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Why fans intimidating rival teams is part of Latin American football culture
Fans outside Ecuador’s team hotel used loudspeakers in an attempt to disrupt sleep ahead of their World Cup clash, reflecting Latin America's tradition of psychological warfare
- PUBLISHED: Thu 2 Jul 2026, 2:04 AM UPDATED: Thu 2 Jul 2026, 12:32 PM
It was the battle before the war. Less than 17 hours before the round of 32 World Cup clash between co-host Mexico and Ecuador, home fans gathered outside the Ecuadorian team hotel to disturb the sleep of the opponents.
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In the viral videos, fans are seen using loudspeakers, horns and revving motorcycles from midnight to the early hours in an attempt to rob Ecuador’s football team of a peaceful night.
Miffed by the behaviour of the home supporters, the Ecuadorian Football Federation (FEF) filed a complaint with the organisers.
“Such conduct stands in stark contrast to the principles of fair play, equity, and unity that a World Cup should embody,” the federation said.
“The FEF respectfully calls upon the competent authorities to pay greater attention to these events and to adopt the necessary measures to safeguard the safety of our players, coaching staff, and fans.”
Ecuador went on to lose the match 2-0 to a superior Mexico team on the field, but the hotel incident added another chapter to the polarising culture of football in Latin America.
For several decades now, it has become a tradition for home supporters to stand outside the hotel of the rival team and chant before big matches both at the international level and club level.
In a moving tribute to the game on the Players’ Tribune, Angel Di Maria wrote how Brazilian fans did everything in their power to disturb him and his teammates one night before the final of the 2014 World Cup between Argentina and Germany in Rio de Janeiro.
Having suffered a catastrophic 7-1 defeat to Germany in the semifinal, the football-mad Brazil fell into a collective depression.
In that moment of national football crisis, the last thing Brazil fans wanted was to see bitter rivals Argentina winning the World Cup in Rio.
Hundreds of fans, in a desperate move, gathered outside the Argentina hotel at night, making noise and setting off fireworks to disturb the team.
“I had not slept much the night before. Part of the reason was that the Brazilian fans were setting off huge fireworks outside of our hotel all night long,” Di Maria wrote.
Argentina showed no signs of ill effects from the night as they put up a valiant fight against Germany, the best team of the tournament, before going down to a late goal in extra time from Mario Gotze.
But it was just another episode of the psychological football warfare in Latin America.
Airport incident
The most shocking fan incident took place in November, 2001.
Hundreds of Uruguay fans turned up at the international airport in Montevideo to intimidate the Australian team that had arrived in the Uruguayan capital for a make-or-break World Cup qualifying match.
The fans reportedly screamed in the faces of the players, some even spat on them, and one fan even threw a punch at one of the Australian stars.
Having lost the first leg of the inter-continental playoff 1-0 in Melbourne, the Uruguayan fans were on edge by the time the Australians arrived on their soil for the second leg.
The airport incident even sparked a diplomatic row between the two countries.
On the field, the fans turned up the heat again on the visiting team, with every touch from the Australians drawing a cacophony of jeers from the crowd.
Australia eventually succumbed to a 3-0 defeat in that hostile atmosphere at Estadio Centenario as Uruguay booked their place in the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan.
Remarkably, the first-ever World Cup final in 1930 was also hosted at Estadio Centenario between fierce rivals Uruguay and Argentina.
John Langenus, the Belgian referee, asked for protection from the authorities as he feared a defeat for the home team would lead to violent scenes in and around the stadium.
Fortunately for Langenus, the home team won the ill-tempered clash 4-2, becoming the first world champion in history.
But intimidation and psychological warfare have continued to haunt the purists, adding a layer of mystique to football in Latin America where rivalries sometimes turn violent.
Violence at Maracana
In November 2023, a fight broke out between Brazil and Argentina fans at the Maracana in Rio just before the start of the 2026 World Cup qualifying game featuring the two arch-rivals.
What made the situation worse was the local police targeting only the Argentinian fans, brutally hitting them with batons.
Lionel Messi and his Argentina teammates walked up the fence to appeal for calm, but seeing the police brutality, they walked off the field.
The match was delayed by half an hour. But once it resumed, tempers flared between players, with tackles flying from both sides.
A Nicolas Otamendi header in the 63rd minute earned victory for Argentina in the volatile encounter, which at times looked more like a wrestling match than a game of football.
Brazil ended up with 10 men after their midfielder Joelinton was sent off for a nasty tackle on Argentina's Rodrigo De Paul.
At the final whistle, Argentina players celebrated wildly in front of their own fans in the same stand where police had beaten many of those supporters before the start of the game.
To this day, it's not clear what sparked the violence in the stands.
But then in Latin America, it rarely takes much to ignite a fire.
'Futbol', as the sport is known in that part of the world, has a long history of intense rivalries, which are deeply rooted in culture and national pride.
Even a banter leads to violence in the stands, and a World Cup knockout game brings fans to the hotel of the rival team in the dead of the night to land a psychological blow.
Rituraj Borkakoty is Sports Editor and has spent more than two decades writing on his sporting heroes. He also loves an underdog story, so if you have one, share it with him. He would love to bring it to life.