GUADALAJARA, México (AP) — Guadalajara is the capital of a Mexican state that is home to tequila and Mariachi music. It is also considered the birthplace of a less flattering tradition — a homophobic soccer chant that has cost Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines over the past two decades.
It came as no surprise that the chant, a one-word slur that literally means male prostitute in Spanish, was heard from the crowd in Guadalajara’s Akron Stadium during a friendly between Mexico and the United States on Tuesday.
Despite on-screen messages and banners urging fans to refrain from using the chant and yell “Mexico” instead, the crowd shouted the slur at U.S. goalkeeper Matt Turner within a minute after the kickoff.
Multiple sanctions from FIFA and campaigns by Mexican soccer officials to educate fans have not been able to stamp it out. The chant persists in both club and national team soccer in Mexico, not least in games between the two North American rivals who will host the 2026 World Cup together with Canada.
When the U.S. men’s team played Mexico, in the CONCACAF Nations League final in Texas in March, the referee stopped the game twice due to homophobic chanting by Mexico fans. Last year, a game in Las Vegas between the two sides was cut short for the same reason.
On Tuesday, the referee didn’t stop the game but organizers at one point tried to drown out the chant by playing “Cielito Lindo,” a…
