Mexico have been forced to return luxury watches gifted to them by content creator Stevewilldoit, real name Stephen Deleonardis, who said 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), but the match is now at serious risk of disruption by storms, with lightning, thunder and heavy rain forecast for the last-16 showdown.
Deleonardis presented the watches to the squad on Monday, the day before Mexico beat Ecuador in the last 32. However, Fifa's Code of Ethics 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, the Mexico players decided to return the watches "by mutual agreement" and that Stevewilldoit had gifted them "on his own initiative".
“Mexico return £747k Rolex gifts from YouTuber as storm threat looms over England World Cup clash.”
Mexico are hoping to reach the quarter-finals for the first time since hosting the World Cup in 1986. But first they must navigate both England and the elements at the iconic high-altitude fortress, where storms could delay or even disrupt the fixture.