1988 Mexico national football team scandal
Encyclopedia
The 1988 Mexico national football team scandal, known also as the cachirules scandal was a football controversy occurring in April and May 1988 when it was discovered that at least four players of the Mexican youth football team
were over the age limit during the qualification tournament for the 1989 FIFA World Youth Championship.
The case ended with a strict sanction against Mexican football, with its national teams in all categories being excluded from all international competition during a two-year period (1988–1990), which implicated the absence of the senior national team
from the 1990 FIFA World Cup
. The cachirules scandal has been considered as a turning point between two eras in the history of Mexican football.
, Mexico and other national youth teams of the CONCACAF
region had to play a preliminary round celebrated in Guatemala
in April 1988.
Earlier in the same year, FIFA
had issued a statement warning all national associations not to try to deceive the footballing authorities with regards to the age of players participating in youth tournaments (in response to what was common practice by youth teams across the world of including players of age over the regulatory limit). The maximum age established by FIFA for participation of footballers in the Youth World Championship was 20 years.
Mexico first played two matches against Guyana
, whom they beat by scores of 9-0 and 2-0, and then against locals Guatemala
, winning again both matches 2-1 and 3-0. This last victory occurred on 20 April 1988 with forward Gerardo Jiménez scoring a goal, which secured the first place of the group for Mexico and their qualification to the World Youth Championship.
) and author of a football-dedicated column for Mexican newspaper Ovaciones, discovered in an April 1988 yearbook (1986-87 edition) published by the Mexican Football Federation (FEMEXFUT) itself, a discrepancy between the players' ages shown in the publication and the ones submitted by the federation to CONCACAF
for the qualification tournament in Guatemala. On 20 April 1988 Moreno published an article emphasizing the risks of "trying to create an advantage over the opponents by including players over the permitted age". In response, the then FEMEXFUT president Rafael del Castillo played down the matter and verbally attacked the reporter.
Antonio Moreno, however, was backed up by fellow Imevisión journalist José Ramón Fernández, from the show La Misma Hora, who broadcast the news on television. The initial reaction of the FEMEXFUT was to deny and ignore the accusations, but once the public realized the magnitude of the scandal, many Mexican journalists began to interview the players and to insistently look for the team members' birth certificates; eventually, the real birth dates of players Gerardo Jiménez and José de la Fuente, both two years older than the established limit by the FEMEXFUT, were found. Forward José Luis Mata was over the age limit by three years, and defender Aurelio Rivera was four years over. Rivera, at the time the team captain, has declared in later interviews that every one of the members of the squad was over age, although such affirmation has not been verified.
The information was widely spread on televised and written media in Mexico and inevitably reached the Guatemalan Football Federation
, who submitted an official complaint to CONCACAF demanding the case to be investigated. The discovery was conducted by salvadorean
José Ramón Flores, who promptly verified the falsity of the ages submitted by the FEMEXFUT for the tournament's squad members.
and United States
were the two CONCACAF nations to qualify to the World Youth Championship.
Rafael del Castillo attempted to appeal before FIFA
, hoping to overturn or minimize the punishment issued by CONCACAF. The Mexican executives arrived at the FIFA headquarters confident on the influence that Guillermo Cañedo might have within the world football's governing body, but they did not achieve the expected results.
In May 1988, FIFA not only backed the measures dictated by CONCACAF, which had punished only the Mexican youth team, but in addition, aggravated the sentence by disqualifying all Mexican national teams, including the senior team, from every FIFA-sanctioned international competition for a period of two years; therefore, the Mexican team was left out of the 1988 Olympic tournament
in Seoul
, as well as the 1990 FIFA World Cup
having been precluded from participation in the preliminary qualification rounds.
Another possible origin of the word refers to the slang word cachirul or cachirulo, term used in Mexico at the beginning of the 20th Century to designate a patch or repair of bad quality on clothing. Alternatively, the term cachirul or cachirulo was employed for all things of questionable quality, origin, or reputation. Football used the adjective in the yards of lower amateur categories in cities and towns of Mexico, referring to players whom without being part of the team roster, would take the field in order to complete the team and thus avoid losing the game due to lack of players. This implicated deceiving the referee, as players used other player's identity, creating a "cachirul". As time passed, and especially after the 1988 scandal, the term cachirul in Mexico has become almost exclusively a footballing term.
