Chasing Mirage… Thousands of French demand a rematch with Spain!

France fans have launched an online campaign to demand a replay of their country’s 2026 World Cup semi-final against Spain after Tuesday’s 0-2 defeat in protest at one of the refereeing decisions that preceded the Matador’s first goal.

According to the network RCC: The move came hours after France were knocked out of the tournament as a number of fans saw the match as witness to a glaring refereeing error and launched an online petition demanding a replay, sparking widespread controversy on social media platforms.

Protest against the penalty

Organizers of the petition relied on footage from the penalty shootout for Spain, from which Mikel Oyarzabal scored the winner after Lamine Yamal had handled the ball before calling Lucas Digne’s foul in the penalty area.

The text of the application stated: “France should not have conceded that first goal because it completely changed the course of the match. “Sports competitions should be decided by law, and what happened that night is not in line with that.”

Tens of thousands of people support the petition

The initiative has had a remarkable response as it surpassed 45,000 signatures by Thursday afternoon, amid ongoing anger from French fans over the refereeing during the match.

The RMC noted that despite this interaction, the opportunities to respond to these claims are almost non-existent, as FIFA regulations do not provide for replays due to arbitration decisions of this nature, even in the face of widespread public objection.

Arbitration Controversies and Criticism by Deschamps

The public campaign started after the criticism of the coach of the French national team, Didier Deschamps, towards the Salvadorian referee Ivan Barton. After the match, he doubted his readiness to face a World Cup semi-final.At the same time, he emphasized that the main reason for the loss is the technical mistakes made by his players.

France will now focus on the third-place match, where they face England tomorrow on Saturday, while Spain prepare to face Argentina in Sunday’s final in search of their second World Cup title.