The Mexican Football Federation (; abbreviated as Femexfut or FMF) is the governing body of
association football
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
in
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
. It adm the
Mexico national team
The Mexico national football team () represents Mexico in international football and is governed by the Mexican Football Federation (). It competes as a member of CONCACAF.
Mexico has qualified to seventeen World Cups and has qualified conse ...
, the
Liga MX
The Liga MX, officially known as the Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional football division in Mexico, holding 2 tournaments per year.
The league is considered the strongest in North America, and among the strongest in a ...
and all affiliated amateur sectors, and controls promoting, organizing, directing, expanding, and supervising competitive football in Mexico.
The Federación has three operational centres: the Central Office, the High Performance Centre (, CAR) and the Training Centre (, CECAP).
FEMEXFUT is a member of the CONCACAF and
FIFA
FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...
, and is subject to policies, statutes, objectives and ideals of those international play football governing bodies.
The Federación was established on 23 August 1922 under the inaugural president Humberto Garza Ramos. In 1929,
FIFA
FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...
affiliation was established; CONCACAF affiliation was established in 1961.
Structure
The governing body of the Federación is the General Assembly that conforms with the participation of the Liga MX with 55% of the votes; Ascenso MX with 5%; Liga Premier, with 18%; Tercera División, with 13%, and the Amateur sector, with 9%. The executive and administrative body is the National Council, which comprises five members, one from each of the divisions mentioned, and are elected every four years.
Association staff
Competitions
The league is composed of four professional divisions:
Liga MX
The Liga MX, officially known as the Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional football division in Mexico, holding 2 tournaments per year.
The league is considered the strongest in North America, and among the strongest in a ...
,
Liga de Expansión MX
The Liga de Expansión MX, also known as Liga de Desarrollo (Liga BBVA Expansión MX for sponsorship reasons), is a Mexican football league founded in 2020 as part of the Mexican Football Federation's "Stabilization Project", which has the prim ...
,
Liga Premier
The Malaysia Premier League ( ms, Liga Premier) was the second-tier professional football league in Malaysia. The league replaced the former second-tier league, Liga Perdana 2 in the Malaysian football league system.
The Malaysia Premier Leag ...
, and
Liga TDP
The Liga TDP is Mexico's fourth tier in the Mexican League System. The Liga TDP is divided into 17 groups. For the 2009/2010 season, the format of the tournament has been reorganized to a home and away format, which all teams will play in their ...
. The
Liga MX Femenil
The Liga MX Femenil, officially known as the Liga BBVA MX Femenil for sponsorship reasons, is the highest division of women's football in Mexico. Supervised by the Mexican Football Federation, this professional league has 18 teams, each coincidi ...
is the top-tier of women's football in Mexico.
Criticism
Multi-team ownership issue
The issue of multi-team ownership has been a highly debated one within the owners of the professional football clubs and the Femexfut. Of 36 clubs in the top two tiers, about a third of the teams are owned by three groups: Grupo Pachuca (
Pachuca
Pachuca (; ote, Nju̱nthe), formally known as Pachuca de Soto, is the capital and largest city of the Mexican state of Hidalgo. It is located in the south-central part of the state. Pachuca de Soto is also the name of the municipality of whic ...
,
León,
Tlaxcala
Tlaxcala (; , ; from nah, Tlaxcallān ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Tlaxcala ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Tlaxcala), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 60 municipaliti ...
),
Grupo Caliente
Grupo Caliente one of the largest sports betting company in Mexico. In 2021 Grupo Caliente owned around 200 "off-track betting and bookmaking outlets" in Mexico, Austria, Brazil, Ecuador, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela and the Caribbe ...
(
Tijuana
Tijuana ( ,["Tijuana"](_blank)
(US) and [< ...]
,
Dorados de Sinaloa
Dorados de Sinaloa, or Dorados, is a Mexican professional football club based on Culiacán, Sinaloa, Mexico.
History
Dorados de Sinaloa was founded on August 9, 2003. The Dorados was the youngest team to play on First Division de México, hav ...
,
Querétaro
Querétaro (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Querétaro ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Querétaro, links=no; Otomi language, Otomi: ''Hyodi Ndämxei''), is one of the Political divisions of Mexico, 32 federal entities of Mexico. I ...
) and Grupo Orlegi (
Santos Laguna
Club Santos Laguna S.A. de C.V. (), commonly known as Santos Laguna or Santos, is a Mexican professional football club that competes in the Liga MX. It is located in northern Mexico and represents the urban area of La Comarca Lagunera, made up o ...
,
Atlas
An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of maps of Earth or of a region of Earth.
Atlases have traditionally been bound into book form, but today many atlases are in multimedia formats. In addition to presenting geographic ...
). Of those groups that own more than one team, that ownership is usually split between the top two tiers of the league and act as a form of player development.
In May 2013, the Liga MX club owners approved banning a person or company from owning more than one team. The issue came to fore when rumor was that
Carlos Slim
Carlos Slim Helú (; born 28 January 1940) is a Mexican business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. From 2010 to 2013, Slim was ranked as the richest person in the world by the ''Forbes'' business magazine. He derived his fortune from hi ...
, whose telecommunications company
América Móvil
América Móvil is a Mexican telecommunications corporation headquartered in Mexico City, Mexico. It is the 7th largest mobile network operator in terms of equity subscribers and one of the largest corporations in the world. América Móvil is a ...
owns a 30% stake in Grupo Pachuca, sought to acquire
Guadalajara
Guadalajara ( , ) is a metropolis in western Mexico and the capital of the list of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population of 1,385,629 people, making it the 7th largest city by population in Me ...
