Sport in Mexico

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The most popular sport in Mexico currently is

remains strong in Mexico.

History of sport in Mexico

Mesoamerican ball game

Further information:

Mesoamerican ball game

The

The winner was sacrificed.

In their Post-Classical Era (1000–1697 CE), the Maya began placing vertical stone rings on each side of the court, with the object of passing the ball through one. Several of these were placed quite high, as at Chichen Itza, where they stand 6 meters from the ground. Players would strike the ball with their hips or forearms, or employed rackets, bats, or hand-stones.^[5]

The ball was made of rubber and weighed up to 4 kg or more, with sizes that differed greatly over time or according to the version played. Games took place between two individuals and between two teams of players. The ballgame played out within a large masonry structure which contained a long narrow playing alley flanked by walls with both horizontal and sloping (or, more rarely, vertical) surfaces. The walls were often plastered and brightly painted.^[5] A version of the game called Ulama is still played in the Mexican state of Sinaloa.

Pelota purépecha has the Purépecha language, and is an Indigenous Mexican sport. A common variant, distinguished as pasárutakua in Purépecha, uses a ball which has been set on fire and can be played at night.^[6][7] It has a league,^[8] several practicing communities^[6] and about 800 players across Mexico as of 2010.^[9] It is one of 150 pre-Hispanic Mexican games at risk of dying out along with Ulama.^[9]

Bullfighting

Typically, a bullfight in Mexico includes a variety of rodeo events known as

dances. Thousands of bullfighting events occur in Mexico. In certain areas of the country, bullfighting generates a large amount of revenue from the local population, as well as visiting tourists.

As evidence of the popularity of the sport, the largest

Charrería

.

The Federación Mexicana de Charrería (Mexican Federation of Charreria) organizes charrería events.

Cockfight

International Games Competitions

Olympic Games

Mexico City hosted the

, Brazil.

Mexico first participated at the Olympic Games in 1900 and has sent athletes to compete in every Summer Olympic Games since 1924. Mexico has also participated in several Winter Olympic Games since 1928. Mexico has performed best in athletics, boxing, equestrian, diving, and Swimming events, and more recently taekwondo and football.

on 12 October 1968.

In diving, Mexico is the best Latin American representative with a long tradition of diving founded by Joaquín Capilla, a Mexican diver who won the largest number of Olympic medals among Mexican athletes. Many others who have excelled in World Championships and Olympics are Carlos Girón, Fernando Platas and Paola Espinosa who is the first Latina woman to become world champion. Soraya Jiménez became the first ever female athlete from Mexico to win an Olympic gold medal in 2000.^[16]

At the 2012 Summer Olympics, Mexico finished in thirty-ninth place; the Mexico team brought home seven medals, including their first gold medal won in football, and the rest of the medals in archery, diving, and taekwondo.

.

Pan American Games

The Pan American Games competition is held among athletes from nations of the Americas, every four years in the year before the Summer Olympic Games. Mexico ranks sixth in the top ten nations all time at the Pan American Games (minus medals won at the Winter Pan American Games). Mexico and Canada have hosted three Pan American Games each, more than any other nation. Among cities, only Winnipeg and Mexico City have played host to the Pan American Games more than once, each holding that honor twice.

Similar to the Olympic flame, the Pan American Games flame is lit well before the Games are to commence. The flame was lit for the first games in Olympia, Greece. For subsequent games, the torch has been lit by

.

Central American and Caribbean Games

The Central American and Caribbean Games is a multi-sport regional championship event, held quadrennially (once every four years), typically in the middle (even) year between Summer Olympics. The Games are for countries in Central America, the Caribbean, Mexico, and the South American Caribbean countries of Colombia, Guyana, Suriname, and Venezuela. They are designed to provide a step between sub-CACG-region Games held the first year following a Summer Olympics (e.g. Central American Games) and the Continental Championships, the Pan American Games, held the year before the Summer Olympics. The CACGs are the oldest continuing regional games in the world.^[17] As of 2014, Mexico has hosted the CACG games four times, three in Mexico City and one in Veracruz. Mexico is also one of the three countries present at the first games and the first organizer of the Games. Mexico is the only country that has attended all editions, without a single absence and has the most medals and second most gold medals as of 2019.

Team sports

Association football

Azteca Stadium

, the sixth largest stadium in the world

Mexico's most popular team sport is association football. Football is widely followed and practiced all over the country and it is considered the most popular sport in most states. It is believed that football was introduced in Mexico by English

.

Mexico has hosted two World Cup tournaments (

.

The 1986 FIFA World Cup in Mexico was broadcast to a global audience, and the wave or the Mexican wave was popularized worldwide after featuring during the tournament.^[18][19][20]

Men's national team

The Mexico national football team (Spanish: Selección de fútbol de México) represents Mexico in association football and is governed by the Mexican Football Federation (FMF, from the native name of Federación Mexicana de Fútbol Asociación), the governing body for football in Mexico. Mexico's home stadium is the Estadio Azteca and their head coach is Jaime Lozano. The team is currently ranked 20th in the World Football Elo Ratings.

