Football
Tom Marshall, Mexico correspondent 7y

Mexico to appeal latest fine by FIFA over anti-gay chant

The Mexican football federation (FMF) is set to appeal the fine and warning dished out by FIFA for anti-gay chants from fans during El Tri's World Cup qualifying game in Estadio Azteca on Sept. 6 against Honduras.

The 30,000 Swiss francs ($30,600) fine, announced on Tuesday, was the fifth time within 11 months that FIFA has acted on the chant in games involving Mexico. This time, the FMF has decided to respond, as it did in January of 2016.

"We will fight the sanction because we don't agree with the connotation that FIFA has given the chant," said general secretary Guillermo Cantu in an FMF news release.

The chant in question is directed at opposition goalkeepers as they take goal kicks and first came under the international spotlight in Brazil 2014, when FIFA investigated it at the 2014 World Cup.

However, the disciplinary committee of the organisation decided the chant "is not considered insulting in this specific context."

Cantu stressed that the FMF would continue to support the fight to eradicate discrimination in Mexico.

"We will seek to explain [to FIFA] that the chant in Mexico isn't done with the intention that FIFA has interpreted, and in the Brazil World Cup the disciplinary committee determined that in this context the chant wasn't discriminatory."

Also on Tuesday, the Chilean national team were banned from playing a World Cup qualifier at their home stadium and received a fine because of the repeated discriminatory and unsporting conduct of fans.

The FMF launched a campaign entitled "Embraced by Soccer" back in March asking fans not to engage in discriminatory behavior, although the chant has continued at both national team and Liga MX games since. 

^ Back to Top ^