Mexico Culture and Society: Sports
General
Soccer, known as futbol in the region, is the single most popular spectator sport in Mexico. The Aztec Stadium in Mexico City, one of the largest soccer venues in the world, is testimony to the Latin American passion for the game. Traditional Mexican sports like charreria, a local version of the rodeo, bullfighting or corrida de torros, wrestling, with participants masked like cartoon heroes, and the fast-paced Jai Alai, a form of Basque pelota, provide inexpensive entertainment for a majority of Mexicans. Television coverage in recent times has encouraged greater spectator involvement in sport. More than 6 million people in Mexico today play basketball, Mexican boxers have gained international success, and interest in games like tennis, golf, and volleyball is growing.
Individual Sport Participation
In recent decades, television has played a major role in shaping public attitudes towards fitness and sport in Mexico. Many people of all age groups attend gyms, with women in particular constituting a large proportion of the gym clientele.
Although the school system in Mexico encourages participation in sports until the 10th grade, interest in sports is not widespread. However, everyone loves soccer, especially in Mexico City. Professional and amateur teams abound and children play the game wherever possible. Basketball is now the second most popular sport in the country and bullfighting remains a traditional favorite, with fighting arenas in many cities. Mexico City is noted for the largest bullfighting ring in the world with a seating capacity of 55,000 spectators. So keen is interest in this sport that it is said that people arrive in time only for funerals and bullfights.
Mexico City boasts nine private golf courses attached to sports clubs, but there are few public spaces for sports recreation and few women make sport a part of their lives. Similarly, access to tennis courts is also limited. Hikers and bikers are allowed to roam San Nicolás Totolapan, a 150-kilometer community-managed forest reserve, for a nominal fee.
Private Sports Clubs
Demand for gyms in Mexican cities has gradually increased as people are becoming more health conscious. Television programs focusing on the youthful and fit appearance of actors and athletes have also contributed to this new attitude, particularly among older people.
Golf is another sport that is gaining popularity. For those who can afford it, Campestre Cocoyoc, South of Mexico City, is an 18-hole private golf course near the capital, charging a base fee of $55 on weekdays and $75 at weekends. Charges for a golf cart, caddy and tips are additional. The EL TIGRE Golf Membership is offered to Paradise Village homeowners as part of a club package. The green fee ranges from $116 to $145 per season, with a lower rate for twilight hours.
Private sports clubs listings:
The Reforma Athletic Club
Avenue Reforma S/N
Col. San Juan Totoltepec
Naucalpan de Juárez
Edo. de México
C.P. 53270
Mexico
The Reforma Athletic Club was formed by three Englishmen in 1894 as an athletics, rugby, tennis, and cricket association. Cricket fixtures are played regularly at this club from October to June. Extending its grounds to include three soccer fields, the RAC became one of the initial five members of the Mexican soccer league that met in 1902-03. The RAC also hosted the English national team on its premises during the soccer world championships 1970 and 1986.
Club Deportivo Guadalajara
Guadalajara
Jalisco
Mexico
This sporting club, nicknamed Chivas (Goats), is well known for the Mexican Primera División soccer company attached to it. Considered the most successful football club in Mexico, Chivas has won 11 League Championships, the last in December 2006. There is now an expansion club named Chivas USA in the United States.
Vista Vallarta Club
Circuito Universidad 653
Puerto Vallarta
Jalisco 48290
Mexico
The Vista Vallarta Club, venue of the 2002 World Golf Championships – EMC World Cup and the 2006 PGA Golf Classic Champions Tour, hosts a number of major regional golf tournaments. It was opened in 2001 on 478 acres with two 18-hole Par-72 championship courses designed to suit both amateur and professional players. The Jack Nicklaus Signature Golf Course is located at an elevation and offers panoramic views of surrounding areas while the Tom Weiskopf Signature Course, on the densely vegetated west end of the property, is marked by ravines and creeks.
Cozumel Country Club
Carretera Costera Norte
KM 6.5 Interior Casa Club
Cozumel
Quintana Roo 77600
Mexico
The eco-friendly Cozumel Country Club, designed by the Nicklaus Design Group on a mangrove and limestone covered marshland, is the first professional level golf course in Mexico to be certified by the international agency for environmental planning, Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary System. Located within a 10-minute drive from Cozumel International airport, the challenging golf course with 13 holes, in the jungle and close to water, is provided with rustic thatched cottages for stay and facilities for practice and coaching.