Mexico has qualified for seventeen FIFA World Cup tournaments and is among six countries to have qualified consecutively since 1994. Mexico played France at the first World Cup on 13 July 1930. Mexico's best progression was reaching the quarter-finals in the 1970 and 1986 World Cups, both of which were staged on Mexican soil, and will host once again in 2026 sharing with Canada and United States.

Mexico won the

and others.

Mexico is historically the most successful national team in the CONCACAF region, holding twelve CONCACAF championships, including nine CONCACAF Gold Cups, one North American Nations Cup and three NAFC Championships. Mexico is the only team from CONCACAF to have won an official FIFA competition, the 1999 FIFA Confederations Cup. Although Mexico is under the jurisdiction of CONCACAF, the national football team has been regularly invited to compete in the Copa América since 1993 finishing as runner-up twice and obtaining the third place medal on three occasions.

Men's Professional leagues

2010 Finals of the Copa Libertadores, and hosted the 2011 Pan American Games opening and closing

ceremonies.

The first Mexican club, C.F. Pachuca, survives. Since 1996, the country has played two split seasons instead of a traditional long season. There are two separate playoff and league divisions. This system is common throughout Latin America. After many years of calling the regular seasons as "Verano" (Summer) and "Invierno" (Winter); the top-level Liga MX, formerly the Primera División, has changed the names of the competition, and has opted for a traditional name of "Apertura" (opening) and "Clausura" (closing) events. The Apertura division begins in the middle of Mexico's summer and ends before the official start of winter. The Clausura division begins during the New Year, and concludes in the spring season.

Mexican football is divided into four divisions, beginning with Liga MX and followed by

. The bottom two leagues translate literally as "Second Division" and "Third Division"; their names reflect their former positions in the league hierarchy before the Segunda División was split into two leagues, with the league now known as Ascenso MX becoming the new second level.

The teams are promoted and relegated by the FMF based on percentage calculations. Relegation is a common practice in Mexican football. There is a club exchange of each tier with the adjacent tiers so that a division's least successful team is relegated (transferred) to the next lower tier and the most successful club of the lower tier is promoted to the tier above. By the placement of each, the top tier cannot promote and the bottom tier cannot relegate.

The relegation system does not punish clubs for producing a single poor season. Mexican clubs are assessed on their previous five campaigns. Points are accumulated for five seasons, and are divided by the number of matches played. The club with the lowest percentage in the Apertura is relegated to a lower division. Each team must earn their promotions.

Since 1943, Mexico's five most successful clubs in

.

Men players

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2010 World Cup. Here Cuauhtémoc Blanco

scores a penalty.

player in the history of Mexico national team with 178 caps. As of 2006, it was estimated that Mexico has over 324,000 registered players and 8,155,000 unregistered players.

Women's football in Mexico

Maribel Dominguez

was captain and leading scorer of the Mexico women's national football team.

The Mexico women's national football team boasts one silver (1971) and one bronze (1970) in the Women's World Cup, though these accomplishments are not officially recognized, as they took place prior to FIFA's recognition of the women's game.

Mexico stopped allocating players to the NWSL management of the United States, having established its own women's league the Liga MX Femenil in 2017, and the numbers of allocated players and international players on each team vary each year due to trades. Maribel Domínguez was a noted captain and leading scorer of the Mexico women's national football team.^[22][23][24] She is known internationally as "Marigol" for her record of 46 goals scored in 49 matches for the Mexico women's national team.^[25]

Variants of association football

of association football which was invented in Brazil. It is played on beaches, and emphasizes skill, agility and goal scoring. The FIFA Beach Football World Cup has been held annually since 2005. Mexico finished as runners up to Brazil in its first appearance at the 2007 Beach Football World Cup.

Recently indoor association football has become a popular sport in Mexico, being included as part of the

(University National Games) and the "CONADEIP" (Private School Tournament), which match University school teams from all over Mexico. In Mexico, "indoor" football fields are commonly built outdoors, and the sport is known as "fútbol rápido" (fast football).

The Mexican team

.

Baseball

Sultanes Monterrey

.

Baseball has been practiced throughout all Mexico across time. It has been traditionally known as the most popular sport in some regions of Mexico, mainly in Sonora and Sinaloa, and arguably in Campeche, Yucatán, Durango, Chihuahua, Nayarit and Tabasco, where it rivals football in popularity. Other states where baseball has had a strong traditional legacy include Baja California, Oaxaca, Coahuila, Veracruz, Puebla, Nuevo León, Tamaulipas, Quintana Roo and Mexico City. Despite historically lagging third in popularity behind football and boxing, Mexico has had relative success in the sport, probably just behind boxing and comparable to the success obtained in football.

