Efforts to end Mexico soccer fans' anti-gay chanting have failed, Glendale match shows

It happened again Sunday.

During a Copa America match at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, thousands of supporters of Mexico's national soccer team chanted a homophobic slur in Spanish during the final moments of a crucial game against Ecuador.

The chanting from the stands was so loud and persistent, announcements were made three separate times in Spanish and English over the stadium's PA system threatening to pause the game and possibly end it if the chanting didn't stop.

A warning was also displayed on a screen inside the stadium. Yet the chanting continued and refs never stopped the game, which ended in a 0-0 draw, forcing Mexico's surprise early elimination from the Copa America, one of the biggest soccer tournaments in the world.

Anyone who follows Mexico's national soccer team is familiar with the chant. It begins with fans yelling "eeeeehhhhh" and then crescendos into the dragged out pronunciation of a two syllable word, "p---" which in Spanish is an offensive anti-gay slur.

The chant is intended to intimidate the opposing team's goalkeeper as he is about to initiate a goal kick. Fans chant the slur throughout games, but especially during high-stakes moments when the game is on the line, as they did Sunday.

It's been happening in stadiums where Mexico has played for years both at home and abroad. But the incident inside a packed stadium of more than 60,000 spectators in Glendale showed that years of efforts by soccer officials to quell the ugly behavior by supporters of Mexico's soccer team have not worked, even as Mexico prepares to co-host the 2026 World Cup along with the United States and Canada in less than two years.

"If FIFA (soccer's governing body) wasn't thinking about this in the lead-up to the World Cup, certainly Sunday was a reminder that they need to because they keep wishing it would go away" and it hasn't, said Andres Martinez, a journalism professor at Arizona State University who teaches a course on the intersection of sports and geopolitics.

Martinez attended Sunday's game. Born in Mexico, he lived there until he was 15 and considers himself a lifelong Mexico soccer fan.

Martinez said when he was growing up, Mexican fans were well behaved and fans of Mexico's soccer teams were admired around the world for their passion. But the use of the homophobic chant by some fans has tarnished their reputation, Martinez said.

He said he now feels embarrassed and ashamed when fans of Mexico's national soccer team chant the homophobic slur.

Soccer matches featuring Mexico's national team are among the most popular sports events in the Phoenix area, which has one of the largest Mexican American populations of any metro area in the U.S.

Mexico's national team typically draws massive crowds of passionate fans, including fans who drive up from neighboring Sonora. The atmosphere inside State Farm Stadium for even inconsequential "friendly" matches featuring Mexico is always electric. The crowd at Sunday's match against Ecuador was nearly as loud as at a Cardinals Super Bowl or Diamondbacks World Series appearance.

Martinez estimated about 80% of the 62,656 spectators in attendance at Sunday's game were supporters of Mexico. While not all of them participated in the chant, many thousands did, including many of the fans who were around him, among them some families with children, Martinez said.

"This is a source of grief and shame that Mexican fandom is now associated with this," Martinez said, noting that the use of homophobic, antisemitic and racist slurs also has been a huge problem in European soccer matches for years.

Copa America 2024: Colombia vs Panama in Glendale, how to watch, tickets, rosters

On the drive to the match, Martinez said he shamefully forewarned two non-Mexican friends the crowd might start chanting the slur. In the past, some fans have tried to downplay the word as having multiple meanings in Spanish and have dismissed the chant is just a harmless fun part of the game. But Martinez disagrees.

"Independently of what fans think they mean by using this slur, it is incredibly offensive and harmful to gay fans and players (the sport already has a problem in that it is not seen as a welcoming space for some people to be themselves)," Martinez wrote in a follow-up e-mail. "You would hope that this alone would suffice to convince people to abandon such chants during soccer games involving Mexico's national team."

Martinez said he left Sunday's game frustrated by Mexico's elimination from the Copa America, compounded by the derogatory chants by some fans in spite of warnings that the behavior could cost Mexico the game.

Mexican politician: 'Never again this chant'

He wasn't alone.

