In September 2021, Mexico’s competition authority, COFECE, fined 17 clubs of the first soccer division, the Liga MX, the Mexican Football Federation and eight individuals a total of 177.6 million pesos.
One of the practices it punished was a “derecho de retención” (right of retention), “mejor conocido como ‘pacto de caballeros'” (better known as the gentlemen’s agreement), according to Expansión. It kept players from negotiating freely with new teams. (Video in Spanish.)
The other practice was a salary cap for players in the women’s league. The league and the federation said the pact had ended in 2018.
The Diccionario del español de México defines an acuerdo de caballeros as a “convenio o pacto cuyo cumplimiento queda atenido a la buena fe de quienes lo hicieron” (an agreement or pact whose fulfillment depends on the good faith of those who made it).