Although there is some dispute about exactly when and where baseball started in Mexico, baseball has a long and colorful history in Mexico, particularly in the north, with historians placing its origin there as early as the 1840s. Today, baseball flourishes in Mexico, where it is played professionally in both summer and winter.

Over 100 Mexicans have played in the major leagues in the United States, including Cy Young Award winner Fernando Valenzuela, top 300 home run hitter Vinny Castilla, Gold Glove Award winner Aurelio Rodríguez, and AL batting champion Bobby Ávila. The first Mexican to play in Major League Baseball in the United States was Mel Almada, who participated with the Boston Red Sox in 1933. Most recently Benji Gil, Esteban Loaiza, Julio Urías, José Urquidy, and Cuban defector, now a Cuban-Mexican Randy Arozarena.

The

, Paige and Bell joined the Mexican League.

In the 1940s, multi-millionaire Jorge Pasquel attempted to turn the Mexican League into a first-rate rival to the major leagues in the United States.^[26] In 1946, Pasquel traveled north of the border to pursue the top players in the Negro and major leagues. Pasquel signed up close to twenty major leaguers, including such well known names as Mickey Owen and Sal Maglie, and a number of Negro league players. Ultimately, Pasquel's dream faded, as financial realities led to decreased salaries and his high-priced foreign stars returned home.

Currently, 16 teams divided into North and South Divisions play in the

, though no team has an affiliation with any team in the United States.

Mexican Baseball League team Mariachis de Guadalajara

. The stadium hosted Pool D of the first round of the 2017 World Baseball Classic.

In the winter, 10 teams play in the Mexican Pacific League ("Liga Mexicana del Pacífico" or "LMP"), whose winner advances to the Caribbean Series against other Latin American champions. Although the Mexican League has a longer history, the Mexican Pacific League is the premier baseball league in Mexico today. It is played during the Major League Baseball (MLB) off-season, so many MLB players also compete in the LMP.

The Mexican Professional Baseball Hall of Fame has inducted 167 players, consisting of 138 Mexicans, 16 Cubans, 12 from the United States, and one Puerto Rican.^[27][28] Distinguished players include MLB stars Roy Campanella and Monte Irvin, who played in the Mexican League in the 1940s. Nicknamed "El Bambino Mexicano", or the Mexican Babe Ruth, Héctor Espino was inducted in the Mexican Hall of Fame in 1988, after playing with San Luis Potosí, and Tampico from 1962 to 1984. His 453 home runs remained the record until Nelson Barrera surpassed him in 2001. Espino still holds the all-time records in many offensive categories.

The Mexico national baseball team represents Mexico in international tournaments, most notably the World Baseball Classic. In the Bronze Medal Game of the Premier12 tournament in Tokyo, Mexico defeated USA, 3–2, in 10 innings to earn a spot in the 2020 Olympic Games. At the 2023 World Baseball Classic Mexico placed third in the tournament after losing to Japan.

The country's softball team, finished fourth with a 3–2 loss to Canada in the bronze-medal game at The Tokyo Olympics. The games were Mexico's first foray into Olympic softball.

Basketball

Men's basketball

NBA retired professional basketball player and currently a scout with the Dallas Mavericks

Basketball is the third most popular team sport in Mexico. Mexico has a few professional basketball leagues, the top professional league is the

competition, with professional basketball players from Mexico and U.S. universities. This regional league have a stake in the rest months of the LNBP.

Manuel Raga is the first and only Mexican inducted in the FIBA Hall of Fame. In 1996 Horacio Llamas made history by becoming the first Mexican to participate in an NBA game. Since then, several Mexicans followed, including Eduardo Nájera, Earl Watson, Gustavo Ayón and Jorge Gutiérrez; also, Manuel Raga and Gustavo Ayón had notable triumphs in the European Basket, as the only Mexican champions in the EuroLeague.

The best results of the

Gimnasio Nuevo León Independiente one of the most modern multipurpose venue located in the city of Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico. It was inaugurated on October 7, 2013, and is home to Fuerza Regia de Monterrey.

In December 2019, commissioner

.

Women's basketball

.

Mexico has two main leagues to support women's basketball

• LNBPF (Liga Nacional de Baloncesto Profesional Femenil): Founded in April 2022 out of the men's organisation the LNBP. In its inaugural season it had eight teams spread across two zones:[31]^[32]

LNBPF initial clubs

Zone North	Zone South
Abejas de León Femenil	Fuerza Regia de Monterrey
Astros de Jalisco Femenil	Plateras de Fresnillo
Panteras de Aguascalientes Femenil	Halcones de Xalapa Femenil
Libertadores de Querétaro	Las Adelitas de Chihuahua

• LMBPF (Liga Mexicana de Baloncesto Profesional Femenil) was founded in 2014 out of a dispute within the LMPB surrounding a previous attempt to set up a women's league entitled the "Liga Nacional de Baloncesto Profesional Femenil". The league was formed with ten original teams who had been members of the 2014 version of the LNBPF: Mieleras de Guanajuato, Lobas de Aguascalientes, Mexcaltecas de Nayarit, Tapatias de Jalisco, Rieleras de Aguascalientes, Gamos de la Universidad Marista, Quetzales Sajoma, Nueceras from the State of Mexico, Leonas Cenhies and Bengalis. It operates, in 2022, with two conferences of seven teams each:^[33][34]

Conferencia Nacional	Conferencia Mexicana
Barreteras	Algodoneras
Escaramuzas	Atléticas
Mexcaltecas	Leñadoras
Mieleras	Lobas
Phoenix	Racers
Plebes	Regias
Quetzales	Temporacas

American football

National Anthem of Mexico being played by the Mexican Team

before a match

of Querétaro).

