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Spain’s football federation is taking its case to ⁠the Court of Arbitration for Sport after FIFA rejected an appeal against sanctions imposed for Islamophobic chants by supporters during a match against Egypt in March.FIFA fined the ⁠federation (RFEF) $20,000 and ordered it to close at least 15% of the available seats for Spain’s next home friendly.The sanctions follow incidents at the RCDE Stadium near Barcelona, home of LaLiga club Espanyol, where ⁠some Spain fans chanted, “If you don’t jump, you’re a Muslim” during the goalless World Cup warm-up match.After the second occurrence of the chant, the stadium announcer issued a warning and the scoreboard displayed a message against discriminatory behaviour.Spain winger Lamine Yamal, who is Muslim, condemned the chants at ‌the time, describing them as disrespectful and intolerable and calling those responsible “ignorant and racist”.Spanish police launched an investigation the following day while world governing body FIFA later started disciplinary proceedings against the RFEF.The RFEF argued that the word ‘Muslim’ was “neither insulting nor pejorative”, adding the fans’ conduct should be assessed under FIFA’s Article 17, which covers political, ideological, religious or offensive messages, rather than Article 15, which deals with discrimination and racist abuse.FIFA’s disciplinary committee rejected that argument, saying Article 15 ⁠does not require the explicit use of a slur and that a ⁠term can be discriminatory when used in context as “an insult, taunt, or marker of inferiority”.