Mexico national under-20 football team
The Mexico national under-20 football team, is controlled by the Mexican Football Federation and represents Mexico in international under-20 football competitions.-Individual awards:...
were over the age limit during the qualification tournament for the 1989 FIFA World Youth Championship.
The case ended with a strict sanction against Mexican football, with its national teams in all categories being excluded from all international competition during a two-year period (1988–1990), which implicated the absence of the senior national team
Mexico national football team
The Mexican national football team represents Mexico in association football and is governed by the Mexican Football Federation , the governing body for football in Mexico. Mexico's home stadium is the Estadio Azteca and their head coach is José Manuel de la Torre...
from the 1990 FIFA World Cup
1990 FIFA World Cup
The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event twice. Teams representing 116 national football associations from all six populated...
. The cachirules scandal has been considered as a turning point between two eras in the history of Mexican football.
Background
To attempt to qualify to the 1989 FIFA World Youth Championship in Saudi ArabiaSaudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
, Mexico and other national youth teams of the CONCACAF
CONCACAF
The Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football is the continental governing body for association football in North America, Central America and the Caribbean...
region had to play a preliminary round celebrated in Guatemala
Guatemala
Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...
in April 1988.
Earlier in the same year, FIFA
FIFA
The Fédération Internationale de Football Association , commonly known by the acronym FIFA , is the international governing body of :association football, futsal and beach football. Its headquarters are located in Zurich, Switzerland, and its president is Sepp Blatter, who is in his fourth...
had issued a statement warning all national associations not to try to deceive the footballing authorities with regards to the age of players participating in youth tournaments (in response to what was common practice by youth teams across the world of including players of age over the regulatory limit). The maximum age established by FIFA for participation of footballers in the Youth World Championship was 20 years.
Mexico first played two matches against Guyana
Guyana national football team
The Guyana national football team, nicknamed the Golden Jaguars, is the national team of Guyana and is controlled by the Guyana Football Federation. Although the former British colony is located in South America, it competes in CONCACAF, together with Suriname and French Guiana. Until the...
, whom they beat by scores of 9-0 and 2-0, and then against locals Guatemala
Guatemala national football team
The Guatemala national football team is the association football team representing the country of Guatemala and is controlled by the Federación Nacional de Fútbol de Guatemala. Founded in 1919, it affiliated to FIFA in 1946, and it is a member of CONCACAF....
, winning again both matches 2-1 and 3-0. This last victory occurred on 20 April 1988 with forward Gerardo Jiménez scoring a goal, which secured the first place of the group for Mexico and their qualification to the World Youth Championship.
Investigation
Journalist Antonio Moreno from the Mexican channel Imevisión (now TV AztecaTV Azteca
Azteca, is the second largest Mexican television entertainment. It was established in 1983 as the state-owned Instituto Mexicano de la Televisión , a holding of the national TV networks channel 13 and 7 and was privatized under its current name in 1993 and now is part of Grupo Salinas...
) and author of a football-dedicated column for Mexican newspaper Ovaciones, discovered in an April 1988 yearbook (1986-87 edition) published by the Mexican Football Federation (FEMEXFUT) itself, a discrepancy between the players' ages shown in the publication and the ones submitted by the federation to CONCACAF
CONCACAF
The Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football is the continental governing body for association football in North America, Central America and the Caribbean...
for the qualification tournament in Guatemala. On 20 April 1988 Moreno published an article emphasizing the risks of "trying to create an advantage over the opponents by including players over the permitted age". In response, the then FEMEXFUT president Rafael del Castillo played down the matter and verbally attacked the reporter.
Antonio Moreno, however, was backed up by fellow Imevisión journalist José Ramón Fernández, from the show La Misma Hora, who broadcast the news on television. The initial reaction of the FEMEXFUT was to deny and ignore the accusations, but once the public realized the magnitude of the scandal, many Mexican journalists began to interview the players and to insistently look for the team members' birth certificates; eventually, the real birth dates of players Gerardo Jiménez and José de la Fuente, both two years older than the established limit by the FEMEXFUT, were found. Forward José Luis Mata was over the age limit by three years, and defender Aurelio Rivera was four years over. Rivera, at the time the team captain, has declared in later interviews that every one of the members of the squad was over age, although such affirmation has not been verified.
