2024-02-15 23:02:02
GENEVA (AP) — The dispute that has been going on for more than a decade between the Mexican Football Federation and FIFA over repeated fines for the homophobic shouts that Mexican fans utter at matches reached the highest judicial instance in sport on Thursday.
The latest appeal presented by Mexico before the Court of Arbitration for Sport points against the monetary sanctions amounting to 100,000 Swiss francs ($114,000), imposed in two matches of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Mexico’s next match in a World Cup will be the opening match of the 2026 tournament, when it will co-host with the United States and Canada.
That match at the Azteca stadium in Mexico City will have a global reach of hundreds of millions of viewers.
It will be the first of 13 2026 World Cup matches scheduled in Mexico. The country has tried to control and educate fans who insist on homophobic shouting, often directed at the rival team’s goalkeeper.
Time and time again, FIFA has pointed out the Mexican federation as responsible, applying fines and closing stadiums after incidents in qualifying matches for the last two World Cups, in the 2018 tournaments in Russia and the 2022 tournaments in Qatar. , as well as in the qualifying matches for the Olympic Games.
One case involves fans who insulted German goalkeeper Manuel Neuer in the 2018 World Cup match played in Moscow.
The same insult was heard in Qatar by anti-discrimination observers — who worked for FIFA — during the recovery time of the match that Mexico won 2-1 against Saudi Arabia.
The phrase directed at Saudi goalkeeper Mohammed Alowais “refers to a male sex worker,” judges on the FIFA appeal panel said last year.
The cry with that word has been used by fans in Central and South America, and FIFA began to impose sanctions for it since the 2014 World Cup. A panel of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruled in 2017 that the use of the word in a football context was insulting but without the intention to offend.
Before the CAS on Thursday in Lausanne, Switzerland, the Mexican federation appealed the fine of 50,000 Swiss francs ($57,000) at the 2022 World Cup, which included the same amount to finance an education campaign for its fans.
The FIFA panel praised the work done by the federation by investing “considerable economic and human resources in the implementation of campaigns, measures and actions that seek to prevent and raise awareness among fans about the importance of not falling into discriminatory behavior.”
Mexican fans have continued with the chants despite having received the warning that they would be banned from watching their national team’s matches for five years.
In an appeal to FIFA last year, the Mexican federation said it can only take full responsibility for incidents in matches it organizes.
Mexican fans also shouted the chant several times during the draw against Poland in Qatar.
The federation highlighted to FIFA that a warning to fans at 90 minutes “was made in English and Arabic, but not in Spanish.”
The CAS has not indicated when it will issue the ruling in the most recent case between Mexico and FIFA.
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