Pumas fans cheer prior to a Mexican soccer league semifinal second leg match against Pachuca in Mexico City, Sunday, May 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
MEXICO CITY — Lower than a month before the beginning of the 2026 World Cup, the Mexican Football Federation announced on Thursday a brand new promoting campaign that seeks to stop its fans from using a chant considered homophobic through the tournament.
The mantra, that has been an unwelcome feature at matches involving Mexico and its fervent fans for twenty years, has resurfaced strongly in recent weeks, including the Liga MX playoffs matches held just last weekend.
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The name of the promoting 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 on the Oakland Coliseum in 1981, but it surely became popular globally on the 1986 World Cup in Mexico and commenced to be called the “Mexican Wave”.
“This campaign goals to boost awareness amongst fans in regards to the importance of supporting the Mexican national team with the wave and never with discriminatory chants that FIFA sanctions,” the federation said in a press release.
Mexico might be the primary country to host the World Cup 3 times, starting on June 11 when it faces South Africa within the opening match. The country was also the host nation in 1970 and 1986, but will share hosting duties this 12 months with the USA and Canada.
“It was at a World Cup 40 years ago that The Wave was immortalized, a movement of unity that continues to be in stadiums today as one of the significant and iconic legacies of international football.”
It is a latest attempt by Mexican soccer officials to finish the mantra that has earned them a dozen FIFA sanctions, in addition to 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 mantra, a one-word slur that literally means male prostitute in Spanish, normally occurs when the opposing goalkeeper is involved in a goal kick. It went viral within the 2014 World Cup in Brazil and was heard again in Russia through the 2018 World Cup and 4 years later in Qatar.
The federation said the promoting campaign could have a few stages, the primary from May 21 to 31 and the second from June 1 to 30, by which Hugo Sánchez, considered the most effective Mexican player in history, Manuel Negrete and the present coach of the national team, Javier Aguirre, will ask the fans to not shout the mantra.
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The promoting campaign might 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.