The Mexican soccer federation was fined $10,000 for “discriminatory and insulting chants” during Sunday’s World Cup game against Germany. FIFA also is considering further action against fans who take part in the chant. A source told ESPN’s Rene Tovar that if the chants continue during matches, stadium security would begin to identify and remove the offending fans from the stands. FIFA, under pressure to stop racist and anti-gay activity in Russia, is using a new anti-discrimination procedure for the World Cup. Under the procedure, referees are instructed to stop the game for an announcement on the public-address system when discriminatory behavior is seen or heard. If it continues, the official can suspend the game, and then abandon it if the behavior persists. That procedure was not used after the anti-gay slur was chanted Sunday. Advertisement Full coverage of the 2018 World Cup » Mexico striker Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez, one of the team’s most popular players, called on his country’s fans to stop their anti-gay chanting, arguing it could lead to further fines from FIFA. Hernandez posted a message on Instagram on Wednesday asking fans to end the derogatory chants. “To all Mexican fans in the stadiums, don’t shout ‘pu -- ,” Hernandez said. “Let’s not risk another sanction.” The Mexican soccer federation has been repeatedly been fined over fans’ anti-gay chants but the sanctions haven’t escalated. The federation and players previously have urged fans to stop the chant through public statements but that has proven unsuccessful. Serbia also was fined $10,000 on Wednesday over its fans’ “offensive and political” World War II-era banner at the team’s 1-0 win over Costa Rica. Serbia has had problems with far-right nationalist fans in the past. Burger King apologizes Burger King has apologized for offering a lifetime supply of Whoppers to Russian women who get pregnant by World Cup players. Advertisement Critics assailed the offer, announced on Russian social media, as sexist and demeaning. The announcement was removed Tuesday from Burger King’s social media accounts but was still circulating among Russian social network users. It promised a reward of free burgers to women who get “the best football genes” and “ensure the success of the Russian team for generations to come.” In a statement to the Associated Press, Burger King said, “We are sorry about the clearly offensive promotion that the team in Russia launched online.” It said the offer “does not reflect our brand or our values and we are taking steps to ensure this type of activity does not happen again.” Ads in Russia often play on sexist stereotypes, notably ads around sporting events like the World Cup. Women’s rights activists have been increasingly speaking out against them. Advertisement Spirits high and low The World Cup is in crisis. Russia is running dry. Parts of the nation’s capital were apparently unprepared for the throngs of fans that have descended on its restaurants and pubs. As a result, supplies of beer and spirits such as vodka and whiskey are getting dangerously low. “We just didn’t think they would only want beer,” a waiter at an upscale downtown restaurant told Reuters. “There are really a lot of people in Moscow ... and they are all drinking. It’s hot, and it’s football.” Advertisement That restaurant ran out of draft beer Monday; restocking is taking longer than usual because suppliers’ stocks are also running out. Beer sales in Russia have fallen by around a third in recent years as duties have risen and rules have been tightened on sales and advertising. Brewers had not been expecting a major reversal of the trend this year even with the World Cup. Blatter makes an appearance Despite being banned by the organization he headed for 17 years, former FIFA president Sepp Blatter attended Wednesday’s Portugal-Morocco game as a guest of Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Both did essential work to help ensure Russia won the tournament hosting rights eight years ago. Advertisement The public appearance is the first for Blatter, 82, outside his native Switzerland since July 2015, two months after American and Swiss investigators unsealed sweeping investigations of corruption and bribery linked to international soccer and marketing officials, including some FIFA vice presidents. He announced his intention to resign days later and is banned from official soccer duty until October 2021 for financial misconduct during his rule. But the FIFA ban doesn’t prevent him from attending games. He also plans to see Brazil play Costa Rica in St. Petersburg on Friday. Royal visit Japanese princess Hisako Takamada attended her country’s upset win over Colombia on Tuesday in Saransk, becoming the first member of Japan’s royal family to visit Russia in more than a century. The princess is expected to attend Japan’s next two group stage matches against Senegal and Poland. Advertisement Russia and