Mexico is facing potential FIFA punishment after a shocking chant overshadowed preparations for a possible World Cup clash with England. The co-hosts have been one of the surprise packages of the tournament so far, most recently cruising to a 2-0 win over Ecuador to book their place in the Round of 16, where they will face either DR Congo or the Three Lions.

El Tri are the first nation since Italy in 1990 to win their opening four matches of a major international tournament without conceding a goal. They achieved the feat after victories over South Africa, Korea and the Czech Republic in the group stage, before seeing off Ecuador in the knockout rounds. It also marks their first World Cup knockout-stage victory in 40 years.

The jubilant scenes across Mexico on Monday night reflected not only the significance of that achievement, but also the growing belief that this team can go even further. Confidence is understandably high given they have lost just twice in their last 88 competitive matches at the Azteca Stadium, the venue for their next fixture.

Mexico Fans’ Shocking Chant vs Ecuador Rears Its Ugly Head

However, while the celebrations were largely good-natured, sections of the home support have since come under fire for allegedly directing ‘disgraceful’ chants at an Ecuadorian player. The incident has sparked controversy and could now land Mexico in hot water with FIFA.

The chant, the one-word slur ‘puto’ that literally means male prostitute in Spanish, usually occurs when the opposing goalkeeper is taking a goal kick. It has reared its ugly head for the fourth straight tournament after it went viral at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil and was heard again at the next editions in 2018 in Russia and 2022 in Qatar. Watch below:

As per the Daily Mail, Mexico fans have once again ignored requests and education programs by the Mexican football federation aiming to control the abuse. Just before the tournament kicked off in Estadio Azteca, Mexican soccer officials had launched a campaign to deter the chant.

Titled ‘La Ola Sí, El Grito No,’ the campaign uses members of Mexico’s 1986 World Cup team to encourage fans to do the wave but not the chant. But that seems to have fallen on deaf ears, as fans have been chanting the slur since their opening game of the tournament and it came to a head yesterday.

FIFA Punishment Could Be on its Way for Mexico

Just before the kick-off of this year’s tournament, Mexico had been sanctioned for the all-too-familiar homophobic slur. The Court of Arbitration for Sport’s latest ruling in a series of Mexico vs. FIFA appeal cases came over more than 10 years after the World Cup in Brazil.

The latest case at CAS followed FIFA prosecutions of incidents at games in 2024 against Bolivia, Uruguay, Brazil and the United States. The chant was heard by anti-discrimination monitors who have also been working for FIFA at the World Cup’s 104 games in Mexico, the USA and Canada.

CAS said its judges upheld FIFA-imposed fines totallling 140,000 Swiss francs ($178,000). They lifted a sanction of closing part of a stadium at a FIFA-organized game such as the World Cup. The court said its judges at a hearing in Miami in March weighed the Mexican federation mitigation that it had “put measures in place since 2015 to educate, prevent and eradicate the chant.”

“They (the judges) observed that the conduct of the fans was collective and widespread, and not merely a one-off occurrence,” CAS said in a statement. Noting the ‘unique nature’ of the challenge facing Mexican soccer officials, the court said the federation should not escape liability. But some have argued that fans are better at policing this behaviour than FIFA.

“On the one hand, FIFA fines aren’t working,” The Athletic’s Matt Slater wrote on X. “But, on the other, we can’t just let some Mexican fans keep screaming an anti-gay slur each time the opposing goalie boots it. Self-policing by fans is the best way to fix this…now would be a good time to start.”

‘El Matador’ seems to be on the mend following his merciless loss to Justin Gaethje on the South Lawn over two weeks ago.

It has been 16 days since former UFC lightweight champion Ilia Topuria lost via TKO in extremely brutal fashion to Justin Gaethje at UFC Freedom 250. The fight was a battle from start to finish and, as his condition worsened, round by round, Topuria’s team were left with little choice and declared the fight to be over, saving their fighter from any more damage.

Topuria left the Octagon mangled and was immediately transported to the hospital in the aftermath of the punishing battle.

Post-fight, fans were fearing the worst. One look at his face would tell you that Topuria was in serious trouble. The Georgian star suffered serious facial injuries which could keep him out of action for up to a year.

Ilia Topuria’s First Public Appearance

Amber Searls via Imagn Images

The first photo of Topuria has emerged since the bout on the grounds of the White House, where he can be seen having a meal while wearing sunglasses. This caused some speculation online as to why he was wearing sunglasses in the image, with comments like: “I thought his manager said he looked like he never fought. If so, why the glasses?”

It might be to hide the true extent of his facial injuries, which he is unlikely to have fully recovered from in just over two weeks.

Topuria appears to be healing well, all things considered, which checks out when compared to what his trainer said recently about his recovery.

According to Topuria’s team, the former champion could return as soon as December, but will need six-to-eight weeks for his injuries to heal properly, especially since the orbital bone was not displaced. Failing this time frame, he will be expected to be back at some point in 2027.

At UFC Freedom 250, Topuria had his undefeated record wiped clean by Gaethje and lost his championship at the same time. While he did praise the American for his victory, he has not spoken publicly since the fight.

This may be expected to change in the next few weeks, however, after the emergence of these photos on social media, and fans will be eager to hear when they can expect to see the former champion in action again.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic has named the world’s five best footballers right now following France’s 3-0 victory over Sweden in the Round of 32 at the 2026 World Cup.

Kylian Mbappe scored another brace and moves level with Argentina’s Lionel Messi on six goals in the race for the Golden Boot. The Real Madrid superstar now has 18 World Cup goals to his name. Only Messi (19) has more World Cup goals in the tournament’s history.

Bradley Barcola scored France’s other goal. Meanwhile, Michael Olise bagged two assists, and Ousmane Dembele set up Mbappe’s opener.

France are unquestionably the World Cup’s standout team so far and will be the red-hot favourites heading into Saturday’s last 16 tie against Paraguay at the Philadelphia Stadium.

Win that and they’ll then face either Canada or Morocco in the quarter-finals before a potential semi-final against Portugal, Spain, United States or Belgium depending on how results unfold in the previous two rounds.

REUTERS/Stephane Mahe

Ibrahimovic, the legendary retired Swedish striker who has impressed in his role as a pundit for FOX Sports at this summer’s World Cup, believes three members of the France squad are among the five best players in world football as things stand.

The former Barcelona and Manchester United star said after being wowed by Les Bleus:

He explained that Messi doesn’t make his top five because the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner is in a league of his own, and instead opted for two younger superstars.

Zlatan added: “[Lamine] Yamal and [Erling] Haaland, I would say, because Messi is in his own class… but three of the top five are in [France’s] attack. It’s not easy to make that combination. We have an example when PSG had Mbappe, Messi and Neymar. It was not working 100 per cent.

“But with France, they don’t have this ego, who will be the one. They also do their jobs off the ball, which is more important than on the ball because we know what they can do on the ball. They can decide the game by themselves – all of them. So, it’s scary.”

There was no room in Zlatan’s top five for Bayern Munich and England star Harry Kane, who scored a remarkable 61 goals in 51 games during the 2025-26 season. Arsenal’s Declan Rice, Real Madrid’s Vinicius Jr and Paris Saint-Germain’s Khvicha Kvaratskhelia also missed the cut, despite being among the leading contenders for the 2026 Ballon d’Or award.