A stone ring located 9 m (30 ft) above the floor of the Great Ballcourt, Chichen Itza
The Pre-Columbian people of Mesoamerica have played the Mesoamerican ball game for over 3,000 years. Archaeologists found the oldest ballcourt yet discovered – dated to approximately 1400 BC – at Paso de la Amada in Mexico.[3] The exact rules of the traditional ballgame remain unknown. Researchers believe that the sport probably resembled racquetball or volleyball, where the object is to keep the ball in play.[4] 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]
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 México 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]
Charrería
Charreada in progress with a charro attempting to catch a horse running.
Charrería 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.
Opening of the 1968 Summer Olympics at the Estadio Olímpico Universitario in Mexico City
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.
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.
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 torch being lit in Teotihuacan
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 São Paulo games in 1963, when the torch was lit in Brasília by the indigenous Guaraní 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 Cornishminers 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 América, Guadalajara, Tigres and UNAM, known collectively as the Big Four.
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]
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.
Javier Hernández is the highest goalscorer of all time for the Mexico national team.
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 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.
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.
Inside Estadio BBVA during a Clásico Regiomontano derby game.
Mexican football is divided into four divisions, beginning with Liga MX and followed by Ascenso MX, the Liga Premier, and Tercera División. 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 Mexican football league system matches have been América (13 championships), Chivas (12), Toluca (10), Cruz Azul (8) and Pumas (7).[21] America is the historical arch-nemesis of Chivas, so a match between the two is the Clásico Nacional derby that the entire country awaits. Another noted derby in Mexico is the Clásico Regiomontano between crosstown rival teams Monterrey and Tigres. Whereas the Clásico Nacional involves two teams from cities in different states the Clásico Regiomontano game involves two neighboring cities. Chivas are renowned for using only Mexican players in their squad. Consequently, they have long fed players to the Mexico national football team.
Hugo Sánchez widely regarded as the greatest Mexican footballer of all time, was named best CONCACAF player of the 20th century by IFFHS. No other Mexican footballer has scored as many goals in Europe as Hugo Sánchez. He is the fourth highest scorer in the history of La Liga, the third-highest scoring foreign player after Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. Carlos Vela described[by whom?] as a versatile player who can play as a forward, winger, and attacking midfielder, Vela is known[by whom?] for being a creative player and prolific scorer. Rafael Márquez the first Mexican to win the UEFA Champions League is considered by many the best defender in the country's football history. Márquez is Mexico's record World Cup player and one of only three players with appearances in five tournaments. Cuauhtémoc Blanco is the only Mexican football player to be presented with an award (The Silver Ball and Silver Shoe) in a major international FIFA competition (1999 FIFA Confederations Cup). He shares the record as the highest scorer of the tournament with Ronaldinho (nine goals in two editions). He has been awarded the MVP of the México Primera División League five times. Jorge Campos with the national team, appeared in three World Cups, two Confederation Cups, two Gold Cups and three Copas América. Horacio Casarín was sought out by defenders and fouled him mercilessly during a 1939 game between Casarin's Necaxa, and Asturias F.C., Necaxa fans were so angry that they burnt the Parque Asturias stadium. Horacio retired as the all-time Mexican scorer, with 256 goals to his count. Antonio Carbajal was the first player to appear in five World Cups and the only Mexican player that has received the FIFA Order of Merit. Claudio Suárez is the most capped 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
Beach football is a variant of the sport 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 Universiada (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).
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.
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 Mexican Baseball League in a summer season, which ends in a 7-game championship series between the winners of the two divisions. Since 1967, the league has been sanctioned as an AAA minor league, though no team has an affiliation with any team in the United States.
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 is the third most popular team sport in Mexico. Mexico has a few professional basketball leagues, the top professional league is the Liga Nacional de Baloncesto Profesional where the Halcones UV Xalapa are the most successful team of the league, having won the competition four times. The best teams of the LNBP advance to the FIBA Americas League. In the northwestern states is the CIBACOPA competition, with professional basketball players from Mexico and U.S. universities. This regional league have a stake in the rest months of the LNBP.
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.
