Mexico Soccer Team Releases Antidiscrimination PSA

The Mexican national soccer team is standing up against homophobia at its games.

The team released a public service announcement titled "Abrazados por el Futbol" ("Hugging for Soccer") last week in support of eliminating a chant that is considered by many to be homophobic. The PSA features top players from the team, offering advice such as "Everyone deserves respect."

A Mexican Soccer Federation official confirmed to Fusion that on the surface, the campaign is aimed at combating racism, but the main focus is to target hose who use the !puto! ("f****t") chant at soccer games. Fusion reports that the chant was "harshly criticized" during the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, which led FIFA officials to fine the federation $20,700.

The team is trying to avoid getting fined in the future and released the PSA in hopes that fans will not use the chant at games coming up before the World Cup in Russia in 2018, reports Fusion.

Whether or not !puto! is homophobic is up for debate, reports Fusion. Some consider it to mean "coward," while others understand it to be a homophobic term. The Mexican Soccer Federation created a website in support of the PSA, asking fans to sign a petition that they will no longer disrespect each other at games.