The Mayas, also called Mayas LFA or Mayas Puebla, were an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

team based in

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

(CDMX),

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 ...

. The Mayas competed in the Central Division of the

Liga de Fútbol Americano Profesional The Liga de Fútbol Americano Profesional (Professional American Football League), commonly known simply as LFA, is a professional american football spring league in Mexico, founded in 2016. Starting with four teams, the LFA has since expanded t ...

, the top American football league in Mexico. The Mayas played their home games at the

Estadio Wilfrido Massieu Estadio Wilfrido Massieu is an outdoor stadium located north of Mexico City, within the "Adolfo Lopez Mateos" campus of the National Polytechnic Institute (IPN). It was built in 1959 and has a capacity of 15,000 spectators. The stadium is the home ...

. Mayas was the most successful team in the LFA until it folded in 2020, winning the championship twice in

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

and 2017, and qualifying for playoffs every season as of 2019.

History

Club origins

The club was founded on 4 November 2015 as one of the charter members of the

, alongside

Condors Condor is the common name for two species of New World vultures, each in a monotypic genus. The name derives from the Quechua ''kuntur''. They are the largest flying land birds in the Western Hemisphere. They are: * The Andean condor (''Vult ...

Eagles Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just ...

and Raptors. The team picked navy blue and white as their colours. Originally, the team nickname was supposed to be Mexicas after coming first in a poll among fans, nevertheless, the name Mexicas was already registered, therefore, the team had to pick the name that finished second in the poll: Mayas. The name Mayas, refers to the

Maya people The Maya peoples () are an ethnolinguistic group of indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica. The ancient Maya civilization was formed by members of this group, and today's Maya are generally descended from people who lived within that historical reg ...

Ernesto Alfaro era (2016–2018)

On their first season, the team finished with a 4–2 regular season record, qualifying for the Tazón México I, where they defeated the Raptors 29–13, winning the league's inaugural championship. For the 2017 season, Mayas finished as the best team in the league with a 6–1 regular season record. They defeated the

40–18 at the divisional game and became two-time champions of the LFA after winning the Tazón México II 24–18 to the

Dinos In the typology of ancient Greek pottery, the ''dinos'' (plural ''dinoi'') is a mixing bowl or cauldron. ''Dinos'' means "drinking cup," but in modern typology is used (wrongly) for the same shape as a ''lebes'', that is, a bowl with a spherical ...

. On their third season, Mayas qualified for playoffs for third time in a row after finishing with a 5–2 regular season record and as leaders of the Central Division and best team in the league. Despite this, the team lost in the divisional game 17–27 against

Mexicas The Mexica ( Nahuatl: , ;''Nahuatl Dictionary.'' (1990). Wired Humanities Project. University of Oregon. Retrieved August 29, 2012, frolink/ref> singular ) were a Nahuatl-speaking indigenous people of the Valley of Mexico who were the rulers o ...

. In April 2018, after losing the divisional game against

, head coach Ernesto Alfaro announced his departure from the team. As head coach of the Mayas, Alfaro won two

Tazón México The Tazón México (English: Mexico Bowl) is the annual championship game of the Liga de Fútbol Americano Profesional, the highest level of professional American football in Mexico. As with the Super Bowl, Roman numerals are used to identify each ...

championships and managed to qualify for the playoffs during his three seasons in charge of the team with a 18–6 overall record.

Francisco Chaparro era (2019–)

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

, the team again qualified for playoffs, making it to postseason for fourth time in a row, after defeating Artilleros 25–20 at the

Estadio Templo del Dolor (''Temple of Pain Stadium'') is a stadium in Cholula, Puebla, Mexico. It is primarily used for American football and is the home field of the Aztecas UDLAP. It holds 4,500 people. Artilleros Puebla from Liga de Fútbol Americano Profesiona ...

in the last game of the season.

Hiatus

Mayas had moved to Puebla, Mexico after their first 4 season in Mexico city. The team had intended to be in hiatus for the 2020 season prior to the pandemic in Mexico. In 2021, it was confirmed by the commissioner that the Mayas will remain on hiatus until the team acquires investors.

Stadiums

In 2016, for the inaugural season of the LFA, all of the four founding teams (

, Raptors and Mayas) played all their matches at the

Estadio Jesús Martínez "Palillo" The Estadio Jesús Martínez "Palillo" is a multi-use stadium located in the Magdalena Mixhuca Sports City in Mexico City. It is currently the home of the Mexicas of the Liga de Fútbol Americano Profesional (LFA) and Guerreros de Xico of the ...

, in the

Magdalena Mixhuca Sports City The Magdalena Mixhuca Sports City is an Olympic Park which was used during the 1968 Summer Olympics. Found in the area of Mexico City known as the Magdalena Mixhuca, the park continues to serve as a venue for cultural, social, worship and sport ev ...

. While other teams left for new stadiums the next season (the Raptors moved to the

Estadio José Ortega Martínez The Estadio José Ortega Martínez also known as Valley Bowl Stadium, is a stadium of football with capacity for 3,700 people located in Naucalpan, State of Mexico, campus Lomas Verdes Universidad del Valle de Mexico. The stadium is the hom ...

Naucalpan Naucalpan, officially Naucalpan de Juárez, is one of 125 municipalities located just northwest of Mexico City in the adjoining State of Mexico. The municipal seat is the city of Naucalpan de Juárez, which extends into the neighboring municipal ...

, for instance), the Mayas stayed at the "Palillo" Martínez stadium for the 2017 and 2018 seasons. Previous to the 2019 season, it was announced that the Mayas would move to the

in the main campus of the

Instituto Politécnico Nacional The National Polytechnic Institute of Mexico ( es, Instituto Politécnico Nacional de México; ), abbreviated IPN, is one of the largest public universities in Mexico with 171,581 students at the high school, undergraduate and postgraduate level ...

in northern

. The stadium is normally used by the IPN's

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

teams. Though it has not been officially stated by the league, one of the probable causes of the Mayas leaving the "Palillo" Martínez stadium, is the fact that the stadium has been designated as a shelter for Central American migrants by Mexico City's government. With a capacity of 13,000 spectators, the

is currently the largest venue in the

Staff

Roster

Season-by-season

Awards

** Champions (2): (2016, 2017) * Central Division ** Champions (1): (2017)

Notable players

Ramiro Pruneda Ramiro Pruneda RU-ned-ah(born 25 January 1983) is a Mexican offensive tackle for the Dinos de Saltillo of the Liga de Fútbol Americano Profesional (LFA). He was signed by the Cologne Centurions in 2006. He played college football at ITESM. ...

– OT (2017–2019) *

Diego Viamontes Diego Jair Viamontes Cotera (born September 23, 1990) is a Mexican free agent professional gridiron football wide receiver and kickoff returner who most recently played for the Edmonton Elks of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He was t ...

– WR (2018–2019)

References

American football teams in Mexico 2015 establishments in Mexico American football teams established in 2015 Sports teams in Mexico City {{Liga de Fútbol Americano Profesional