FIFA recently fined the football associations of five countries due to homophobic chants made by its fans during the qualifying matches for the 2018 World Cup.
The Guardian wrote that FIFA cited that the insulting and discriminatory chants were made during the 2018 World Cup qualifiers. The five penalized groups included Chile, Argentina, Mexico, Peru and Uruguay. Chile was slapped with the biggest fine at 70,000 Swiss francs, due to improper behavior during four different matches. The four other countries were fined 20,000 Swiss francs. Honduras Football Association may also be fined, although proceedings for the offense are still pending.
FIFA stated that all of the disciplinary proceedings were related to homophobic chants by the fans of the respective teams. According to the FIFA Disciplinary Committee, the associations violated article 67 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code (FDC), Yahoo reported.
BBC noted that Chile violated the FDC during their games against Brazil, Colombia, Peru and Uruguay. Peru and Uruguay were sanctioned for chants during their match. Argentina committed the violation during its qualifier against Brazil while Mexico was fined for its violation during its qualifier against El Salvador.
The Committee made decisions after analyzing all of the particular circumstances of each cast. The group considered the position adopted by the football association, if applicable, the report of the anti-discrimination match observer, and other available relevant evidence. The Committee had full discretion on how to evaluate the evidence.
“FIFA has been fighting discrimination in football for many years and one part of that has been through sanctions,” explained Claudio Sulser, chair of FIFA’s disciplinary committee.
FIFA coordinates the Anti-Discrimination Monitoring System and implements it together with the Fare network. The latter also provides neutral match observers, especially at high-risk matches. The Committee lauded the match observers that boost the new comprehensive monitoring system for the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers and aid in their vision to eliminate discrimination in football. Federico Addiechi, FIFA Head of Sustainability, cited that there are already measures that address the issue.
He continued that disciplinary proceedings on their own cannot alter offensive behavior among many fans that attack the core values of the game. Sulser said that FIFA and all of the football community need to be proactive in spreading education and the positive message of respect and equality regardless of level.
More updates and details on the sanctioned football associations, as well as the decision in the Honduras FA case are set to surface soon.