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]
American football (gridiron) has been played in Mexico since the early 1920s, and is a strong minority sport at Mexican colleges and universities, mainly in Monterrey. American football is the fourth most popular team sport in Mexico. The maximum competition is the Liga de Fútbol Americano Profesional (LFA).[35] The Liga de Fútbol Americano Profesional was founded in 2016[36] with 4 initial teams (Raptors, Eagles, Condors and Mayas), all based in Mexico City. On February 21 it held the first game and the championship game was held on April 10, leaving the Mayas as champions and the Raptors as runners-up.[37] The LFA has since expanded to eight members as of 2019. There are plans to expand the league and increase the number of teams and the number of participating states. Funded in 2018, the Fútbol Americano de México (FAM) is considerad as a rival to the LFA given they compete for television spaces, players, coaches and in general for the same market segment. The team that became champion of the first season are the Pioneros de Querétaro (Pioneers of Querétaro).
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 National League in 1970. In 1978, this was reorganized under the name "Organización Nacional Estudiantil de Fútbol Americano" (ONEFA).[38] In 2010 a breakaway league, CONADEIP, was formed by the Monterrey Tech system, UDLAP 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.
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 Flag football at the 2022 World Games. Flag football made its international debut at the World Games 2022.
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.
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 Mexican Elite League, 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.
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 Carlos Gracida, who is also considered to be one of the best polo players in the sport. He has accumulated more tournament wins than any other athlete in the history of the sport, winning the Abierto Argentino de Palermo tournament five times, the British Open Gold Cup ten times, and the US Open nine times. Carlos' brother, Memo Gracida, 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
Players in a game of frontenis
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]
Paola Longoria was the #1 player on the Women's Professional Racquetball Organization tour at the end of its 2008–2009 season, becoming the first woman not from Canada or the US to do so. She also won gold at the 2009 and 2013 World Games, and again is the first non-American woman to do so. Additionally, in 2012, she became the first player to win both the singles and doubles Racquetball World Championship.
Canelo Álvarez is a multiple-time world champion in three weight classes.
Mexican sport is also known for its boxing tradition. Boxing is the most popular individual sport in Mexico. Mexico is also the second in total number of world champions produced, after the United States,[49] and has recently produced more World Champions in the last 30 years.[50] The first boxing champion Mexico produced was Battling Shaw when he became the Light Welterweight Champion by outpointing Johnny Jadick in 1933. Thirteen Olympic boxing medals have been won by Mexico.[51]
María Espinoza became the first Mexican woman to win medals at three Olympic Games.
Taekwondo was introduced to Mexico in 1969 by Korean MexicanDai 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 2000 Summer Olympics and Mexican athletes have medaled in the sport in every Olympics since then. Mexican athletes won a bronze medal in taekwondo at the 2000 Summer Olympics, a silver and bronze medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics, two gold medals at the 2008 Summer Olympics, a bronze medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics and a silver medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics. María Espinoza has medaled at the 2008, 2012 and 2016 Olympics. Mexico currently ranks fourth on the total medal count for taekwondo, its best performance for any Olympic sport. Jackie Galloway was an alternate for the Mexican team at the 2012 Olympics.[54]
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).
Raúl Ramírez was the first player to finish first in both singles and doubles Grand Prix point standings, accomplishing the feat in 1976. Raúl Zurutuza is the director of Mextenis, which organizes Mexico's Acapulco and 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.
The most notable Mexican professional auto racers have been Pedro Rodríguez, who was the winner of the 1968 24 Hours of Le Mans, and his brother Ricardo Rodríguez, who at age 18 finished second at the 1960 24 Hours of Le Mans, becoming the youngest ever to stand on the podium. He was also the youngest F1 driver at that time. They were both considered among the top drivers before their untimely deaths.
More recently Sergio Pérez and Esteban Gutiérrez have re-established a Mexican presence in F1. Before them, Héctor Rebaque competed in the F1 between 1977 and 1981, their best position was tenth in the 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.
Lorena Ochoa; the recently retired number one female golfer, pictured here in 2007
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]
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.
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
^Aleksin H. Ortega, "Cockfighting" in Encyclopedia of Latino Culture: From Calaveras to Quinceaneras, Vol. 1 (ed. Charles M. Tatum: Greenwood, 2014), pp. 757-58.
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