The information was widely spread on televised and written media in Mexico and inevitably reached the Guatemalan Football Federation
Federación Nacional de Fútbol de Guatemala
The Federación Nacional de Fútbol de Guatemala , also known by the former acronym FENAFUTG, is the governing body of Football in Guatemala. It organizes the football league, Liga Nacional de Guatemala, Primera División de Ascenso, Segunda División de Ascenso, the Copa Centenario and the Guatemala...
, who submitted an official complaint to CONCACAF demanding the case to be investigated. The discovery was conducted by salvadorean
El Salvador
El Salvador or simply Salvador is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. The country's capital city and largest city is San Salvador; Santa Ana and San Miguel are also important cultural and commercial centers in the country and in all of Central America...
José Ramón Flores, who promptly verified the falsity of the ages submitted by the FEMEXFUT for the tournament's squad members.
Consequences
As a result, CONCACAF initially determined that the ages of the four said players were in fact false and Mexico was disqualified from participation in the Saudi Arabia Youth World Championship; further, several officials were sidelined for life (but not the team coach Francisco Avilán), among them José de Jesús Alvarez Guzmán, Rafael Castellanos, Rafael del Castillo, Víctor Manuel González, Ramón Martínez, Manuel Acevez Montenegro, Gerardo Gallegos, Gilberto Morfín Salazar, and Héctor Antonio Pérez. With the expulsion of Mexico, it was the Guatemalan team who replaced them in the next qualifying round. In the end, Costa RicaCosta Rica national football team
The Costa Rica national football team, nicknamed La Sele, is the national team of Costa Rica and is controlled by the Federación Costarricense de Fútbol. Costa Rica is the third most successful team in CONCACAF after Mexico and the United States...
and United States
United States men's national soccer team
The United States men's national soccer team represents the United States in international association football competitions. It is controlled by the United States Soccer Federation and competes in CONCACAF...
were the two CONCACAF nations to qualify to the World Youth Championship.
Rafael del Castillo attempted to appeal before FIFA
FIFA
The Fédération Internationale de Football Association , commonly known by the acronym FIFA , is the international governing body of :association football, futsal and beach football. Its headquarters are located in Zurich, Switzerland, and its president is Sepp Blatter, who is in his fourth...
, hoping to overturn or minimize the punishment issued by CONCACAF. The Mexican executives arrived at the FIFA headquarters confident on the influence that Guillermo Cañedo might have within the world football's governing body, but they did not achieve the expected results.
In May 1988, FIFA not only backed the measures dictated by CONCACAF, which had punished only the Mexican youth team, but in addition, aggravated the sentence by disqualifying all Mexican national teams, including the senior team, from every FIFA-sanctioned international competition for a period of two years; therefore, the Mexican team was left out of the 1988 Olympic tournament
Football at the 1988 Summer Olympics
Final results for the football competition at the 1988 Summer Olympics. The tournament was held from September 17, 1988 to October 1, 1988.-Medal summary:...
in Seoul
Seoul
Seoul , officially the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea. A megacity with a population of over 10 million, it is the largest city proper in the OECD developed world...
, as well as the 1990 FIFA World Cup
1990 FIFA World Cup
The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event twice. Teams representing 116 national football associations from all six populated...
having been precluded from participation in the preliminary qualification rounds.
Origin of the name "cachirules"
The name cachirules possibly came from the TV character of the 1950s and 1960s Cachirulo, created by Enrique Alonso for the young audience during the first years of television in Mexico. To call the team cachirules was a reference to the fact that, like Alonso, who incarnated in Cachirulo a character of much younger age than that of the actor, the footballers involved in the scandal pretended to be much younger than they were in reality.Another possible origin of the word refers to the slang word cachirul or cachirulo, term used in Mexico at the beginning of the 20th Century to designate a patch or repair of bad quality on clothing. Alternatively, the term cachirul or cachirulo was employed for all things of questionable quality, origin, or reputation. Football used the adjective in the yards of lower amateur categories in cities and towns of Mexico, referring to players whom without being part of the team roster, would take the field in order to complete the team and thus avoid losing the game due to lack of players. This implicated deceiving the referee, as players used other player's identity, creating a "cachirul". As time passed, and especially after the 1988 scandal, the term cachirul in Mexico has become almost exclusively a footballing term.