Fuss about World Cup hero Ferran Torres: What’s behind the MAGA cap à la Española?

After Ferran Torres showed a modified form of the slogan popular among Republicans on a cap at the World Cup victory celebration, fans accused him of supporting Trump. However, Torres himself asserted in an interview with the US broadcaster CNN that the action was a joke. There is no political motive behind it.

The starting point was the celebratory reception of the Spanish football team on July 20th in the capital Madrid. There, Torres wore the cap that said “MSGA – Make Spain Great Again” instead of “MAGA – Make America Great Again”. This led to discussions on various online portals.

Torres has been a national hero since the World Cup final at the latest. Against Argentina, the sought-after FC Barcelona striker scored the decisive goal in extra time that helped Spain win their second World Cup title in history. Torres documented the celebrations at home on his Instagram channel. Also included: his cap. The post received a total of two million likes and more than 19,000 comments.

Numerous fans then wondered whether the campaign contained a hidden political message. Some followers viewed the action as a joking provocation, others were critical. One user wrote: “If Ferran is a responsible person […] he would have to publicly clarify what his intention was in wearing that cap to avoid speculation.” Another user wants to know the truth and the message behind the campaign. “We’re all ears!!!” the person writes.

The US President had previously settled accounts with Spanish Prime Minister Sánchez, who, in his opinion, “stands on the side of all the tyrants of the world.” In addition, for him, Spain is one of the most terrible countries in Europe and he no longer wants to trade with the country in the future. This caused displeasure among many Spaniards – and possibly led to Torres staging the cap as an ironic swipe at Trump.

The Trump administration, however, takes a different view. In their opinion, the action was tacit support for the MAGA movement. The White House wrote on the short message service: “Everybody wants in on the movement”.

This is now being criticized by Spanish fans, especially since the right-wing extremist Spanish party Vox had also taken up the MAGA slogan in the past.

Torres himself reacted late to the public debate. He spoke publicly about the incident for the first time in an interview with CNN earlier this week. When journalist Kaitlan Collins asked how he got the cap, he laughed and explained that the action was just meant as a joke – and had no political background.

“I don’t know anything about politics,” emphasizes Torres. He only wanted to celebrate with his friends and family – and was happy that Spain was back at the top of the world in football.