FIFA punishes seven national soccer teams for homophobic chants

By Rob Howard
Associate Editor

Faced with mounting criticism about homophobic chants by crowds at national soccer team events, FIFA, the international soccer governing body, has issued fines to seven countries, according to Towleroad.

“The fines were imposed by FIFA’s Anti-Discrimination Monitoring System against Chile, Paraguay, Peru, Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras and Croatia,” according to the website.

FIFA, on its website www.FIFA.com, said in a statement: “finFIFA can today confirm sanctions imposed on several football associations for discriminatory and unsporting conduct of fans in relation to chants during 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying matches as well as international friendly matches.”

The statement particularly called out Chile, saying, “Chile was sanctioned with a ban on playing at the Estadio Nacional Julio Martínez Prádanos in Santiago for two official matches and fined CHF 30,000 [CHF is the abbreviation for Swiss Francs, which are worth approximately 1 US dollar]. The first suspension will be served at the next match of the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers between Chile and Bolivia, whereas the implementation of the second is suspended subject to a probation period of two years in application of art. 33 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code (FDC). The proceedings relate to homophobic chants by the team’s fans and follow previous sanctions for similar incidents during the preliminary competition of the 2018 FIFA World Cup.”

Other countries were fined based on the severity of their incidents. FIFA reported, “Mexico was fined a total of CHF 35,000 for two cases while Honduras was fined CHF 40,000, El Salvador CHF 35,000, Paraguay CHF 20,000 and Peru CHF 15,000 for individual cases related to various incidents involving discriminatory and unsporting conduct by fans, including homophobic chants in some instances.”

Croatia will have to play their next two World Cup qualifying matches against Turkey and Iceland without spectators, and was fined CHF 150,000.

FIFA’s statement said, “The Disciplinary Committee took the decisions after analyzing all of the specific circumstances of each case, in particular, the position adopted by the association (if applicable) as well as the anti-discrimination match observer’s report and the relevant evidence available. The committee has absolute discretion regarding the evaluation of proof (cf. art. 97 par. 1 of the FDC). The concerned parties have been notified of the decisions.

“Besides the monitoring and sanctions of potential incidents, FIFA has put in place a comprehensive strategy to tackle discrimination, which includes the FIFA Good Practice Guide on Diversity and Anti-Discrimination, training, awareness-raising and the support of member associations in developing robust educational and preventive measures.”

Mexico, at least, apparently saw the sanctions coming. According to Fusion.net, reporting in March, “The Mexican National Soccer team today launched a video featuring top players to promote a social tolerance campaign that’s reportedly aimed at eliminating the infamously popular ¡puto! (faggot) chant from games.

“Although the campaign makes no mention of the word, several Mexican media outlets report the initiative is subtly targeting the chanting fans who are notorious for yelling in unison eeeh puto! against goalies from rival soccer teams. The chant was harshly criticized as homophobic during the last World Cup in Brazil, and recently prompted FIFA officials to fine the Mexican Soccer Federation for the sum of some $20,700.”

Recently, openly gay MLS player Robbie Rogers, and openly gay Spanish soccer referee Jesus Tomillero have complained about homophobia in the sport.

The Gayly – May 30, 2016 @ 2:50 p.m. Copyright 2016 The Gayly.