Just days before the World Cup opens in Mexico City, the Mexican soccer federation on Tuesday lost its latest appeal against FIFA punishments for fans chanting an anti-gay slur at opponents’ players.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport‘s latest ruling in a series of Mexico vs. FIFA appeal cases over more than 10 years comes ahead of the men’s national team hosting South Africa on June 11 in the storied Azteca Stadium where the chant is often heard.
The chant, a one-word slur that literally means male prostitute in Spanish, usually occurs when the opposing goalkeeper is taking a goal kick.
It went viral in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil and was heard again at the next editions in 2018 in Russia and 2022 in Qatar. Mexico fans have defied requests and education programs by the federation aiming to control the abuse.
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The latest case at CAS followed FIFA prosecutions of incidents at games in 2024 against Bolivia, Uruguay, Brazil and the United States. The chant was heard by anti-discrimination monitors who also will work for FIFA at the World Cup’s 104 games in Mexico, the U.S. and Canada.
CAS said its judges upheld FIFA-imposed fines totaling 140,000 Swiss francs ($178,000). They lifted a sanction of closing part of a stadium at a FIFA-organized game such as the World Cup.
The court said its judges at a hearing in Miami in March weighed the Mexican federation mitigation that it had “put measures in place since 2015 to educate, prevent and eradicate the chant.”
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“They [the judges] observed that the conduct of the fans was collective and widespread, and not merely a one-off occurrence,” CAS said in a statement.
Noting the “unique nature” of the challenge facing Mexican soccer officials, the court said the federation should not escape liability.
Mexico will also host World Cup group-stage games against South Korea in Guadalajara and the Czech Republic at Azteca.
