The National Student Organization of American Football ( or ''ONEFA'') is the major
college football
College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...
league in
Mexico
Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
.
American football
American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...
has been played in Mexico since the early 1920s in different colleges and universities, mainly in
Mexico City
Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...
. In 1928 the first professional championship was played, organized by Jorge Braniff. From the 1920s to the 1970s more universities and colleges joined the championship, and four categories, called ''fuerzas'' were created. The First ''Fuerza'' became the National League in 1970, and in 1978 it was reorganized under the name ONEFA.
In 2010 a breakaway league,
CONADEIP, was formed by the
Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education system,
UDLAP and additional private universities. In 2017, the leagues started staging regular season matches and a National Championship. However, that only lasted for a year as in 2018, they did not stage regular season matches and cancelled the National Championship Game. The only two ONEFA teams that have maintained scheduling games (preseason) from 2013-2019 are the Borregos Salvajes Monterrey and the Auténticos Tigres UANL.
The universities that originally participated in the ONEFA were
Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León
Universidad (Spanish for "university") may refer to:
Places
* Universidad, San Juan, Puerto Rico
* Universidad (Madrid)
Football clubs
* Universidad SC, a Guatemalan football club that represents the Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala
...
,
Universidad Autónoma de Chapingo,
Instituto Politécnico Nacional,
Universidad Autónoma de Coahuila,
Universidad Autónoma de Chihuahua and
Universidad Autónoma Agraria Antonio Narro.
Today the ONEFA is formed by 100 teams divided into four categories: ''Liga Mayor'' (College), ''Liga Intermedia'' (Undergrad/ Varsity High School, ''Liga Juvenil'' (two categoriesJunior High/ Middle School), and ''Liga Infantil'' (six categoriesMiddle School/ Elementary School).
The most important one is the ''Liga Mayor'' ("Major League"college level), whose championships are organized into two conferences: the Big 14 Conference, and the National Conference. The champion of the National Conference was
promoted to the Big 14 Conference taking the spot of the team in last place which, in turn, was relegated to the National Conference. Since the 2021 season, there are 33 teams participating.
Teams
The following teams are members of ''Liga Mayor''. ''Liga Mayor'' has 2 conferences: 14 Grandes (Big 14) and Nacional (National).
Enrollment numbers represent all campuses of each university.
National champions
* Year with one national champion (Big 12 Conference), Central Conference which was not the top level, was recognized as national champion.
* Year with two national champions, one champion for the top level Conference (Big 8 Conference) and other for the National Conference.
* Years with one National Champion (Central Conference) and the other Conferences recognized as national champions although they were not the top level.
* † Defunct conference
Source:
See also
*
2007 ONEFA
References
External links
*
{{College football
Sports organizations established in 1978
1978 establishments in Mexico