; he would refute the speculation. The ban applied to future acquisitions, not the then current team ownership, and did not require the sale of teams in excess of the one team limitation.
The issue reemerged in November 2013 when
TV Azteca
TV Azteca, S.A.B. de C.V. is a Mexican multimedia conglomerate owned by Grupo Salinas. It is the second-largest mass media company in Mexico after Televisa. It primarily competes with Televisa as well as some local operators. It owns two national ...
, owner of Monarcas Morelia, paid out 124 shareholders of Club Atlas US$50 million to acquire the club, which for years had been struggling financially.
2026 World Cup Bid
In September 2012, former Federación President Justino Compeán confirmed plans to bid. On 4 March 2016, Federación President Decio De Maria announced continued interest after the new
FIFA
FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...
president
Gianni Infantino
Giovanni Vincenzo Infantino (; born 23 March 1970) is a Swiss football administrator with Italian citizenship and the current president of FIFA. He was elected President of FIFA during the 2016 FIFA Extraordinary Congress in February 2016. He ...
was elected in the wake of the
Garcia Report
The Garcia Report was an investigation produced by Michael J. Garcia into allegations of corruption in world football. Garcia was appointed in July 2012 to investigate ethical breaches at the FIFA, football's world governing body. A month late ...
corruption scandal. In April 2017, the Federación, with
Canada Soccer Association
The Canadian Soccer Association (Canada Soccer) is the governing body of soccer in Canada. It is a national organization that oversees the Canadian men's and women's national teams for international play, as well as the respective junior sides ...
and the
United States Soccer Federation
The United States Soccer Federation (USSF), commonly referred to as U.S. Soccer, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and the official governing body of the sport of soccer in the United States. Headquartered in Chicago, the federation is ...
, announced a joint bid to host the World Cup. It was awarded on 13 June 2018; 134 votes versus the
Morocco
Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...
bid by the
Royal Moroccan Football Federation
The Royal Moroccan Football Federation ( ar, الجامعة الملكية المغربية لكرة القدم), (french: Fédérarion Royale marocaine de football) is the governing body of football in Morocco. It was established in 1956. It beca ...
with 65 votes. Mexico will host 10 matches,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
3 matches, and the United States 60 matches in 10 cities including the final. The shortlist of match cities was selected in June 2022: Guadalajara, Mexico City, & Monterrey.
Chants
Mexican Football fans are known for shouting out ''"Puto!"'', when the opposing team's goalkeeper is about to perform a goal kick, a custom that has repeatedly led to FIFA fining the Mexican Federation. In September 2019, the FMF launched a campaign to end the chant during matches,
with Federation President Yon De Luisa and Liga MX President Enrique Bonilla announcing new league-wide protocols. The measures will allow officials to stop a match if the homophobic slur is chanted and play an announcement over the stadium loudspeakers as a warning to fans. In case of a second incident during a match, officials will have the option to order the teams back to their changing rooms for a period of 5 to 10 minutes. If the chant continues a third time, the local club will be sanctioned.
The protocols were employed for the first time in the Liga MX on 26 October 2019 during the Apertura match between
Atlas
An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of maps of Earth or of a region of Earth.
Atlases have traditionally been bound into book form, but today many atlases are in multimedia formats. In addition to presenting geographic ...
and visiting side
Necaxa, in which the slur was heard up to six times. Referee Fernando Guerrero eventually ended the match before the completion of the six minutes of stoppage time. The protocols were used for the first time in the playoffs on 27 November, during the first-leg of the series between
Club León
Club León Fútbol Club, also known as León, is a Mexican professional football club based in León, Guanajuato, that competes in the Liga MX, the top flight of Mexican football.
León has won the Primera División de México/Liga MX title ...
and
Monarcas Morelia.
During the
2021 CONCACAF Nations League Finals
The 2020 CONCACAF Nations League Finals was the final tournament of the 2019–20 edition of the CONCACAF Nations League, the inaugural season of the international football competition involving the men's national teams of the member associatio ...
, fans chanted out the homophobic chant during both the semifinal against Costa Rica and the final match against the United States. This has led CONCACAF to initiate their anti-discrimination protocol by stopping the match in order to warn fans of getting ejected for saying the chant.
FIFA later announced on 18 June 2021, that the Mexican Football Federation would be fined of up to $65,000 for the behaviour of fans at the
2020 CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying Championship and that two of the
2022 FIFA World Cup qualification matches with Jamaica on 2 September and Canada on 7 October would be held behind closed doors. The FIFA Appeals Committee later cut the punishment in half, allowing fans to attend the Canada match.
See also
*
Football in Mexico
Mexico's most popular sport is football (called fútbol in Mexico). , the top tier leagues in Mexico are Liga MX for the men and the Liga MX Femenil for women.
In Mexico, football became a professional men's sport in 1943. Since then, Mexico ...
*
Mexico national football team
The Mexico national football team () represents Mexico in international football and is governed by the Mexican Football Federation (). It competes as a member of CONCACAF.
Mexico has qualified to seventeen World Cups and has qualified conse ...
*
Mexico women's national football team
The Mexico women's national football team represents Mexico on the international stage. The squad is governed by the Mexican Football Federation and competes within CONCACAF, the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Associatio ...
*
Mexican Football League System
References
External links
Official websiteat FIFA website
Mexicoat CONCACAF site
{{coord, 19.41779, -99.169887, region:MX_type:landmark, display=title
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
Football in Mexico
Football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
Organizations based in Mexico City
Sports organizations established in 1927
Association football governing bodies in North America
1927 establishments in Mexico
Sport in Mexico City