Published on 6/15/2026
Moroccan international star Achraf Hakimi caught the spotlight outside the green rectangle, after he defended a Mexican journalist in a press conference that took place before his country’s match against Brazil.
Expressions of praise and compliments poured in on Hakimi after he showed flexibility and a complete desire to answer a question from a Mexican journalist who asked him in Spanish, which is one of the languages not supported in the official simultaneous translation system for that conference, according to what was reported by the Argentine “Infobae” website.
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Hakimi violates FIFA protocol
Because of this, a representative of the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) intervened in an attempt to stop the journalist, but Hakimi explained to him that he understood the Spanish language well, and that he did not find any problem communicating with the Mexican journalist, in a noble act that quickly spread like wildfire on social media platforms.
In the details of the incident, the journalist grabbed the microphone to formulate a question to Hakimi, before he could finish his intervention. FIFA representatives indicated that questions at this conference must be asked in the authorized languages (English, Portuguese, Italian, Arabic, and French), to facilitate the work of the interpreters in the hall.
The website noted that these directives surprised the rest of the journalists, especially since the Spanish language is one of the most used languages during the 2026 World Cup, and is spoken by one of the three countries hosting the tournament, Mexico.
While everyone was discussing the protocol followed, Paris Saint-Germain player Hakimi intervened to confirm that he completely understood the question.
Social media users praised Hakimi’s attempt to facilitate communication with that journalist, instead of rejecting the question under the pretext of a language barrier.
For its part, the Spanish newspaper El Periodico explained that the protocol followed by FIFA in press conferences requires journalists to ask questions in the native languages of the two competing countries, with English being the alternative language when they do not master the languages of the teams concerned.
Similar situation to Vinicius
Brazilian star Vinicius Junior went through a similar situation, when a Spanish journalist asked him a question in English, but the player interrupted him and asked him to speak “in Spanish.”
The journalist replied: “I think I can’t do that,” then he completed the wording of his question in English. Vinicius listened to the translation and answered in Portuguese.
Aside from these strange and embarrassing positions for some parties, the aforementioned protocol has sparked widespread dissatisfaction because FIFA did not take into account that the Spanish language is the language of one of the countries organizing the tournament, in addition to the fact that there are about 57 million people who speak it in the United States.
