Mexican Council Condemns Sexist Remarks Towards World Cup Female Referee

The Council to Prevent and Eradicate Discrimination in Mexico City (Copred) expressed this Tuesday its "deep concern" over the misogynistic verbal aggressions faced by Mexican referee Katia Itzel García, who will participate in the 2026 FIFA World Cup, during a Liga MX soccer match last Sunday. The incidents occurred during the match between the Pumas and Mazatlán clubs, where the referee "would have been the subject of misogynistic expressions while carrying out her refereeing functions," the council stated in a communique. The body thus referred to the testimony of a photojournalist who denounced that during the match, the Mazatlán's technical director, Sergio Bueno, used the expression: "Now it turns out a woman wants to come and prove she has balls," in response to a refereeing decision by Katia García, who expelled him from the game. "These facts cannot be understood as part of the 'passion of the game' nor as a legitimate reaction to a refereeing decision. They are expressions that reproduce gender stereotypes, delegitimize the authority of women in traditionally masculinized spaces and constitute forms of symbolic violence that are unacceptable in professional sports and in any public space," warned Copred. The Council calls on the authorities of Mexican soccer to act with institutional responsibility, as there is no room for machismo, homophobia, racism, or any form of discrimination in Mexican soccer. Likewise, it emphasized that the seriousness of the case is accentuated in a context in which Mexico will host the 2026 FIFA World Cup, along with the United States and Canada, added to the fact that "Katia Itzel García herself has been designated as a referee in said competition, consolidating herself as one of the representatives of Mexican refereeing at the international level," the organization insisted. In this sense, Copred made a "firm" call to Liga MX to adopt "a clear and public stance of zero tolerance towards any discriminatory expression, both on and off the field." To the Referees Commission, it urged to actively protect the integrity and dignity of referees and strengthen internal protocols.