Estadio Azul

Monterrey Tech

during a game in Mexico

Before this professional league was founded, the maximum competition of American football in Mexico was at the college level. American football has been played in Mexico since the early 1920s in different colleges and universities, mainly in Mexico City. In 1928 the first college championship was played, organized by Jorge Braniff. Over successive decades, more universities and colleges joined the championship, and four categories, called "Fuerzas", were created. The First Fuerza became the

and additional private universities.

The Aztec Bowl is an NCAA sanctioned college division post-season bowl in which American Division III college All-stars face off against a team of Mexican all-stars.

The

, which has been held every four years since 1999. Mexico participated in 1999 and 2003, finishing second in both competitions.

program.

Mexico's Estadio Azteca is also notable as being the venue of the NFL-game with the all-time record attendance of 103,467 on October 2, 2005. Mexico defeated the United States in the Women's gold-medal game at the Women's tournament in

.

Rugby in Mexico has a long tradition dating back to the early 1900s when Europeans were migrating to Mexico. Though rugby has been a minor sport in Mexico, the Mexican Rugby Federation was established, and the sport has been steadily increasing in popularity, with around twelve teams competing in the top league. The Mexican national rugby sevens team have achieved some good results in international tournaments, including taking third place at the 2015 NACRA Sevens.

Ice hockey

Pelota purépecha (Spanish for "Purépecha ball"), called Uárukua Ch'anakua (literally "a game with sticks") in the Purépecha language, is an Indigenous Mexican sport similar to those in the Hockey family. Although not a mainstream sport in Mexico, ice hockey is played in larger cities like Monterrey, Guadalajara, Villahermosa, Culiacán, León and Mexico City.

The Mexican Elite League is the top level of ice hockey in Mexico. The

, was inaugurated on 2 October 2010 with the aim to establish Mexico as a high-level international competitor in ice hockey. Currently it has 4 professional teams and 17 associated equipment.

The "Federación Deportiva de Mexico de Hockey Sobre Hielo" (Mexico National Ice Hockey Federation) regulates all tournaments in Mexico. The Mexican hockey league includes 7 federation clubs and 8 independent clubs.^[40] Mexico is also the only Latin American full member of the International Ice Hockey Federation and competes in international tournaments.^[41] Claudia Téllez, at 32 became the first Mexican national to sign for the Canadian Women's Hockey League and Jorge Perez, became the first Mexican-born player at the Junior A level in Canada for Rayside-Balfour.

Although

Guadalajara born Xavier A. Gutierrez serves as the CEO and President of the Arizona Coyotes, and is the first Latino team President & CEO in NHL history.^[43] Notable former NHL players of Mexican descent include former Montreal Canadiens forward Scott Gomez and retired San Jose Sharks winger Raffi Torres.

In 2017 the Mexican women's ice hockey team won a gold in Iceland, in their six-team division of the women's world championship. It was the first gold-medal win for Mexico at a full International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) world championship event. The team formed in 2012. The team's win this past week in Akureyri, Iceland, which left it in 27th place in the women's championships, earned it a promotion from Group B to Group A in Division II for next year.^[44]

Polo

Memo Gracida

playing in Florida in 2005.
Photo by David Lominska.

Polo was first popularized by the Escandon-Barron family in the late nineteenth century. Three members of the Escandon-Barron family would win a bronze medal at the 1900 Olympics. The Mexican polo team also won an Olympic bronze medal in 1936, the last Olympic Games which featured polo.

Mexico hosted the World Polo Championship in 2008. The World Polo Championship has been held every three years by the Federation of International Polo since 1987. Mexico's best finishes have been second place in 1987, and third place in 1995 and 2008.

The best Mexican polo player is

, is a polo player of international renown as well and a member of the Polo Hall of Fame. The two have teamed together to win numerous tournaments worldwide.

Basque pelota

Basque pelota is the name for a variety of court sports played with a ball using one's hand, a racket, a wooden bat, or a basket propulsor, against a wall. Since 1952, the International Federation of Basque Pelota has organized the World Championships of Basque pelota every four years. Mexico hosted the world championships in 1982, 1998 and 2006. Mexico gave its best performance at the 2006 games when they led all nations with six gold medals.

