Mexico return viral Rolex gifts to avoid FIFA ethics breach before England clash

Mexico’s players have returned a set of Rolex watches gifted to them by American content creator SteveWillDoIt, with the Mexican Football Association confirming the move was necessary to avoid breaching FIFA’s Code of Ethics ahead of their World Cup round-of-16 match against England at the Azteca Stadium.

Stephen Rocco Deleonardis — known online as SteveWillDoIt — handed out the expensive timepieces after Mexico’s 2-0 victory over Ecuador in the round of 32, a result that earned him $1.2 million (£900,000) after he had placed a $2 million bet on El Tri to win. The gesture spread rapidly across social media, but the goodwill act ran into a significant regulatory obstacle: Article 20 of the FIFA Code of Ethics, which places strict restrictions on the acceptance of gifts by players, officials, and other individuals connected to the game.

In a statement posted on X, a spokesperson for the national team confirmed the resolution: “By mutual agreement, our players decided to return to the content creator the watches that he had gifted them on his own initiative.”

Mexico manager Javier Aguirre, who also received and subsequently returned a watch from Deleonardis, was among those affected. The episode adds to a turbulent 36-hour period for both Mexico and England, who were left blindsided by reports that FIFA intended to move the kick-off time of their last-16 fixture forward by seven hours — a change that was apparently made without consulting either national association.

Aguirre was vocal in his frustration over the scheduling disruption, telling Radio Formula: “It’s like a kick in the gut, it changes everything, the plan. It’s not that it’s completely ruined, but almost, because you have to swallow six hours of scheduled training. Obviously, we will abide by what FIFA says. I don’t like it at all, nor do my players.”

The Mexico head coach stressed the logistical knock-on effects for his backroom staff. “Today, 60 people are working here so that these 26 friends can go out on Sunday and win the game,” he said. “The change is quite important and I’ll tell you this — they didn’t consult me and yes, I’m quite angry.”

Mexico and England are scheduled to kick off at 1am BST, 8pm local time, at the Azteca Stadium.