Fox Sports Mexico
Niki Wienberg
The most popular sport in Mexico currently is association football followed by boxing.[1][2] However, there are regional variations: for example, baseball is the most popular sport in the northwest and the southeast of the country. Charrera (Mexican rodeo) is the national sport of Mexico. American rodeo is also popular in Mexico, but primarily in the northern half of the country. Basketball, American football and bull riding are also popular. Other sports followed by Mexicans are ice hockey, mixed martial arts, motorsports, taekwondo, and cycling. The tradition of bullfighting remains strong in Mexico.
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 purpecha has the Purpecha language, and is an Indigenous Mexican sport. A common variant, distinguished as pasrutakua in Purpecha, 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]
Typically, a bullfight in Mexico includes a variety of rodeo events known as charreadas, and traditional folkloric 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 bullring in the world is the Plaza Mexico, located in Mexico City. The Plaza Mxico has been host to many of the world's best and most famous bullfighters. The anniversary of the 1946 opening of Plaza Mexico is celebrated annually with a special bullfight called the "Corrida de Aniversario".[10][11][12][13]
Charrera is the national sport of Mexico, it dates back to the 16th century and consists of a series of Mexico-developed equestrian events. The most notable event is the charreada, a style of rodeo developed in Mexico in the interest of maintaining the traditions of the charro. A charro is a term referring to a traditional horseman or a cowboy of Mexico, originating in the state of Jalisco. The national horse of Mexico, used in Charreria, is the Azteca.
Cockfighting is not banned in Mexico, and practiced in the Mexican states of Michoacn, Aguascalientes, Jalisco, Sinaloa, and Veracruz, mostly during regional fairs and other celebrations. Cockfights are performed in palenques (pits).[14] Cockfighting remains legal in the municipality of Ixmiquilpan and throughout Mexico.[15]
Mexico City hosted the 1968 Summer Olympics, the first time that the event was held in Latin America. Since then, the only edition of the Olympic Games held in the region was in 2016, in Rio de Janeiro, 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.
In diving, Mexico is the best Latin American representative with a long tradition of diving founded by Joaqun 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 Girn, Fernando Platas and Paola Espinosa who is the first Latina woman to become world champion. Soraya Jimnez 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.
Donovan Carrillo is the first Mexican figure skater to compete at the Olympics in 30 years in 2022, and after scoring a personal best in the short program became the first ever Mexican skater to advance to the free skate.
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 Aztec people in ancient temples, first in the Cerro de la Estrella and later at the Pyramid of the Sun at the Teotihuacan Pyramids. The only exception was for the So Paulo games in 1963, when the torch was lit in Braslia by the indigenous Guaran people. An Aztec then lights the torch of the first relay bearer, thus initiating the Pan American Games torch relay that will carry the flame to the host city's main stadium, where it plays an important role in the opening ceremony. The 2011 Pan American Games were the third Pan American Games hosted by Mexico (the first country to do so) and the first held in the state of Jalisco in the city of Guadalajara.
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.
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 Cornish miners at the end of the 19th century. By 1902 a five-team league emerged with a strong English influence. Football became a professional sport in 1943. The main football clubs are Amrica, Guadalajara, Tigres and UNAM, known collectively as the Big Four.
Mexico has hosted two World Cup tournaments (1970 and 1986). Many of the stadiums in use in the league have a World Cup history. Sites such as Estadio Jalisco in Guadalajara, and Estadio Azteca in Mexico City are renowned for their national and international history. The legendary Estadio Azteca, for example, is one of the only two stadiums in the world to have hosted two men's World Cup finals (the other being the Maracana) and is one of the highest capacity stadiums in the world. Mexican's biggest stadiums are Estadio Azteca, Estadio Jalisco, Estadio BBVA Bancomer, Estadio Olmpico Universitario and Estadio Cuauhtmoc.
The Mexico national football team (Spanish: Seleccin de ftbol de Mxico) represents Mexico in association football and is governed by the Mexican Football Federation (FMF, from the native name of Federacin Mexicana de Ftbol Asociacin), 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 1999 FIFA Confederations Cup and the gold medal at the London 2012 Olympics, finished twice as runners-up at the Copa Amrica, won the 2005 FIFA U-17 World Championship, and have reached the quarter-finals twice at the World Cup. Recently, some players from Mexico have moved on to European clubs, including Rafael Mrquez, Carlos Salcido, Ricardo Osorio, Pvel Pardo, Andrs Guardado, Guillermo Franco, Carlos Vela, Giovani dos Santos, Omar Bravo, Aaron Galindo, Hctor Moreno, Francisco Javier Rodrguez 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 Amrica since 1993 finishing as runner-up twice and obtaining the third place medal on three occasions.
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 Divisin, 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.