Soccer’s international governing body Wednesday reduced Mexico’s punishment for the use of homophobic slurs by its fans, forcing the men’s program to play one official home match without spectators instead of two.
The initial punishment, handed down June 18 by the FIFA Disciplinary Committee, was for fan misbehavior at two matches during the Olympic men’s qualifying tournament for under-23 squads in March in Guadalajara. The FMF was also fined about $65,000.
Because the ban was not specific to the senior men’s squad, the FMF was also planning to prevent fans from attending a women’s national team match next month instead of the men’s second home qualifier, Oct.