Stephen Deleonardis met the Mexico players on Monday
Stephen Deleonardis met the Mexico players on Monday
Mexico have been forced to return luxury watches gifted to them by content creator Stevewilldoit.
The American YouTuber, whose real name is Stephen Deleonardis, says he spent $1m (£747,000) on Rolex watches for every Mexico player and member of staff.
The World Cup co-hosts play England at Mexico City’s Azteca Stadium on Sunday evening local time (01:00 BST, Monday).
Deleonardis presented them to the squad, external when he met them on Monday, the day before the World Cup co-hosts beat Ecuador in the last 32.
However, Fifa’s Code of Ethics, external has restrictions on offering and accepting gifts, with article 21 stating that such gifts can only be offered or accepted if they “have symbolic or trivial value”.
According to a post on the team’s X account, external the Mexico players decided to return the watches “by mutual agreement” and that Stevewilldoit had gifted them “on his own initiative”.
They are hoping to reach the quarter-finals for the first time since hosting the World Cup in 1986.
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