As Mexico starts World Cup play, will anti-gay chant from fans follow?
Many Mexico fans fear "el grito" — the notorious homophobic chant — will be heard at the World Cup. Mexican soccer journalist and LGBTQ activist Marion Reimers says it can never be justified.
Mark
As Mexico kicks off the 2026 World Cup in a fiesta of color and celebration, there is the chance that an unwelcome sound could be heard in its stadiums during the tournament.
Federation officials and many supporters are concerned that sections of the home fanbase will sing the notorious homophobic chant known in the country as “el grito” at some point. Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey will stage 13 matches altogether, and the national team might end up playing a knockout game in the U.S. too.
You all know the chant by now. When the opposition goalkeeper prepares to kick the ball, an “eeeeeh…” begins to rise in volume. When the kick is taken, the shout of “puto!” goes up, to insult the ‘keeper.
Some people still want to debate the meaning and intent of the slur, but as far as the soccer authorities and the Mexican government are concerned, it’s homophobic.
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For Marion Reimers, a prominent Mexican soccer journalist and LGBTQ activist, there is no gray area. Speaking on the new Football v Homophobia podcast episode “Pride and the Men’s World Cup,” Reimers makes her position clear.
“I’m trying to convey a context here. If you translate that word into the English language, it basically means “fa**ot”,” she says.
“To me, it’s black and white. It shouldn’t be gray.”
Reimers has worked as a sports broadcaster for 20 years and is a household name in her homeland. “I remember interviewing members of the Mexican Football Federation and the national trainer at the time, 13 years ago… and they were trying to justify this as part of Mexican folklore and culture,” she says.
Back then, Mexico Football Federation (FMF) officials even tried to argue before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) that the chant was just a cultural tradition.
“[They were] mentioning that this was part of our culture, which it’s not, because it’s basically saying Mexico is homophobic, which we hope we are not,” Reimers argues.
“I mean, it is, and there is a lot of homophobia, but that doesn’t represent me culturally. Tacos represent me, tequila might represent me, mariachi might represent me, guacamole, and many other beautiful things, but that chant is not something that is part of my culture, and I refuse to accept that.”
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The naysayers may be fewer in number now, but enough remain to make life difficult.
The issue of “el grito” has already cost Mexican soccer financially. The FMF has faced numerous fines from FIFA over the years, which Reimers estimates have accumulated to around 10 million Mexican dollars. She points out that this massive sum of money “could be used for a proper campaign going against this.”
Instead, the chant has occasionally spread into the women’s game, when male fans attend and shout it anyway.
Marion Reimers savors World Cup and Pride ‘colliding’ in Mexico
Trying to stop the behavior remains difficult. Reimers notes the “snowball effect” that occurs where telling certain fans not to do something only makes them double down. “That’s one of the most worrisome situations throughout the World Cup, in terms of optics and reputation,” she adds.
The FMF, which lost its latest appeal to CAS only last week, is encouraging supportive fans to react with a Mexican wave if others try to start up “el grito” in the stands.
Despite these anxieties, Reimers sees a “beam of hope” in how local LGBTQ communities are pushing back. In Mexico City, the annual Pride parade will take place right alongside the World Cup. City authorities have refused to move or alter the historic parade, which has been a tradition since 1979.
On the podcast episode, Reimers recalls a beautiful moment during the 2018 World Cup when Mexico beat South Korea in a group-stage game on the same day as the Pride parade.
Fans celebrated the team’s victory, secured thousands of miles away in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, and they mingled with those marching for Pride in the middle of the city’s massive main square, the Zócalo.
“It turned out that it was a great party. Everybody was dancing. They were happy to have our community there,” remembers Reimers. She will read the opening pronouncement for this year’s Pride Parade in Mexico City on June 27.
She’s realistic that a similar outcome to that from eight years ago would depend on how the Mexican team is performing. The expectation this month is that they will have safely qualified for the knockout stages by the time the LGBTQ community is out on the streets that weekend.
That would bode well for a carnival atmosphere. “I’m really looking forward to Mexico City Pride and having the FIFA Fan Fest and everything just colliding.
“And I do believe we will be served lots of outfits and interventions by the queer community with football. Our art and our self-expression will be there, and that is going to be very important.”
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