Japan have been locked in a territorial dispute over four contested islands, which the Soviet Union took at the end of World War II. It has kept the two nations from signing a peace treaty formally ending their hostilities. Concussion concern Morocco forward Noureddine Amrabat (16) wore padded head gear for the early minutes of a Group B match against Portugal on June 20. (Kirill Kudryavtsev / AFP/Getty Images ) Noureddine Amrabat can’t remember his first World Cup match even though he was playing in it. Advertisement “Five, six hours, gone. Totally gone,” the Morocco midfielder said of the concussion sustained when he collided with Iranian midfielder Vahid Amiri in his team’s opening match. “When you think about it, it is a little bit scary.” Five days after a clash of heads sent him to hospital for a brain scan and 24 hours of medical supervision, Amrabat was back in the lineup Wednesday and played the entire match in a 1-0 loss to Portugal, in defiance of FIFA guidelines and his team doctor. The players’ union, FIFPro, was highly critical of what it called “yet another alarming example of a player being put in harm’s way.” Despite having expressed shock about Morocco’s initial pitch-side treatment of Amrabat’s concussion last Friday — the apparently dazed player was sprayed with water and slapped on the face, seemingly to wake him from his stupor — FIFA absolved itself of any responsibility in the team decision to field him again so quickly. Amrabat wore a padded skull cap in warmups and the first 15 minutes of the match but took it off because he was too hot. Advertisement After the initial concussion diagnosis, Morocco team doctor Abderrazak Hefti had said Amrabat wouldn’t even train for a week. But the player said that he overruled the physician. Jolted by criticism of concussion cases at the 2014 tournament , FIFA introduced guidelines intended to provide players with better protection and give team doctors more authority. Moroccan team officials appeared to ignore the guidelines. FIFPro said Amrabat shouldn’t have played again so soon. The Associated Press contributed to this report. kevin.baxter@latimes.com | Twitter: @kbaxter11<doc-sep>After its fans were clearly heard using an anti-gay slur toward Germany’s goalkeeper, Mexico has been fined by FIFA. FIFA announced Wednesday that it has levied a $10,000 fine against the Mexican federation for the “discriminatory and insulting chants” during Mexico’s 1-0 World Cup victory over Germany on Sunday. “The FIFA Disciplinary Committee has sanctioned the Mexican Football Federation (FMF) with a fine of CHF 10,000 for the misconduct of a group of Mexican fans (cf. art. 67 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code) in relation to discriminatory and insulting chants during the first half of the 2018 FIFA World Cup match played between Germany and Mexico,” FIFA said. “The decision was passed after a thorough assessment of the relevant match reports, the FMF’s precedents and the evidence provided, which included videos of the incidents as well as examples of certain sustainable actions taken by the FMF to raise awareness among its supporters. Moreover, the Disciplinary Committee gave a warning to the FMF, who may face additional sanctions in case of repeated infringements of this type.” Mexico fans celebrate their team’s goal against Germany during soccer World Cup match, in Mexico City’s Zocalo, Sunday, June 17. Mexico won it’s first match against Germany 1-0. (AP Photo/Anthony Vazquez) Mexico has been fined for the chant in the past The chant has become common for fans in Mexico and some other Latin American countries despite its offensiveness. After outcry about the prevalence of the chant during the 2014 World Cup, the word used has been deemed discriminatory language by FIFA and resulted in fines for the Mexican federation in the past, including several in the lead up to his year’s World Cup. At a news conference Tuesday, one Mexican player, Marco Fabian, urged the fans to stop using the chant. Fabian suggested fans sing a well-known Mexican song instead. Others have done the same. From ESPN.com: Fabian urged Mexico fans instead to sing well-known Mexican song Cielito Lindo (“Ay, ay, ay, ay, Canta y no llores”). “It’s a good moment to send a message,” said the Eintracht Frankfurt player in a news conference at the team’s training base outside of Moscow. “We ask people not to do the chant. There are different rules now. It would be a shame for people to not be allowed in. It’s nice to hear ‘Cielito Lindo’ and the shout of ‘Mexico.’ We should [try to] avoid punishments.” Story continues Fans could be ejected for using the chant The Mexican federation has put together educational campaigns in an effort to stop its fans from using the chant. It also has warned fans in Russia for the World Cup that they could be ejected or have their fan IDs (which allow access to World Cup stadiums) taken away if they are caught shouting the chant. “What we have to do and keep doing is uniting with the fans to abstain from [doing] the chant,” Mexican federation director of national teams Dennis Te Kloese told ESPN. “The consequences are really big, not just for the federation, but also for the fans here.” Mexico will play its second game of Group A play on Saturday against South Korea in Rostov. More World Cup on Yahoo Sports: • Female reporter sexually assaulted during live World Cup broadcast • Mexican star with alleged drug cartel ties wreaks havoc for sponsors • Another Ronaldo goal lifts Portugal past Morocco • Player asks Mexican fans to stop using anti-gay chant<doc-sep>MOSCOW — Mexico’s soccer federation and at least two of its team’s star players took to social media on Thursday in a renewed campaign to banish a homophobic chant that has been a fixture at the team’s matches for years. The effort came one day after FIFA fined Mexico $10,000 for its fans’ use of the slur “puto” at its World Cup opener on Sunday, and as world soccer’s governing body again warned Mexico of more serious consequences if the chanting did not stop. “To all Mexican fans in the stadiums, don’t shout ‘puto’,” the star striker Javier Hernández wrote on his Instagram account, posting it in the less prominent Stories feature instead of his regular feed. “Let’s not risk another sanction.” Another player, the midfielder Andrés Guardado, who served as the team’s captain in its first game here, also urged fans to reject the term.<doc-sep>
Don't miss a moment of the World Cup! Visit "My Teams" in your Settings and select your favorite team to set up scores and news alerts. If you watched Mexico defeat Germany on Sunday, you would have noticed that there was a lot of red, white and green in Luzhniki Stadium. Unfortunately for the Mexican Football Federation, not all of those supporters behaved themselves, and now it has to pay the price ... again. FIFA issued a $10,400 (U.S.) fine to Mexican soccer's governing body for "discriminatory and insulting chants" during the match against Germany. According to ESPN, if the chants continue, officials will also remove offending fans from the match. An incredibly drastic measure is that the team could forfeit the match. "The FIFA Disciplinary Committee has sanctioned the Mexican Football Federation (FMF) with a fine of CHF 10,000 for the misconduct of a group of Mexican fans (cf. art. 67 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code) in relation to discriminatory and insulting chants during the first half of the 2018 FIFA World Cup match played between Germany and Mexico," FIFA said in a statement. The homophobic slur has long plagued El Tri. According to ESPN, Mexico was sanctioned 12 times for the slur for a US total of $160,000 during qualifiers. Two warnings were issued in qualifiers before the fines began. According to CNET, Mexico has now been fined 12 times since qualifiers started. Mexico has desperately tried to eradicate the chant. Marco Fabian asked fans not to carry the chant on in a tweet on Wednesday, with the banner "no grites p---," or "don't scream [the slur]." Fabian's message also downplayed how insulting the chant is, but stressed the importance of abstaining from shouting it. The Mexican team's Twitter account retweeted Fabian's message. The team also released a PSA in 2016 against it, but apparently to no avail. Javier "Chicarito" Hernandez asked the same as Fabian. There is a three-step process to end these chants during the match. First, a PA announcement warns the stands. If it's ignored, the match is suspended. If it continues, the match is forfeited. FIFA did not invoke this policy on Sunday. Should the chants continue against South Korea, we may see that change. The PA announcement would likely suffice, but FIFA claims that the chants stopped after the first half, before it could make the announcement. "The decision was passed after a thorough assessment of the relevant match reports, the FMF's precedents and the evidence provided, which included videos of the incidents as well as examples of certain sustainable actions taken by the FMF to raise awareness among its supporters," FIFA said via ESPN. "Moreover, the Disciplinary Committee gave a warning to the FMF, who may face additional sanctions in case of repeated infringements of this type." FIFA has clamped down on anti-tolerance at this year's World Cup in Russia. The chant was heard frequently at Mexico's matches in 2014 in Brazil, but no action was taken. Since FIFA clamped down on these chants, the Mexican Football Federation has paid the price. FIFA now has an "anti-discrimination monitoring system" for situations like this, which has been in use since 2017. Mexico isn't the only team that's faced punishment. Argentina and Chile have also been fined since FIFA's lockdown, and Serbia was fined $10,000 for a political banner shown during its match against Costa Rica. Peru, Brazil, and Costa Rica have also been fined in the past.