SOCCER
Mexico forced to play behind closed doors over fans' homophobic chant
On Monday, FIFA announced that the Mexican national team will have to play its next two home games behind closed doors and pay a fine of around $110,000.
The Mexico national team will host Costa Rica on 30 January at the Estadio Azteca in CONCACAF World Cup qualifying, followed by Panama on 2 February. The bad news is that no fans will be allowed into the stadium because FIFA has punished Mexico for the ongoing homophobic chants from their fans.
Ongoing use of a homophobic chant by fans
The Mexican fans continue to use a homophobic chant and FIFA will keep punishing the national team. The anti-gay slur was again heard in the home games against Honduras and Canada during the October international break. FIFA also announced that the Mexican Soccer Federation will have to pay a fine of 100,000 Swiss francs, which is roughly $110,000.
This is the second sanction this year for Mexico, who were forced to play behind closed doors in their home debut in the final round of the World Cup qualifiers. The fans didn’t learn from that punishment and continue using the homophobic chant despite the effort from the players and federation to persuade them to abandon it.
Other sanctions for CONCACAF teams
FIFA also confirmed that the El Salvador national team will have to pay a fine of 12,500 Swiss francs (just under $14,000) for the altercations with Mexican players at the Estadio Cuscatlán last month. The game ended with a 2-0 road victory for ‘El Tri’ and the Salvadoran fans spent the entire match throwing objects at Mexico's players.