MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

FIFA fines federations for homophobic remarks from fans, including Argentina, Chile and Uruguay

“Disciplinary proceedings alone cannot change behavior by certain groups of fans that unfortunately goes against the core values of our game,” says Sulser.

Anti-gay chants by fans have led to fines for six football associations. Match reports revealed that fans of Argentina, Chile, Honduras, Mexico, Peru and Uruguay yelled homophobic remarks during qualifying matches for the 2018 World Cup.

 The federations of Argentina, Mexico, Peru and Uruguay were fined $20,000. Chile received a $70,000 fine for four separate recorded cases. Disciplinary hearings for Honduras are still underway.

FIFA's anti-discrimination monitoring system, coordinated by FIFA and implemented in collaboration with the Fare network, gathered the evidence to prove “unsporting conduct of fans in relation to insulting and discriminatory chants”.

Monitoring is conducted across all confederations, with neutral observers deployed at identified high-risk matches.

“FIFA has been fighting discrimination in football for many years and one part of that has been through sanctions,” says Claudio Sulser, chairman of the FIFA disciplinary committee.

“Disciplinary proceedings alone cannot change behavior by certain groups of fans that unfortunately goes against the core values of our game,” says Sulser.

“FIFA and the entire football community have to be proactive in educating and inspiring a message of equality and respect across all levels of the game.”