EL TIGRE golf Club
Paseo Paraíso 800
Casa Club El Tigre
Nuevo Vallarta Nayarit
Mexico
Premier golf course design group Von Hagge designed the 18-hole, tropical style, El Tigre golf course with a number of lakes, extra wide fairways, "beach" bunkers, and 5 to 6 tees per hole to make it an attractive venue for tournaments. Irrigated by reclaimed water and with 12 holes featuring water, the course is part of the Von Hagge group that annually hosts an average of 16 major PGA and international events.
School Sports
Mexico City, Guadalajara and Montterri are well served by both local bilingual schools and popular international schools like the Escuela Inglesa Kent (EIK) that have an integrated curriculum with sports and physical training including extra-curricular activities like basketball, music, ballet and theatre. Mexico is a member of the Pan American Health Organization’s (PAHO) Regional Health-Promoting Schools Initiative, and schools under this program offer comprehensive physical sports to develop both body and mind at pre- and middle school levels. After-school activities include soccer, basketball, volleyball, and street hockey.
Two Mexican universities, The National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and the National Polytechnic Institute (IPN) have fielded football teams for more than 50 years. The popularity of the game has led to over 20 institutions participating and consolidating available playing resources and affluent universities luring away better players with scholarships. Despite being an amateur sport in Mexico, American Football draws record attendance at the celebrated El Clasico clash between UNAM Pumas and IPN Aguilas Blancas at the pre-season NFL games. Younger generation fans follow the games in the two countries although the local version of the game is not anywhere as big as the American one.
Professional Sports
Soccer is the biggest professional sport in Mexico, attracting overwhelming public interest. Bullfighting is another sport that draws a great number of spectators. Puerto Vallarta's Lienzo Charro stadium, on the final day of a competition, is packed to its capacity of 3,000 seats. Lucha libre, or wrestling, is also avidly followed several nights a week at more than a dozen venues in the capital. American football is becoming popular but remains an amateur sport in the country.
Successful sportsmen are given recognition in Mexico and often become public icons. Hugo Sanchez is considered Mexico's greatest-ever soccer player, having played in the national team for 17 years and participated in three World Cups.
Other Notable Soccer Players:
Claudio Suárez
Cuauhtémoc Blanco
Jared Borgetti
Rafael Márquez
Jorge Campos
Omar Bravo
Francisco Palencia
Ramón Morales
Luis Hernández
Oswaldo Sánchez
Ramón Ramírez
Óscar Pérez
Jesús Arellano
Jarred Borgetti
Displaying talent from the age of eight, Adrian Fernandez raced open-wheel cars in Mexico and Europe, notched eight career victories and twenty one podium finishes in the 2003 season, and won three races in the 2004 Indy Racing League. Awarded athlete of the year status and given recognition at the Premios Fox Sports Awards for his contribution to auto racing in Latin America, Fernandez enjoys celebrity status and is regarded as one of the most influential national figures in Mexico.
Professional Victor Regalado is the only native Mexican golfer to win on the PGA Tour.
Julio César Chávez, who won five boxing world titles in four different weight classes, is recognized as Mexico's biggest boxing hero. Oscar De La Hoya, an American boxer of Mexican descent also brought glamour to the sport. Other fine champions in competitive boxing include Marco Antonio Barrera, Rafael Márquez, Erik Morales, and Juan Manuel Márquez.
Baseball players Mario Mendoza and Cy Young award winner Fernando Valenzuela Anguamea, a former left-handed pitcher during his Major League Baseball career in the United States from 1980 to 1990, have added interest to the game.
Dominant & Popular Teams
The public passionately follows professional soccer teams in the Premier League Club at the 114,000-seat Estadio Azteca, particularly the rivalry between Guadalajara Chivas and Club de Futbol America Eagles. The matches between these teams have been tellingly named El Súper Clásico (super classic) and are played at least twice every year. When América clashes with Cruz Azul it is El Clasico Joven, indicating the size and popularity of the two clubs from Mexico City. Two other top contesting teams are the Club Deportivo Social and Cultural Cruz Azul, the only Mexican club to reach the final of the Copa Libertadores, and Los Cementeros, 8 times first division champions.
Women
Lorena Ochoa is celebrated as the youngest golfer to receive the coveted National Sports award from the President of Mexico and is ranked the number one woman golfer in the world. The game owes its popularity in the country to efforts by players like Ochoa. LPGA circuit and the tournament matches are now televised in Mexico. Ochoa also plays tennis, volleyball and basketball and has participated successfully in track events.
Maribel Dominguez played football at the age of eight alongside boys by tricking them into thinking she was one of them. Her attempts at playing the game as a member of a men’s club is testimony to her talent and competitive spirit. In 2005, she was ranked the 17th best female soccer player in the world. She holds the record for scoring 46 goals in 49 national games. She led the national side into the quarter finals at the Athens Olympics in 1994 and was a member of the 1999 women’s world cup held in the U.S.
