Even the most liberal of media have not connected the
recent deadly riots at a football match in Egypt to football, though one article in the NYT did mention that the home team fans had held up a sign questioning the "manhood" of their opponents, who then defeated them yet started a riot nonetheless.
And that suggests that homophobia is alive and well in soccer, especially in countries that are immune to the movement to reduce bullying and racism (from cowards hiding in the anonymity of the upper bleachers or a rioting crowd) in the sport.
Athletes and their fans have myriad ways to threaten anyone who accuses them of homophobia or homoeroticism - the two often being conflated in the mind of the homophobe - and writers who often come from that culture are averse to speak or write plainly against it, for fear of exclusion from the rich fumes of good stories that arise from the locker room along with the smell of sweatty athletic male hormones.
Until we see people who are key in the sport take a firm public stand against this sort of thing, nothing will happen.
Unfortunately those are the same people making the most money from these crazed hooligans.
So who could be the first to stand up to them and say "Enough is enough"? Perhaps a major sport team owner.