World football governing body FIFA have announced sanctions for six Latin American countries following homophobic incidents at FIFA 2018 World Cup Qualifiers in October and November.

The Football Associations of Argentina, Mexico, Peru and Uruguay have been fined for individual incidents that have been described as "insulting and discriminatory" during the first qualifying rounds that traditionally start earlier in the Americas. The Chilean FA has been found guilty of four incidents of homophobia at different matches. Proceedings against Honduras are still ongoing.

Action was taken against all six Federations after match reports and additional evidence was sent to FIFA as a result of the monitoring system implemented by Fare in the region. The system includes the deployment of specially trained match observers at the qualifying matches of the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

A total of ten incidents of discrimination were reported during the period in CONCACAF and CONMEBOL.

Claudio Sulser, chairman of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee, said: "With the new comprehensive monitoring system for the FIFA World Cup qualifiers, the Disciplinary Committee has additional support thanks to the detailed reports provided by anti-discrimination match observers.

He went on “FIFA and the entire football community have to be proactive in educating and inspiring a message of equality and respect across all levels of the game.”

Argentina, Mexico, Peru and Uruguay were fined 20,000 Swiss Francs (18,260 Euros) for individual incidents, the Chile FA has been fined 70,000 Swiss Francs (63,925 Euros) for four cases at different matches.

The fines come a few weeks before the international Football vs Homophobia campaign kicks off with activities projected to take place in over 15 countries.