antonio Cachaza, LaLiga’s former head in India, said that “one hundred million euros are at stake.”

During the Racing-Real Madrid match, CCTV5 instead showed a French league game between Strasbourg and Auxerre, while CCTV5+ broadcast a Women’s Under-17 World Cup match between North Korea and the United States. Some observers nevertheless consider the survival of LaLiga on streaming platforms more important than its absence from state television, as many Chinese supporters follow matches on their mobile phones.

The controversy has also revived complaints among some Chinese fans about previous incidents associated with Real Madrid. These include an offensive song reportedly sung by the grandson of former club president Lorenzo Sanz during an interview outside Wembley two years ago, and a social media post by defender Dean Huijsen that mocked Asian facial features. The Santiago Bernabéu’s wording for a minute of silence held in August, referring to victims in “Nepal and Tibet” rather than Nepal and China, has also been cited in the criticism.

Sources: La Vanguardia.