Frontenis is a variation of the Basque pelota game, itself a derivation of real tennis. It was created in 1916 in Mexico, when the idea of merging tennis and the traditional Basque pilota emerged. It is played in one of the largest courts in racquet sports with a tennis racquet that contains an optional custom double string called "doble encordado" and a tiny frontenis ball.

Racquetball

Racquetball is a popular sport that is played in Mexico. The Racquetball World Championships were first held in 1981 and have been played every two years since 1984. San Luis Potosí hosted the championships in 1994 and 2000. Álvaro Beltrán was World Champion in 2000, and Mexican men have won the doubles titles four times: in 2000 (Luis Bustillos & Javier Moreno), 2002 (Polo Gutierrez & Gilberto Mejia), 2006 (Moreno & Beltran), and in 2012 (Moreno & Beltran).^[45] while the Mexican teams have finished among the top three in men's and top four in women's since 1986.^[46]

.

Racquetball will be included in the 2011 Pan American Games in Guadalajara.

Volleyball and Beach volleyball

The 1974

Individual sports

Boxing

See also:

Puerto Rican – Mexican boxing rivalry

Mexican sport is also known for its

Light Welterweight Champion by outpointing Johnny Jadick in 1933. Thirteen Olympic boxing medals have been won by Mexico.^[51]

Érik Morales, Juan Manuel Márquez, Rafael Márquez, Israel Vázquez and Juan Francisco Estrada

.

Mexico's biggest rival in the sport of boxing is Puerto Rico. There have been many classic match ups between the two such as

Corrales versus Castillo

.

Taekwondo

Dai Won Moon.^[52] With over 1.5 million taekwondo practitioners and 3,500 schools throughout the country, taekwondo is one of the most popular sports in the nation.^[52] Mexico has also been competitive on the international level in the sport of taekwondo. Over forty Mexican taekwondo practitioners have medaled at the World Taekwondo Championships.^[53]

Taekwondo made its official debut at the

2012 Olympics.^[54]

Mixed Martial Arts

Main article: Mixed martial arts in Mexico

Mixed martial arts has achieved popularity in the early 21st century. Many companies promote MMA cards, with the U.S.-based UFC the most dominant. Mexico is, along with Brazil, the only two Latin American countries to have world champions in the major MMA leagues, although the country retains the honor of being the first Spanish-speaking country to achieve such a feat. Brandon Moreno, from Tijuana, made history when he became the first Mexico-born champion in UFC history. Jessica Aguilar, a native of Veracruz, was the first Mexican-born champion in a major MMA promotion, winning the WSOF Strawweight title in 2014 (pre-dating the UFC in that division).

There have been many Champions in MMA who born in the U.S. but are of Mexican heritage, however, including some of the pioneers of the sport such as Frank "Shamrock" Juarez (UFC), Tito Ortiz (UFC), Gilbert Melendez (Strikeforce), Miguel Angel Torres (WEC), Zoila Frausto Gurgel (Bellator).

Tennis

Acapulco Open

, 2015.

The

International Series Gold event) and the WTA

Tour (Tier III).

Wimbledon double's championship in 1960 and 1963, and a doubles tennis Olympic gold medal in 1968

. Osuna was killed in a plane crash in 1969 at the age of 30. In 1969, the Intercollegiate Tennis College Association

NCAA instituted "The Rafael Osuna Sportsmanship Award" in his honor. Later that year, the Chapultepec Club, renamed its stadium "Rafael Osuna Stadium". He was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame

in 1979.

Los Cabos tennis tourneys. Plaza de Toros México become a tennis court and hosted, as Roger Federer faced Germany's Alexander Zverev

on November 23, 2019. A record tennis crowd of more than 42,000 watched, the attendance figure smashed an almost decade-old record of 35,681, set in 2010.

Auto racing

Main article: Formula One drivers from Mexico

The most notable Mexican professional

F1

driver at that time. They were both considered among the top drivers before their untimely deaths.

Pedro Rodríguez de la Vega

on BRM in 1968.

The

NASCAR Mexico Corona Series

.

More recently

1981 season, and Jo Ramírez worked for a number of F1 teams, most notably as team co-ordinator for McLaren

in the 1980s and 1990s.

The A1 Team Mexico is the Mexican team of A1 Grand Prix, the World Cup of Motorsport; Salvador Durán has earned two victories for the team.

Grand-Am. Memo Rojas and Luis Díaz

have also been successful in formula racing and sports car racing.

Carlos Contreras was the first Mexican-born driver racing full-time in any NASCAR national series. Daniel Suárez won the 2016 NASCAR Xfinity Series championship. Daniel Suarez becomes first Mexican-Born driver to win in NASCAR Cup Series.

Since 2004,

FIA World Rally Championship, held in the state of Guanajuato

, and over time it has become one of the most popular rounds of the championship.

Other auto racing events currently held in Mexico include the

vintage racing

events of the World.

