Spain’s King Felipe VI will travel to Mexico for the 2026 World Cup match against Uruguay, signalling a diplomatic thaw between the two nations.
MADRID: Spain’s King Felipe VI will go to Mexico next month to attend the 2026 World Cup, palace sources said Monday, indicating the latest sign of a thaw between the two countries.
The king has accepted an invitation from Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and FIFA head Gianni Infantino to attend Spain’s World Cup game against Uruguay on June 26, the sources told AFP.
Diplomatic relations have been strained since 2019, when Mexico demanded that the Spanish crown apologise for abuses committed during the conquest and colonisation of the Americas in the 16th century.
Sheinbaum excluded the king from her inauguration in October 2024 partly because Spain had not responded to the demand.
Tensions have eased since the king in March acknowledged that there had been “a lot of abuse” during the conquest of the Americas.
Felipe made the informal observations at an exhibition in the presence of Mexico’s ambassador to Spain.
Sheinbaum welcomed the comments, calling them “a gesture of rapprochement”.
The following month she attended a gathering of leftist leaders in Barcelona.
Spain’s foreign minister last year also acknowledged the “pain and injustice” inflicted on Indigenous peoples during Spain’s conquest.
Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has said improving ties with Mexico is a priority for his government, adding there was “light and shadow” in the two countries’ shared history.
The fact that the king has agreed to travel to Mexico at Sheinbaum’s invitation is “something very positive, extraordinarily positive”, Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares told a press conference.
“We are at a truly excellent moment in our bilateral relations in which all institutions are making efforts, starting with His Majesty the King… so that this relationship with the brotherly people of Mexico may be a close one,” he added.
Mesoamerica, a region that comprised parts of Mexico and Central America, had an estimated population of 15 million to 30 million people when Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes arrived in 1519.
After a century of battles, massacres, and plagues, only an estimated one million to two million Indigenous inhabitants remained.
The 2026 World Cup will kick off on June 11 with Mexico, event co-hosts with Canada and the United States, playing South Africa in Mexico City.
