Advertisements around the World Cup emphasize soccer’s place as “The Beautiful Game,” a unifying force for athletes and spectators across the globe. But there’s an ugly side to fandom, as organizers frantically prepare to keep racist and homophobic chants out of stadiums in the U.S., Mexico and Canada.
In Mexico, officials are working to avoid a homophobic slur that has often derailed national team matches. In other venues, organizers have implemented a new system to prevent the racist abuse that is often directed toward Black players.
The initiatives aren’t new. But FIFA, soccer’s international governing body, has amplified its efforts ahead of the World Cup, which begins Thursday and continues through July 19.
“Thirteen years they’ve been working on this, trying to prevent fans from saying bad things,” said Lisa Delpy Neirotti, the director of George Washington University’s graduate program in sports management. “Over the years, they have made progress, but a lot of this is integral to some sports fans’ way of expressing themselves at games.”
In Mexico, an emphasis on ending a homophobic slur has taken center stage as the Spanish-speaking nation prepares to host 13 World Cup matches.
The word, which refers to a male prostitute, appears during Mexican national team games when the opposition lines up for a goal kick.
It starts with a rumble and ends in a roar. The slur erupts around the stadium, to the delight of many Mexican fans and the dismay of soccer’s organizing bodies.
“The obvious purpose of the chant is to put pressure on the opposing team, but it also has cultural importance,” said Yoltic Mijangos, a Mexico City resident and longtime fan of the national team. “And yes, it’s a way for fans to bond with each other and share in the experience.”
The controversial chant is a way to intimidate the opposition, but many supporters of the national team state that sexuality isn’t actually a factor. The word, though used by fans in a derogatory sense here, has an array of potential uses and lacks a direct English corollary.
Some fans claim that — contrary to the concerns of LGBT activists — they don’t hold any ill will toward gay people.
“Many Mexican fans don’t necessarily use it with a homophobic intention,” Mr. Mijangos said, noting the effort is still to emasculate or embarrass the opposition. “For them, it’s more of a traditional soccer chant that’s meant to add excitement to the game.”
That justification isn’t strong enough for FIFA and LGBT activists who are hoping to dull the battle cry at this year’s World Cup.
“As an out athlete, I know what it means to compete in environments where you’re not sure you’ll be safe,” Matthew Pacifici, a former MLS goalkeeper, said in an Amnesty International statement in December. “LGBTQ+ players and fans need more than symbolic gestures — we need enforceable protections.”
“I’m not even sure they realize how bad some of the stuff they’re saying is,” Ms. Neirotti said. “This will hopefully make them aware that it is not appropriate. You can’t do that anymore.”
Discriminatory fan behavior is a threat to FIFA’s bottom line. The organizers expect the tournament to gross $13 billion with more than 5 million fans attending the 104-match event.
“There’s a lot of broadcast money and a lot of sponsor money involved with these matches,” Ms. Neirotti said. “So, stopping a match, postponing a match, cancelling a match is going to be disruptive to the whole system.”
But with Mexico as both a host and competitor, it’s a tough task.
Wave, don’t chant
Since 2014, the homophobic chants have cropped up again and again when the Mexican squad takes the pitch. It reappeared at the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, occasionally forcing broadcasters to censor fans when on-field microphones picked up the chants.
Last week, the Court for Arbitration in Sport approved a ruling in favor of FIFA, which levied a $178,000 fine against the Mexican Football Federation for its fans’ continued misbehavior.
“They [the judges] observed that the conduct of the fans was collective and widespread, and not merely a one-off occurrence,” the Court for Arbitration in Sport said in a statement.
Financial punishments haven’t stopped the chant. Other efforts — like having the Mexican team play World Cup qualifiers without fans — didn’t work either.
Officials won’t stop trying, though.
This year, FIFA organizers will have “neutral observers” stationed in crowds to monitor fan behavior. They’ll have the ability to eject spectators who violate the event’s code of conduct.
The Mexican Football Federation has also rolled out a campaign urging supporters to supplant the chant with a wave.
The stadium-wide showing of support became known as the “Mexican Wave” after its popularity surged during the 1986 World Cup in Mexico.
The advertising initiative features current coach Javier Aguirre and former players Hugo Sanchez and Manuel Negrete asking fans not to use the slur.
“This campaign aims to raise awareness among fans about the importance of supporting the Mexican national team with the wave and not with discriminatory chants that FIFA sanctions,” the federation said in a statement.
But all the efforts to quash the slur could have the opposite impact. Mr. Mijangos noted that the chant ebbs and flows over time.
A coordinated campaign to limit it may have a Streisand Effect — a predominantly online phenomenon named for actress Barbra Streisand’s ill-fated attempts to limit footage of her home — where the emphasis on minimizing attention has the opposite impact.
“I don’t think it’s going to stop, especially during games where Mexico is playing,” Mr. Mijangos said. “In fact, I think the attempts to ban it have only made it happen more often, because many fans now use it almost as a way to mock the Mexican federation or FIFA.”
Racism
The Mexican fans aren’t the only ones keeping World Cup organizers up at night. FIFA officials, worried about the rise in racist harassment from both fans and players, have established a new system to punish anti-Black sentiments during games.
For the World Cup, a player, referee or competition official can cross their forearms into an “X” if they hear any racist comments. The umpires will then immediately stop play to investigate the issue.
If the derogatory comments continue, referees will suspend the match. The two teams will be sent to their respective locker rooms until the behavior subsides.
If the fans continue, the referees will “abandon the match.” FIFA officials will determine which fans were responsible for the racist behavior, and their team will forfeit the match. The national association could also face a fine of up to $6 million, according to FIFA’s disciplinary code.
The World Cup organizers are hoping to avoid the more drastic measure by ejecting any individual fan caught using racist language or derogatory gestures.
Soccer fans aren’t the only ones with a penchant for racist remarks, though. Many players have raised concerns about uncouth comments from their peers on the pitch.
Argentinian player Gianluca Prestianni received a six-match ban after Black players from Real Madrid claimed he made racist comments toward them while covering his mouth with his jersey during a game in April.
Prestianni, who played with Argentina in friendlies earlier this year, was not chosen for the World Cup roster. He would have missed the first two games of the tournament due to the FIFA-imposed ban.
FIFA has made it an offense, punishable by a red card, for players to insult an opponent while covering their mouths.
How effective these sanctions will be — and whether players will exercise integrity when deciding to raise the “X” — is an open question.
“I mean, we have players flopping. Online, there are a lot of comments saying, ‘Is a player just going to raise their arms to see the system work, or just if they need a rest?’” Ms. Neirotti said. “I hope nobody will use it inappropriately, but we’ll see.”
In Mexico, threats from FIFA and the Mexican Football Federation haven’t been able to tame the raucous crowds’ penchant for a certain slur in the past. Fines haven’t fully killed its popularity, nor have restrictions on fans’ ability to attend games.
FIFA officials have said they would pursue criminal charges against fans caught using slurs at World Cup matches. Hate speech directed toward certain groups, including Black and gay people, is criminalized under Mexican law.
The soccer-watching world will see whether the threats are effective when Mexico opens World Cup play against South Africa on Thursday.
“To be honest, I have no idea what it would take to stop the chant,” Mr. Mijangos said. “Actually, I don’t think it will ever completely disappear, regardless of what kinds of sanctions are put in place.”
Contact the author
Please read our comment policy before commenting.