Mexican Football Federation

The Mexican Football Federation, known in Spanish as Federación Mexicana de Fútbol Asociación, A.C. and abbreviated as FMF, is the main group that controls and organizes football in Mexico. It takes care of the men's and women's national teams, as well as all the youth teams. It also looks after futsal and beach soccer teams, and runs the top league called Liga MX along with other lower leagues and amateur teams. The FMF makes sure football games are planned, managed, and supervised all across the country.

The FMF was started on 23 August 1927 to take the place of an earlier group called the Federación Central de Fútbol. Humberto Garza Ramos was its first leader. It joined the worldwide football group FIFA in 1929 and was one of the founding members of CONCACAF in 1961. The FMF follows the rules and goals of these bigger organizations. The main office of the FMF is in Toluca, in the State of Mexico.

History

In 1919, Mexico's amateur football leagues split into two groups. This happened because one team, Tigres México, was expelled, and some other teams left to form their own league. The two leagues separated for the 1920–21 season. But after just two seasons, in 1922, they joined together again under a new group called the Federación Mexicana de Football Asociación. They created a top-level competition called the Campeonato de Primera Fuerza.

The current Federación Mexicana de Fútbol Asociación was officially formed in 1927 by seven clubs: Club México, RC España, Necaxa, América, Asturias, Aurrerá and Germania. In 1929, the FMF joined FIFA, the worldwide football organization. The first competition they organized was the 1927–28 season of the Campeonato de Primera Fuerza, which was still an amateur league until 1942.

Today, the Federation has three main centers: the Central Office, the High Performance Centre (Centro de Alto Rendimiento, CAR), and the Training Centre (Centro de Capacitación, CECAP).

Structure

The main decision-making group of the Federation is called the General Assembly. It includes representatives from different leagues: Liga MX has 55% of the votes, Liga de Expansión MX has 5%, Liga Premier has 18%, Liga TDP has 13%, and the Amateur sector has 9%. The National Council is the group that manages and runs the Federation. It has five members, one from each league, and they are chosen every four years.

Source: FMF

National teams

Main article: Mexico national football team

The Mexican national football team began in 1923 and played its first match that same year. Mexico has taken part in the FIFA World Cup 17 times, with its best result being reaching the quarter-finals in 1970 and 1986. The team has won many titles, including the 1999 FIFA Confederations Cup.

Main article: Mexico women's national football team

The women's national team started in 1963, with its first recognized match in 1991. It has qualified for the FIFA Women's World Cup three times and has won several medals in international competitions.

Main article: Mexico national under-23 football team

The under-23 team competes in the Olympic Games. It has won gold in 2012 and bronze in 2020.

The under-20 and under-17 men's teams have both achieved strong results in world championships, with the under-17 team winning the tournament twice. The women's under-20 and under-17 teams have also performed well in their world competitions.

Professional divisions

In Mexico, men's football has four professional levels. The top league is called Liga MX, which started in 1943. Below it is the Liga de Expansión MX, created in 2020. Then there is the Liga Premier, which began in 1950, and the Liga TDP, started in 1967.

For women, there are two professional leagues. The main one is Liga MX Femenil, which started in 2016 with its first season in 2017. The second women's league, Liga TDP Femenil, was founded in 2024.

Competitions

The Mexican Football Federation organizes many football competitions for men and women. For men, there is the top division called Liga MX, along with other leagues and tournaments for teams that want to move up to the top division. There are also special competitions for younger players and academy teams.

For women, there is the Liga MX Femenil and other leagues for younger players. Some competitions that were held in the past but are no longer played include the Copa MX and several other tournaments for both men and women.

Criticism

Multi-team ownership issue

Some people have talked a lot about the same group of people owning more than one football team in Mexico. Three big groups own about a fifth of the teams in the top leagues. These groups usually have one team in the top league and another in a lower league to help develop players.

In 2013, the team owners agreed that no one person or company could own more than one team in the top league. This rule did not make existing team owners sell their extra teams. The rule only applied to new teams being bought later.

The topic became important again in 2013 when a company paid a lot of money to buy another team that was having money problems.

2026 World Cup Bid

Main article: United 2026 FIFA World Cup bid

In 2012, leaders of the Mexican Football Federation talked about wanting to host the World Cup. In 2016, after new leaders joined FIFA, they said they still wanted to host. In 2017, Mexico joined with Canada and the United States to make a joint bid. Their bid succeeded in 2018, earning more votes than Morocco. Mexico will host 10 matches, Canada will host 3, and the United States will host 60 matches across 10 cities, including the final match. The cities chosen to host games were picked in 2022: Guadalajara, Mexico City, and Monterrey.

Presidents