Real Madrid have apologised to the Chinese people after Kylian Mbappé sparked a fierce backlash in China by referring to the country’s founding leader, Mao Zedong, as a dictator — a row that has already cost the French forward his Chinese sponsors, seen the club’s next league match dropped by China’s state-owned broadcasting platform, and forced Spanish football into crisis talks with Beijing’s ambassador in Madrid.
The club issued its statement on Wednesday, a day after Mbappé himself apologised and after apologies from the player and from LaLiga had failed to calm the response in China. “Real Madrid CF wishes to express its apologies to the Chinese people for any discomfort caused by the recent words of our player Kylian Mbappe,” the club said. “Our club maintains a deep respect for China, its history, its culture and its citizens, as well as for the millions of Chinese fans who feel affection and admiration for Real Madrid.” The club said it joined the public apology already made by Mbappe, in which the player expressed regret for his words and repeated his respect for the Chinese people, and it added: “Real Madrid reaffirms its commitment to the values of respect, coexistence and understanding between cultures and expresses its wish to continue to strengthen the bonds of friendship and affection that bind it to China and its citizens.”
The remark at the centre of the storm was not made at a press conference or on the pitch. It came in an appearance on the French talk show The Bridge, recorded earlier this year, in which Mbappé was asked to pick his favourite from a series of memes that depict him as a dictator — images that play on his perceived power to influence decisions at the clubs he plays for, an idea that has earned him the nickname “the dictator” in parts of the European press. Discussing one meme in which his face had been superimposed on an image of Mao, Mbappé described the figure as “some guy — I think he’s a Chinese dictator”. He never named Mao in the clip. The footage resurfaced on social media this week and has since been taken down, and The Bridge has also apologised to Chinese fans and to Mbappé.
Mbappé, 27, moved first. On Tuesday his company issued an apology on his behalf in French, Chinese and English. “My comment was ill-judged, and I now understand that it hurt many people in China and in Chinese communities around the world,” he said. “I apologise to everyone my words have upset. This was absolutely not my intention. I have deep respect for the Chinese people and their history, and I am sincerely sorry.” It was not enough. On the same day, three Chinese companies — dairy producers Mengniu and Shanghai Milkground Food Tech, and the drinks maker Eastroc Beverage — ended all cooperation with the France captain, whose face had fronted advertising campaigns across China. The platform RedNote said its own earlier collaboration with him had ended when that contract expired in December 2024, and that it was reviewing and removing related content.
The sporting punishment landed on the whole league. China Media Group, the state broadcaster behind CCTV, announced the suspension of its LaLiga broadcasts, and the state-owned streaming platform Migu will not show Real Madrid’s match against Racing Santander on Sunday. Migu is scheduled to carry nine of the weekend’s ten LaLiga fixtures — Real Madrid’s is the only one missing.
LaLiga, for its part, has gone into emergency mode. Its president, Javier Tebas, condemned Mbappé’s comments, apologised to the Chinese people and set up a crisis unit, and he has met China’s ambassador to Spain, Yao Jing. “We are taking the measures within our reach and working directly with our partners and interlocutors in China to overcome this situation,” Tebas wrote. “Our commitment to China, its people, and its institutions is steadfast. A relationship built over so many years cannot be damaged by a single episode.” The league is also preparing an educational protocol for clubs and players, and people at LaLiga say Tebas is considering travelling to China to limit the financial damage. The effort has required a truce in Spanish football’s longest-running feud: Real Madrid recently called for Tebas’s resignation, but club and league have put their differences aside, both sides recognising the immediate and long-term financial repercussions of the row.
Beijing’s first official words on the affair were measured. Asked on Wednesday what China thought of Mbappé’s apology, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said: “We take seriously the apology that the person has made.” Behind that calm sits the reason the reaction has been so severe. Mao, who led China from 1949 until his death in 1976, remains a figure around whom satire is a social and political taboo, and jokes at his expense are treated in China not as humour but as an insult to the state he founded.
The money at stake explains the speed of the scramble in Madrid. China is one of European football’s most valuable overseas markets for broadcast rights and sponsorship, and Spanish football has spent years building its audience there. There is a precedent, and it is a bleak one: after Arsenal’s Mesut Özil criticised China’s treatment of the Uyghurs in 2019, his club’s matches were pulled from Chinese television for long periods. For now, Chinese state television is awaiting further gestures of reconciliation, LaLiga is weighing a stronger institutional presence in Beijing, and Real Madrid’s players will run out against Racing Santander on Sunday in front of every audience except one of the largest they have.
📰 ProfiloPolitics Member News — choose your news, share it, earn credit
Members choose the news they want — share it and earn credit.
📣 Join ProfiloPolitics on Telegram — breaking news first
Follow @profilopoliticsnews for every update on this story.