Golf

Golf is a popular sport in Mexico.^[55] There are over 150 golf courses in the country. Lorena Ochoa, who was the number-one-ranked female golf player in the world before abruptly retiring in 2010, has helped increase the popularity of golf in the country. On 10 November 2018, Gaby López won her first LPGA Tour event at the Blue Bay LPGA and was the flag bearer for Mexico at the opening 2020 Summer Olympics.

In the early days of Mexican golf, there were not many Mexicans playing golf at these Mexican golf clubs. The introduction of golf came from Anglo-American business owners. These individuals used their power, influence, and money to develop the land. This in turn made it possible for these clubs to be erected, such an extravagant oasis in the middle of these cities. For example, the Monterey Club had connections in North American smelting, refining and mining companies. Furthermore, the Oro golf Club in contrast was controlled by London-based executives who held positions in El Oro Mining and Railways. The explosion of capitalist society as well as the extreme wealth being accrued by many around the world paved the way for enormous changes in infrastructure. In the early days of golf in Mexico, the MGA was composed of immigrants only. This means that the Metropolitan Golf Association of Mexico had no individuals of Mexican descent. Additionally, the modernity of golf was evidence of the vast possibilities that can be achieved by hard work. These new construction projects were palpable evidence that humans can sculpt the world around them into something new adding lakes, forests, and lush hills in the middle of an area that previously had a completely different complexion previous to this renovation. The Mexican Golf Association was originally started by Anglo-Americans although it is the Mexican Golf Association. In Mexico, they still refer to it in English rather than in Spanish which reflects the members who belonged. These men were all interested in the inherent battle with nature, risk-taking, calculation, and resilience in the face of defeat. These characteristics were all seen as applicable to these individuals' daily lives.^[56]

Professional golf tournaments held in Mexico includes, the

Mayakoba Golf Classic at Riviera Maya-Cancún, and the Mexican Open

.

Jockey

Victor Espinoza won the Triple Crown of thoroughbred racing in 2015 on American Pharoah. He began riding in his native Mexico and went on to compete at racetracks in California. The first Hispanic jockey to win the award. Other well known jockeys include Jose L. Espinoza and Mario Gutierrez.

Fencing

Pilar Roldán was the first Mexican woman to win an Olympic medal (a silver in the 1968 Olympic games in Mexico City) and was also part of the first father-daughter team (her father was the tennis player Ángel Roldán) in the Pan-American games in 1955.

Track and field

The 400-meter event became popular when Ana Guevara became world champion in 2003. Raúl González set the world record in the 50-kilometres racewalk twice in 1978 (3:45:52 and 3:41:20). As of October 2011, it was still the North American record.

runner, became known worldwide after having won the 2017 UltraTrail Cerro Rojo ultra-distance race of 50 kilometers, in a time of 07:20:00, and for having done it wearing huaraches and a long skirt, without sports footwear or equipment. Her story was depicted in a documentary film, Lorena, Light-Footed Woman, for Netflix.^[57][58]

Climbing

Elsa Ávila was the first Latin American woman to reach the summit of

Yosemite, the Rockies, the Alps, the Andes, the Himalayas, Patagonia and Baffin Island in the Arctic Circle

.

Skiing and figure skating

alpine skier representing Mexico to win an international ski race, winning in Super-G in January 2015.^{[59][60][61][62][63]}

Sports leagues in Mexico

Major sports leagues

The following table shows the professional sports leagues in Mexico and that have a national TV contract that pays rights fees.

League	Sport	Teams	National TV contract	Average Attendance	Total Annual Attendance	Ref
Liga MX	Association football	18	Claro, ESPN, Fox Sports, Televisa, TV Azteca	23,160	7,679,745	[64]
Mexican Pacific League (LMP)	Baseball	10	Sky Mexico	13,756	5,268,699	[64]
Mexican League (LMB)	Baseball	20	Claro, ESPN, Multimedios, Once, Televisa, TV Azteca	12,973	11,157,227	[64]
Liga Nacional de Baloncesto Profesional (LNBP)	Basketball	14	Multimedios, Once, Televisa, TVC Deportes	4,000	1,200,000	[64]
Liga de Expansión MX	Association football	15	Claro, ESPN, Fox Sports, Hi Sports, Televisa, TV Azteca, TVC Deportes	2,574	988,684	[64]
Liga MX Femenil	Association football	18	ESPN, Fox Sports, Televisa, TV Azteca, TVP	2,483	1,123,215	[64]
Circuito de Baloncesto de la Costa del Pacífico (CIBACOPA)	Basketball	10	AYM Sports, Megacable, Telemax, TVC Deportes, TVP	1,100	220,000	[64]
Liga de Fútbol Americano Profesional (LFA)	American football	9	AYM Sports, Claro, TVC Deportes			[64]

Association Football and Baseball teams by City/Metro Area

Association Football and Baseball are the two most popular team sports in Mexico. Liga MX is the most important and highest level league (Football). Mexico has two Baseball leagues (winter and summer) which, historically, have been comparable to Triple-A in the U.S.; Liga Mexicana del Pacífico (winter)^[citation needed] and Liga Mexicana de Beisbol (summer).^{[citation needed]} Liga de Expansión MX (formerly Ascenso MX) is Mexico's second division in Football. The following table shows the teams of these leagues and the cites/metro areas they're based in.

