A fan of La Liga side Espanyol has been sentenced 12 months in prison over racist abuse of Athletic Club star Inaki Williams.

In a strong statement handed down by Barcelona’s Central Court, a male has been given custodial sentence as per Marca.

The case refers to racist chants directed to Williams during Athletic Club’s La Liga clash at Espanyol on January 25, 2020.

Alongside the sentence, the guilty party has also been given a €1,086 fine as part of an agreement with the prosecutors office.

The order also features a four-year ban from working in educational or sports-related sectors and a two-year ban from attending a football stadium of any category.

Espanyol fan jailed for Inaki Williams racist abuse

The specifics of the court notes refer to ‘boos coming from the home section of the stadium located in the 108th section of the stands, where the accused, a Spanish national, was sitting. Where he acted ‘with evident disregard for the player’s skin colour’

“The accused clearly made racist gestures of contempt towards Williams which caused feelings of frustration, shame and humiliation for the footballer, as a resulting violation of his rights.”

As part of the initial investigation, Williams made an impact statement to the prosecutors office in which he claimed the incident had caused him feelings of ‘unacceptable humiliation that it could still occur in 2025’.

The incident generated a huge amount of attention at the time with the game paused after Williams complained to the match officials at the RCDE Stadium.

There was a second instance of racist abuse directed at Inaki on the road at Espanyol in 2022 – and a third of 2025 – which remains under investigation by the Catalan authorities.

The latest incident was a test of La Liga’s tightening measures on incidents of racism in stadiums with play stopped for three minutes as a warning announcement was played over the tannoy system.