Mexico: Female soccer players could be punished for insulting men’s games

Mexican football has had a problem with homophobic fans for a long time. The German national team also had to find out when insulting shouts came from the Mexican block at the 2018 World Cup group game. Since this was not an isolated case, Fifa has now drawn the consequences: Mexico has to play its next two home games without spectators, ordered the world football association.

The specific trigger for the FIFA decision were incidents during a match of the men’s U-23 team. However, it is unclear exactly which games this penalty applies to. And so it could happen that in the end the Mexican women’s team has to bear the consequences for the misconduct of the fans in men’s games, reports the US sports broadcaster ESPN.

Mexico have to play two games without spectators

Should the next two games of the Mexican association be played by women’s teams, they could take place in the absence of spectators. That creates a lot of excitement. Yon de Luisa, president of the Mexican football federation FMF, tries to appease: The association has no influence on which games the penalty affects and is waiting for more information from Fifa, it said in a statement. The association is expecting further details for mid-July.

“Given the schedule, there is a possibility that both the men’s and women’s teams will have to serve the sentence,” said de Luisa. But he also promised to defend himself against Fifa, should the women’s team be affected.

According to ESPN, the Mexican Football Association has been fined 15 times for homophobic behavior by its fans since 2015. Although there were occasional such failures at women’s games, it is mostly the spectators at men’s games who attract attention with insulting chants, shouts or posters. The Mexican association is trying to tackle the problem with an anti-discrimination campaign – so far in vain.