FIFA fines Latin American associations for homophobic chants
Xinhua, January 14, 2016 Adjust font size:
Five Latin American national football associations were fined by FIFA on Wednesday for homophobic chants among fans during 2018 World Cup qualifiers.
The biggest penalty was handed to Chile, whose controlling body was fined 70,000 US dollars for offences during matches late last year.
FIFA also penalized Argentina, Mexico, Uruguay and Peru 20,000 US dollars for individual "discriminatory" behaviour.
"We have been fighting discrimination for many years, (but) disciplinary proceedings alone cannot change the behaviour of certain groups," FIFA's disciplinary committee chairman Claudio Sulser said.
Infractions by Chile fans occurred during their team's qualifiers against Brazil, Colombia, Peru and Uruguay. The latter two associations were also fined for incidents during the same games.
Other matches in which homophobic chanting took place were Argentina's clash with Brazil and Mexico's duel with El Salvador, FIFA said. Endit