Jorge Álvarez Máynez, a member of Mexico's Congress who unsuccessfully ran for president this year, attended Sunday's match. While walking away the event, with State Farm Stadium in the background, he condemned the chants in a video he posted on X, formerly Twitter, noting that it happened in June, which is LGBTQ+ Pride month.

"The same pride, the same happiness we feel being with thousands of fellow Mexicans turns to shame when we hear this discriminatory chant during the month of diversity and pride," Álvarez Máynez said, lamenting that Mexican soccer fans have become known internationally for the chant.

Álvarez Máynez also pleaded with Mexico soccer fans to stop the chant.

"It's an honor to wear this flag, to wear this shirt, and it's a joy to share this game with children, with families," Álvarez Máynez said, a Mexican flag draped over his shoulders. "But please let this be the last time a chant ... that is against freedoms, and is against human rights and favors of discrimination is heard. Never again this chant."

The Mexican National Team has also implored fans to stop saying the chant in a video posted on X.

"The El P--- discriminatory chant is in the past because it's no longer part of our values as a nation. Our identify is our national team. Let's stop chanting that one word so we can chant many more. Let's chant for the Mexico of today," the video says.

Jorge Mendoza Yescas, the consul general of Mexico in Phoenix, said he did not attend Sunday's game. But the Mexican government strongly opposes the chant.

"We are against these types of expressions, very very against, personally and institutionally, the Mexican government," Mendoza Yescas said. "The Mexican government has been very clear it is against discrimination against any expression in the stadiums in these types of games."

He said the chant could become an issue during the World Cup because soccer authorities have been strict in trying to stop discriminatory chanting by fans.

Mexico's soccer federation has been sanctioned multiple times by FIFA, the world governing body of soccer, and in the lead-up to the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Mexican was forced to play two of its qualifier home games without any fans in the stadium as punishment, according to Sporting News.

Are tougher penalties needed to get the message across?

During Sunday's game in Glendale, referees implemented the first of a three-step protocol that is intended to stop discriminatory behavior in the stands.

The following message was posted in Spanish on the stadium's screen, “The referee has indicated that the match could be suspended due to discriminatory behavior among spectators. Discrimination in football stadiums is not tolerated. If this continues, the match will be suspended, and eventually canceled.”

A spokesperson for the South American Football Confederation, known by its Spanish acronym, CONMEBOL, said in a written statement via email that messages are displayed before each match and at halftime informing fans about the consequences of acts of discrimination.

During the match between Mexico and Ecuador, messages warning fans the game could be stopped were projected on the stadium's main screen, the spokesperson confirmed.

The spokesman said CONMEBOL "is always clear and it is within our statutes, we are against all types of discrimination as indicated in our previous statements on cases of racism specifically."

Martinez, the ASU journalism professor, said the chant seems to be more prevalent by fans of Mexico's soccer team in the U.S. than in Mexico.

During a match he attended between Mexico and the U.S. in Las Vegas in 2023, the chant was even more pronounced than at Sunday's game in Glendale, he said.

The match in Las Vegas prompted him to write a column published in the Mexican newspaper Reforma denouncing the chant.

"Now Mexico is the worst fan, insulting rivals with a term that reflects the homophobia, machismo and misogyny that we have not yet overcome in our society," Martinez wrote.

Martinez said supporters of Mexico's national team seem to be flouting the FIFA anti-discriminatory protocols, perhaps out of frustration with the team's recent poor play.

He believes soccer authorities may need to take a tougher stance to put an end to the chant before the World Cup rolls around, including possibly temporarily banning Mexico's soccer team from international play.

"This is a very unpopular thing to say in Mexico, but I think the ultimate sanction — the only way FIFA will get fans' attention — is if after a certain number of warnings, they disqualify Mexico from participating in international play for a certain amount of time," Martinez said.

Republic reporter Jose M. Romero contributed to this article.

Copa America 2024: Mexico eliminated, Ecuador advances as teams play to scoreless draw

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Efforts to end Mexico soccer fans' anti-gay chanting have failed, Glendale match shows