Mexico has confirmed that its players have returned a collection of Rolex watches given to them by content creator SteveWillDoIt. El Tri are currently preparing to face England in the Round of 16 of the World Cup.
But their preparations were thrown into disarray by the lavish gifts given to the Mexican players. SteveWillDoIt (real name Steven Rocco Derenardis) handed out the expensive watch after the 2-0 win over Ecuador in the Round of 32, pocketing $1.2 million (£900,000) after betting $2 million on victory.
This extravagant gesture quickly spread across social media platforms. However, this act of generosity violates Article 20 of the FIFA Code of Ethics, which imposes strict rules on the acceptance of gifts by players, officials and other officials.
As a result, the Mexican Football Federation revealed that the watch was subsequently returned to the content creator as the players became concerned about the violation of regulations.
“By mutual agreement, the players have decided to return to the content creator the watches that the content creator voluntarily gifted to them,” a national team spokesperson said in a post on Page X.
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This represents another setback for the Mexican squad, who have endured considerable turmoil over the past 36 hours with England. They were upset by reports suggesting FIFA intended to move the kick-off time for the Three Lions game forward by seven hours.
Mexican national team coach Javier Aguirre, who also took the watch from Derenardis and later returned it, was particularly furious at kickoff time. He was not alone in his displeasure, as the sudden change appeared to have been made without consulting either the FA or the Mexican Football Association.
Speaking publicly for the first time about the possibility of changing the kick-off time, Aguirre told Radio Formula: “That’s right. It’s like a punch in the gut, everything, the plan changes. It’s not completely ruined, but it’s almost ruined, because we have to swallow six hours of training that was scheduled.”
“Of course, we’re going to follow what FIFA says. I don’t like it at all and neither do the players. Of course, eating, napping, sleeping, physical therapy, everything, everything, it seems trivial, but it’s not.”
“The reason we have 60 people working here today is to make sure these 26 friends go out and win the game on Sunday. I mean, this is no small thing, the truth is this change is very important. So let me just say this: I understand the reasoning and the argument, but they didn’t consult me and I’m certainly pretty angry.”
England and Mexico are scheduled to start their match at the Azteca Stadium at the originally scheduled time of 1am UK time and 8pm local time, with the winner facing either Norway or Brazil in the quarter-finals.
