The Mexican Football Federation has failed to overturn fines totalling 140,000 Swiss francs ($178,000) issued by FIFA in 2024 for their fans’ repeated use of a homophobic chant.World football’s governing body sanctioned the federation in two separate hearings when its anti-discrimination monitoring system reported the use of the chant during three friendlies in the summer of 2024 against Bolivia, Uruguay and Brazil. The chanting, which has marred ‘El Tri’ games for more than a decade, was heard again during an October friendly against the United States.FIFA fined the federation 60,000 Swiss francs ($76,000) for the first set of offences, as well as ordering it to close 15 per cent of its stadium for Mexico’s next competitive fixture, and then issued an 80,000 Swiss franc ($102,000) sanction for the fans’ behaviour in the fourth game.The Mexican federation filed separate appeals against both rulings to the Court of Arbitration for Sport last year, with an in-person hearing taking place in Miami three months ago.The basis of its appeal was that “automatic and disproportionate” FIFA sanctions are not effective in influencing fan behaviour. It also argued that the incidents were “short and isolated” and asked for CAS to either set aside the decision entirely or replace it with a “joint action plan” with FIFA.On Tuesday, however, the federation learned that the CAS panel had largely rejected its arguments but has annulled the first sanction’s partial-stadium closure. The panel reached these decisions because, after examining footage from the matches, it believed the fans’ conduct was “collective, widespread and not merely a one-off occurrence”.The panel did recognise the federation’s concerted attempts to dissuade fans from making this four-letter chant, which means male prostitute in Spanish and occurs when the opposition’s goalkeeper is taking a goal kick. But it noted that the chant continues to be used and the federation’s “preventative measures do not carry sufficient legal weight to exempt (it) from liability”.The chant has been a tradition in Mexican club and international football for years, and FIFA has been trying to stamp it out with warnings, fines and even full stadium closures since 2014.The Mexican federation has also worked hard to persuade fans to stop doing it, with star players such as Javier Hernandez, Rafael Marquez and Guillermo Ochoa all taking part in campaigns to consign it to the past.Sadly, a small but loud minority of supporters are not listening, which means Mexico’s reputation will continue to be tarnished and the federation will keep receiving fines.