MEXICO.- With the aim of eradicating homophobic shouts in Mexican stadiums during the 2026 World Cupthe Mexican Football Federation launched a campaign on Thursday with the participation of Hugo Sanchez, Javier Aguirre and other World Cup winners from 1986.
“The wave yes, the scream no” is the name of the campaign, which consists of encouraging fans to support through the wave, the wave movement in the stands that was very popular in the World Cup Mexico 1986.
“This campaign has the objective of raising awareness among the fans about the importance of supporting the Mexico National Team with the wave and not with discriminatory shouts that sanction the FIFA“, announced the FMF in a statement.
The discriminatory cry of “eeeeeh, puto” that Mexican fans shout every time the rival goalkeeper clears the ball began to be heard in official El Tri matches since the 2004 pre-Olympic tournament.
This homophobic expression was presented in the Brazil World Cup 2014 and caused that in Russia 2018after the Aztec team’s match against GermanyFIFA fined the FMF 10,000 Swiss francs (about $10,000 at the time).
A campaign with two stages
The campaign will consist of two stages. The first, from May 21 to 31, consists of messages with some 1986 World Cup players such as Fernando Quirarte and Luis Flores.
In the second, from June 1 to 30, Sánchez and Aguirre will reinforce the message.
The campaign will be deployed through digital platforms and in the last preparation matches of the Mexican team for the maximum FIFA tournament: against Ghana (May 22 in Puebla), Australia (May 30 in Pasadena) and Serbia (June 4 in Toluca).
The Mexican team will open the 2026 World Cup on June 11 at the stadium Aztec against South Africa.
In order to eradicate the cry, the FMF and the Concacaf They have established a three-phase protocol in their tournaments: stopping the match, the temporary removal of the players to the locker rooms and the definitive suspension of the game.