Key to colors and symbols

	Metro areas with 3 teams in league
	Metro areas with 2 teams in league
	Metro areas larger than 500,000 population without a team in these leagues

Region	Metro area	Population	Football Liga MX	Baseball LMP or LMB	Football (Div2) Expansión MX
Central South	Greater Mexico City	21,804,515	Club América Cruz Azul Pumas	Diablos Rojos (LMB)	Atlante F.C.
North East	Monterrey, Nuevo León	5,341,177	C.F. Monterrey Tigres UANL	Sultanes de Monterrey (both LMB and LMP)	Raya2
West	Guadalajara, Jalisco	5,268,642	Atlas F.C. C.D. Guadalajara	Charros de Jalisco (LMP) Mariachis de Guadalajara (LMB)	Leones Negros UdeG C.D. Tapatío
East	Puebla-Tlaxcala, Puebla/Tlaxcala	3,199,530	Club Puebla	Pericos de Puebla (LMB)
Central South	Toluca, State of Mexico	2,353,924	C.D. Toluca
North West	Tijuana, Baja California	2,157,853	Club Tijuana	Toros de Tijuana (LMB)
North East	León, Guanajuato	1,924,771	Club León	Bravos de León (LMB)
Central North	Querétaro, Querétaro	1,594,212	Querétaro F.C.
North West	Juárez, Chihuahua	1,512,450	F.C. Juárez
North West	La Laguna, Coahuila/Durango	1,434,283	Santos Laguna	Algodoneros (LMB)
South East	Mérida, Yucatán	1,316,088		Leones de Yucatán (LMB)	Venados F.C.
Central North	San Luis Potosí, San Luis Potosí	1,271,366	Atlético San Luis
Central North	Aguascalientes, Aguascalientes	1,140,916	Club Necaxa	Rieleros de Aguascalientes (LMB)
North West	Mexicali, Baja California	1,049,792		Águilas de Mexicali (LMP)
North East	Saltillo, Coahuila	1,031,779		Saraperos de Saltillo (LMB)
Central South	Cuernavaca, Morelos	1,028,589
North West	Culiacán, Sinaloa	1,003,530		Tomateros de Culiacán (LMP)	Dorados de Sinaloa
West	Morelia, Michoacán	988,704			Atlético Morelia
North West	Chihuahua, Chihuahua (state)	988,065
East	Veracruz, Veracruz	939,046		El Águila de Veracruz (LMB)
North West	Hermosillo, Sonora	936,263		Naranjeros de Hermosillo (LMP)	Cimarrones de Sonora
South East	Cancún, Quintana Roo	934,189		Tigres de Quintana Roo (LMB)	Cancún F.C.
East	Tampico, Tamaulipas/Veracruz	927,379
South West	Acapulco, Guerrero	852,622
South West	Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas	848,274
North East	Reynosa, Tamaulipas	837,251
South East	Villahermosa, Tabasco	833,907		Olmecas de Tabasco (LMB)	Pumas Tabasco
East	Xalapa, Veracruz	789,157
Central North	Celaya, Guanajuato	767,104			Celaya F.C.
South West	Oaxaca, Oaxaca	713,925		Guerreros de Oaxaca (LMB)	Alebrijes de Oaxaca
North West	Durango, Durango	688,697		Generales de Durango (LMB)	Alacranes de Durango
East	Pachuca, Hidalgo	665,929	C.F. Pachuca
Central North	Irapuato, Guanajuato	592,953 [65]
East	Tlaxcala–Apizaco, Tlaxcala	570,308			Tlaxcala F.C.
North West	Ensenada, Baja California	561,375 [66]
North East	Matamoros, Tamaulipas	541,979
East	Poza Rica, Veracruz	521,530
North West	Mazatlán, Sinaloa	501,441	Mazatlán F.C.	Venados de Mazatlán (LMP)
North West	Ahome (Los Mochis), Sinaloa	459,310		Cañeros de Los Mochis (LMP)
North West	Cajeme (Ciudad Obregón), Sonora	436,484		Yaquis de Obregón (LMP)
North East	Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas	425,058		Tecolotes de los Dos Laredos (LMB)
Central North	Zacatecas-Guadalupe, Zacatecas	405,285			Mineros de Zacatecas
North East	Monclova-Frontera, Coahuila	374,247		Acereros de Monclova (LMB)
North East	Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas	349,688			Correcaminos UAT
South East	Campeche, Campeche	294,077		Piratas de Campeche (LMB)
North West	La Paz, Baja California Sur	292,241			Club Atlético La Paz (2023) [67]
North West	Guasave, Sinaloa	289,370		Algodoneros de Guasave (LMP)
North West	Navojoa, Sonora	164,387		Mayos de Navojoa (LMP)
West	Tepatitlán, Morelos	150,190			Tepatitlán F.C.

