Mexico facing FIFA punishment for shocking chant during World Cup win

Mexico could be hit with a punishment from FIFA due to a chant heard during their World Cup win over Ecuador in Mexico City.

In the early hours of Wednesday morning, Mexico became the second of the three World Cup co-hosts to book their spot in the round of 16.

Goals from Julián Quiñones and Raúl Jiménez secured a dominant 2-0 win for Mexico, as they picked up their first World Cup knockout-stage victory in 40 years in the iconic Estadio Azteca.

Mexico fans will now eagerly await the result of England's upcoming clash with DR Congo in Atlanta to discover who they face in the next knockout round.

The winners of England and DR Congo's match will face Mexico in a round of 16 match at 1am BST on Monday, July 6 at the Azteca.

But, before then, Mexico could face a potential FIFA punishment due to a shocking chant heard during the meeting with Ecuador.

Given the fact that they were cruising to their fourth consecutive win at the World Cup without conceding a goal, becoming the first nation since Italy in 1990 to do so, it's understandable that Mexico fans got excited.

However, some fans took this too far as they were heard singing a one-word chant including the slur 'p*to' which literally means male prostitute in Spanish.

The chant, which is typically sung when the opposing goalkeeper is taking a goal kick, has landed Mexico in trouble in the past having been heard in the past three World Cups in Brazil, Russia and Qatar.

As reported by the Daily Mail, the Mexican football federation has aimed to control the homophobic chant through requests to stop and education programs, but it appears to have been ignored.

Ahead of the tournament, the federation launched a campaign aiming to stop the chan.

Members of Mexico's 1986 World Cup team encouraged fans to do the wave seen in the chant, but not sing the slur.

Clearly, the campaign wasn't successful as fans have been heard singing the chant since the opening match of this year's tournament.

Mexico could face FIFA punishment for homophobic chant

Before the 2026 World Cup kicked off, Mexico were sanctioned for fans using the homophobic slur.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport's latest ruling involved the chant being sang in 2024 matches against Bolivia, Uruguay, Brazil and the United States

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CAS agreed with FIFA prosecutors after it was heard by anti-discrimination monitors who have also been working for FIFA at the 2026 World Cup games in Mexico, the USA and Canada.

Judges upheld FIFA-imposed fines totalling 140,000 Swiss francs ($178,000/£130,457) but lifted a sanction of closing part of a stadium at a FIFA-organised game, such as the World Cup.

"They [the judges] observed that the conduct of the fans was collective and widespread, and not merely a one-off occurrence," CAS said.

Suggesting a way to deal with the issue, The Athletic's Matt Slater wrote: "On the one hand, FIFA fines aren't working.

"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."