Mexico launches a last-minute World Cup campaign to stop a homophobic chant

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Less than a month before the start of the 2026 World Cup, the Mexican Football Federation announced on Thursday a new advertising campaign that seeks to prevent its fans from using a chant considered homophobic during the tournament.

The chant, that has been an unwelcome feature at matches involving Mexico and its fervent fans for two decades, has resurfaced strongly in recent weeks, including the Liga MX playoffs matches held just last weekend.

The name of the advertising campaign launched by the Mexican Federation is “The Wave Yes, The Chant No” and it features former Mexican national team players from the 1986 World Cup.

Mexican Wave dates to 1986

The creation of the Wave, the coordinated movement of fans in stadiums, is attributed to George “Krazy” Henderson, an American fan who began orchestrating it at the Oakland Coliseum in 1981, but it became popular globally at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico and began to be called the “Mexican Wave”.

“This campaign aims to raise awareness among fans about the importance of supporting the Mexican national team with the wave and not with discriminatory chants that FIFA sanctions,” the federation said in a statement.

Mexico will be the first country to host the World Cup three times, starting on June 11 when it faces South Africa in the opening match. The country was also the host nation in 1970 and 1986, but will share hosting duties this year with the United States and Canada.

“It was at a World Cup 40 years ago that The Wave was immortalized, a movement of unity that remains in stadiums today as one of the most significant and iconic legacies of international football.”

This is a new attempt by Mexican soccer officials to end the chant that has earned them a dozen FIFA sanctions, as well as criticism from LGBT+ organizations, who claim that the federation does nothing to stop the practice in Mexican stadiums.

Appealing to CAS

Mexico currently has appeals against FIFA punishment over a 2024 match against the U.S. pending before the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

The chant, a one-word slur that literally means male prostitute in Spanish, usually occurs when the opposing goalkeeper is involved in a goal kick. It went viral in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil and was heard again in Russia during the 2018 World Cup and four years later in Qatar.

The federation said the advertising campaign will have a couple of stages, the first from May 21 to 31 and the second from June 1 to 30, in which Hugo Sánchez, considered the best Mexican player in history, Manuel Negrete and the current coach of the national team, Javier Aguirre, will ask the fans not to shout the chant.

The advertising campaign will be featured on social media and on video screens in stadiums in Mexico’s three friendly matches before the World Cup, starting next Friday when it faces Ghana in Puebla.

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