Other team sports leagues

• Américas Kings League (AKL)
• Circuito de Baloncesto del Pacífico (CIBAPAC)
• International Football Alliance (IFA)
• Liga del Norte de Coahuila (LNC)
• Liga de Balompié Mexicano (LBM)
• Liga de Básquetbol Estatal de Chihuahua (LBE)
• Liga Estatal de Béisbol de Chihuahua (LEB)
• Liga Invernal Mexicana (LIM)
• Liga Mayor de Béisbol de La Laguna (LMBL)
• Liga Meridana de Invierno (LMI)
• Liga Mexicana de Baloncesto Profesional Femenil (LMBPF)
• Liga Mexicana de Voleibol Femenil (LMVF)
• Liga Mexicana de Voleibol Varonil (LMVV)
• Liga MXA Independiente
• Liga Nacional de Baloncesto Profesional Femenil (LNBPF)
• Liga Norte de Coahuila (LNC)
• Liga Norte de México (LNM)
• Liga Peninsular de Béisbol (LPB)
• Liga Premier de México
• Liga TDP
• Major Arena Soccer League (MASL)
• Major Arena Soccer League 2 (M2, MASL2)
• Mexican Major Rugby League
• Mexican Roller Hockey National League
• Mexican Softball League (LMS)^[68]
• NBA G League (G League)
• National Student Organization of American Football (ONEFA)
• National Student Sports Commission of Private Institutions (CONADEIP)

Other individual sports leagues

• Cuernos Chuecos (CCH)
• Federación Mexicana de Charrería (FMCH)
• Federación Mexicana de Rodeo (FMR)
• NASCAR Mexico Series

International sporting events hosted by Mexico

Prince Hubertus of Hohenlohe-Langenburg

• 1968 Summer Olympics
• 1926 Central American and Caribbean Games
• 1954 Central American and Caribbean Games
• 1990 Central American and Caribbean Games
• 2014 Central American and Caribbean Games
• 1955 Pan American Games
• 1975 Pan American Games
• 2011 Pan American Games
• 1969 World Judo Championships
• 1970 FIFA World Cup
• 1986 FIFA World Cup
• 1983 FIFA World Youth Championship
• 2011 FIFA U-17 World Cup
• 1999 FIFA Confederations Cup
• 2012 FIFRA Club Championship
• 1974 FIVB Men's Volleyball World Championship
• 1974 FIVB Women's Volleyball World Championship
• 1979 Summer Universiade
• 1993 CONCACAF Gold Cup
• 2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup
• 2007–2008 FIBA Americas League
• 2008–2009 FIBA Americas League
• 2007 World Chess Championship
• 2008 World Polo Championship
• Pool B
  )
• 2013 World Taekwondo Championships
• 2014 World Cup Taekwondo Team Championships
• 2015 World Cup Taekwondo Team Championships
• 2026 FIFA World Cup with Canada and United States

Italic text indicates upcoming events hosted by Mexico.

Sports entertainment

Lucha libre (wrestling)

Blue Demon Jr

Mexican

Rayo de Jalisco, and Huracán Ramírez

.

In 2019, Alberto Del Rio and fellow professional wrestler Chavo Guerrero Jr. created their own promotion, Nación Lucha Libre. The promotion aired its first show on a television channel.^[70]

Recently, Mexican wrestlers had more participation in foreign wrestling companies like WWE, AEW, TNA, ROH, NWA and NJPW; these wrestlers are Blue Demon Jr, Alberto Del Rio, Rush, Bandido, Penta 0M, Rey Fenix, Thunder Rosa, Andrade El Idolo, Dralístico, Dragon Lee, Laredo Kid, Flamita, Metalik, Komander, Humberto Carrillo, Angel Garza, Santos Escobar, etc.

See also

• Prince Hubertus of Hohenlohe-Langenburg
• Gilberto Hernández Guerrero
• Manuel León Hoyos
• Mexico–Puerto Rico boxing rivalry
• Mexico–United States soccer rivalry
• Siquitibum
• Sports marketing in Mexico
• List of Mexican records in swimming

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Further reading

• Arbena, Joseph L., ed. Sport and Society in Latin America: Diffusionism, Dependency, and the Rise of Mass Culture. New York: Greenwood Press 1988.
• Klein, Alan M. "Baseball Wars: The Mexican Baseball League and Nationalism in 1946." Studies in Latin American Popular Culture 14 (1994)

External links

• Complete list of Mexico sports federations
• Federación Mexicana de Raquetbol – Women's Mexican Racquetball Federation
• "Teqball excites in Mexico as part of Hungarian Culture Festival",
  FITEQ
  (October 19, 2022)