Major Spectator Sporting Events
Mexican First Division (Soccer)
Date: Two Tournaments Annually: The Apertura in the Autumn and The Clausura in the Spring
Location: Venues throughout Mexico
Description: The Primera Division del Futbol Mexicano (known locally la Liga Azteca) tournaments are two annual events. Founded in 1943, the league’s 24 teams are split into two groups during the playoffs for the CONCACAF Cup leading to the matches for the Champions of North American soccer leagues. A team in the premier league is relegated on the basis of its performance in the preceding three seasons and its place taken by another team from a lower league. A few Primera clubs, based on their showings, are invited to participate in the popular and acclaimed South America’s Copa Libertadores and Copa Sudamericana matches.
Mexican Baseball League
Date: July
Location: Venues throughout Mexico
Description: The summer baseball league, the Liga Mexicana de Beisbol, is played between 16 teams, divided equally into North and South Zones with the winner being declared from the best-of-seven games in a playoff series. In winter, the champion from the Liga Mexicana del Pacifico plays in the Caribbean World Series.
National Professional Basketball League
Date: January - April
Location: Venues throughout Mexico
Description: 24 teams participate in the Men’s National Professional Basketball League (Liga Nacional De Baloncesto Profesional, or CIBACOPA) since 2000.
Mexican Open Tennis
Date: February
Location: Acapulco, Mexico
Description: The Mexican Tennis Open, Abierto Mexicano Telcel, played on clay courts in the coastal city of Acapulco is Latin America’s popular tournament for performance evaluation, which decides the nomination of players for the yearly U.S. Open in August/September.
Guadalajara Marathon
Date: October
Location: Guadalajara, Mexico
Description: Guadalaraja’s Half Marathon 42km (26 mile) race route runs through the streets of the ancient city beginning from the Metropolitan Cathedral and ending at the city’s Municipal Palace. The attractive event, drawing international professionals and amateur runners, wheelchair users on a separate course, and public participation, carries a prize-money of 2,000,000 pesos.
International Marathon of Mexico City
Date: August
Location: Mexico City, Mexico
Description: Zocalo, the well-known square in Mexico, is the starting and finishing point for this 42km, grueling, high-altitude annual marathon scheduled in August, which attracts over 15,000 athletes from all over the world. Cheering fans line up all along the course, providing a grand spectacle.
Mexican Open (Golf)
Date: December
Location: Venues all Over Mexico
Description: The Mexican Open, or Abierto Mexicano de Golf, is the national open golf tournament of Mexico started in 1944. Since1993, it is a Tour de las Americas event and a Challenge Tour event since 2005.
Mayakoba Classic at Riviera Maya (Golf)
Date: February
Location: Riviera Maya
Description: Mayakoba Classic at Riviera Maya qualified for the first time and was held in 2007 as part of its first PGA Tour Golf Tournament with prize money of US$3.5 million. Played only as an alternate golf event and earning half points for contestants, the prize fund for the winners, an attractive US$3.5 million for 2007, makes it the richest golf tournament in Mexico.
Corona Rally Mexico (Motor Racing)
Date: March
Location: Guanajuato, Mexico
Description: The Corona Car Rally takes place at various locations in Guanajuato state over two days, covering a distance of 965km (600 miles). It is a 15-stage, arduous, off-road motor racing event traversing Mexico’s picturesque plateaus and mountains. The route is lined with opportunities for spectator fun and frolic in the form of local dance, music and traditional Mexican food stalls. The rally has international standing and is placed at level three of the 16-round FIA World Rally Championship.
Nascar Mexico T4 Series (Motor Racing)
Date: April - November
Location: Venues throughout Mexico
Description: NASCAR Mexico sponsors the T4, four-cylinder semi-professional and second tier auto racing series with 40 teams participating. The age profile of drivers in the event that was established in 1994 as a 10-race event from April to November, starts from 15 at the entry point and rises to 40-plus in the experienced category. The auto-racing event is broadcast live on AYM Sports, the local sports channel, and by satellite television in the southern United States.
Cancún World Cup Triathlon
Date: November
Location: Langosta Beach
Description: Physical fitness and mental stamina are required to take part in the Triathlon where the competitors swim, bike, and run in the Cancun World Cup Triathlon that is held as an international sporting event at Langosta Beach. The competition, with prize money of US$60,000, consists of swimming for 1.5km, biking for 40km, followed by running for 10km.
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