The 90th minute was running in the United States-Mexico match, the semifinal of the Concacaf Nations League, when the referee stopped the game and called all the players to the center of the field. The anti-discrimination protocol had been activated.
Seconds earlier, United States goalkeeper Matt Turner drew a free kick, and thousands of voices from the stands shouted in unison “Eeeh puto” (in Mexico, the word “puto” is considered a homophobic slur). The game was stopped, the loudspeakers at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas drew the attention of the fans, and less than three minutes later play resumed.
12 extra minutes were added (due to the stoppage and two fights that resulted in four being sent off), but only 8 were played. In minute 96, the cry was heard again after a Turner serve. In minute 98, a goal kick was taken by the goalkeeper, and after the overwhelming roar of the stadium, referee Iván Barton ended the game.
This story is not new. It is not the first time it has happened, nor the second, nor the third. In the past, the Mexican Football Federation (FMF) has been sanctioned more than fifteen times by FIFA due to the presence of this homophobic cry in the matches of its men’s team.
The first time was in 2015, when a solely financial penalty was imposed. Since then, the Mexican Federation has accumulated hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines, none of which have achieved their goal. But the high point of this story began in recent years.
In June 2021, FIFA sanctioned Mexico with a fine of nearly 60,000 euros and two games behind closed doors for the presence of the homophobic shout in matches of the U-23 team. Also in 2021, he was fined nearly 100,000 euros for repeating the songs in a friendly against Iceland in the United States.
In November of that same year, they were sanctioned again after the insult was heard in two qualifying matches against Canada and Honduras. The punishment was another economic fine and two games behind closed doors, in addition to the warning that if the cry persisted, the team could suffer a reduction in points on its way to the World Cup or even the possibility of being banned from participating in official tournaments. .
Everything calmed down, relatively, but the World Cup in Qatar arrived, when FIFA closely monitored the behavior of the Mexican fans. In the first match against Poland, the shouting was not presented, but other discriminatory insults were, and an investigation was opened. And in the third match against Saudi Arabia the song appeared again. The punishment this time was a new economic sanction and a game behind closed doors.
And evidently the punishments have not been effective, because yesterday it was present again and nothing seems to work. Just a few hours earlier, as a premonition of what was to come, Concacaf published the relaunch of its “What’s wrong is wrong” campaign, aimed at eradicating these insults.
FIFA and Concacaf even have a protocol to act. The first step is to get attention over the loudspeakers, the second is to stop the game and repeat the announcement. The third step is the eviction of the players from the field for a few minutes, and if the behavior persists, the last step is to suspend the game.
In addition, on behalf of Concacaf and the FMF, numerous attempts have been made to eradicate homophobia in stadiums. The Federation tried to replace the cry with an “Eeeh México”, but it only lasted a few games. While Concacaf made a series of videos in which they tried to raise awareness about the true damage of the insult. Nothing has been successful.
At the moment, eight years after the first FIFA sanction, the constant threats from the highest governing body of football have not gone beyond the same economic fines and matches without an audience. All anecdotal so far, while in the stadiums where the Mexican team plays, the cry continues to appear, over and over again.
