See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred SourceBy SONNY COHEN, ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR Published: 08:58 BST, 1 July 2026 | Updated: 09:00 BST, 1 July 2026
Mexico has been a vibrant, joyful hub for the World Cup, with videos of fans packing the streets and opposition supporters often seen partying together. And as the primarily football mad country of the co-hosts it is easy to see why fans love being there.But there is one big issue hanging over the heads of the Mexico fans and that is a recurring insulting chant.The chant, the one-word slur 'puto' that literally means male prostitute in Spanish, usually occurs when the opposing goalkeeper is taking a goal kick.It has reared its ugly head for the fourth straight tournament after it went viral at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil and was heard again at the next editions in 2018 in Russia and 2022 in Qatar.Mexico fans have once again ignored requests and education programs by the Mexican football federation aiming to control the abuse. Mexico fans have once again been heard chanting 'puto' at opposition goal kicks It marks the fourth World Cup where the homophobic slur has been heard from their fansJust before the tournament kicked off in Estadio Azteca, Mexican soccer officials had launched a campaign to deter the chant. Titled 'La Ola Sí, El Grito No,' the campaign uses members of Mexico's 1986 World Cup team to encourage fans to do the wave but not the chant.But that seems to have fallen on deaf ears, as fans have been chanting the slur since their opening game of the tournament and it came to a head yesterday.Mexican supporters did everything in their power to help their side and get under the skin of their opponents, as all fans are wont to do.But it seems for many on social media, this 'puto' chant that they have consistently used is a bridge too far.'All these years "fighting homophobic chants" and they yell "puto" four times and nothing. FIFA are a joke... because they went after Mexico years ago. Now this and their hypocrisy exudes,' one user under the name Juan Arango wrote on X.Another account titled Red Card Riot, posted, 'Hey @FIFA, Mexico fans chanting Puto. Make them forfeit this game.Just before the kick-off of this year's tournament, Mexico had been sanctioned for the all-too-familiar homophobic slur. The Court of Arbitration for Sport's latest ruling in a series of Mexico vs. FIFA appeal cases came over more than 10 years after the World Cup in Brazil.The latest case at CAS followed FIFA prosecutions of incidents at games in 2024 against Bolivia, Uruguay, Brazil and the United States. The chant was heard by anti-discrimination monitors who also will work for FIFA at the World Cup's 104 games in Mexico, the U.S. and Canada. CAS said its judges upheld FIFA-imposed fines totallling 140,000 Swiss francs ($178,000). They lifted a sanction of closing part of a stadium at a FIFA-organized game such as the World Cup.The court said its judges at a hearing in Miami in March weighed the Mexican federation mitigation that it had 'put measures in place since 2015 to educate, prevent and eradicate the chant.''They (the judges) observed that the conduct of the fans was collective and widespread, and not merely a one-off occurrence,' CAS said in a statement.Noting the 'unique nature' of the challenge facing Mexican soccer officials, the court said the federation should not escape liability.But some have argued that fans are better at policing this behaviour than FIFA.'On the one hand, FIFA fines aren't working,' The Athletic's Matt Slater wrote on X. 'But, on the other, we can't just let some Mexican fans keep screaming an anti-gay slur each time the oppo goalie boots it. Self-policing by fans is the best way to fix this…now would be a good time to start.'
