The most popular sport in Mexico currently is association football (fútbol) followed by boxing."A Road Trip, Mexican Style, to Watch the Cowboys." The New York Times. By JULIÁN AGUILAR Published: December 17, 2011 Historically, football has been the dominant sport in Mexico shaping the national sports scene. The Liga MX (Mexican Primera División) is one of the top football leagues globally. Baseball also holds a notable place in Mexican sports culture, particularly in the northwest and southeast regions of the country, particularly in states such as Sonora and Sinaloa, and in the southeast, notably in Yucatán and Quintana Roo. The Mexican Baseball League (Liga Mexicana de Béisbol) serves as a major league in this sport, with a strong regional following. The country has produced many renowned combat sport athletes (especially boxers), and major fights generate considerable interest and viewership.
In recent decades, American football, basketball, sport wrestling, auto racing, mixed martial arts (MMA), and cycling have also gained traction in Mexico. Basketball and American football have seen growing followings. Basketball has seen growing popularity in urban centers and northern regions, cities such as Monterrey and Guadalajara. American football tends to have a more localized following, particularly in the states of Nuevo León and Tamaulipas, where the sport is popular among college teams. Mixed martial arts is also popular in the northern regions, as they have produced the most Mexican MMA world champions.
Charrería (Mexican rodeo) holds cultural significance and is recognized as the national sport of Mexico. American rodeo is also practiced in Mexico, particularly in the country's northern states. It is held in high regard especially in Chihuahua and Coahuila. American bull riding is practiced in Mexico's northern and central regions, while jaripeo, a Mexican-born form of bull riding is traditionally practiced in the country's central and southern regions.
The country's prominence in global football is underscored by its hosting of the FIFA World Cup in 1970 and 1986, with Mexico set to co-host the 2026 FIFA World Cup with the United States and Canada. While college sports in Mexico do not enjoy the same level of commercialization, there is growing interest in university-level competitions. Internationally, Mexico has achieved notable success in various sports at the Olympic Games, including boxing, diving, and athletics. The country also excels in taekwondo, with Mexican athletes performing well in international competitions. As the markets for youth and junior players expand, the extreme racquet sport of racquetball is seeing steady growth and development. Meanwhile, in the southern part of Mexico City, the amateur practice of Paleta frontón and Basque pelota holds significant cultural importance and has enhanced the international reputation of Mexican sports.
In terms of exercising sports discipline, a distinction must be made between organized sport (high-competition and federated) and amateur sport (primarily individual and for physical culture purposes). In the first case, the second most practiced sport (after association football) at the national level is taekwondo, followed by basketball and baseball. In the second case, physical conditioning disciplines such as walking, running, swimming or those linked to gyms are the most practiced.
History
Mesoamerican ball game
The Pre-Columbian people of Mesoamerica have played the Mesoamerican ball game for over 3,000 years. Archaeologists found the oldest ballcourt yet discovered – dated to approximately 1400 BC – at Paso de la Amada in Mexico.See Hill, Blake and Clark (1998); Schuster (1998). The exact rules of the traditional ballgame remain unknown. Researchers believe that the sport probably resembled racquetball or volleyball, where the object is to keep the ball in play.Noble, p. 65. In some regions in later periods, the losing team faced human sacrifice.
18th century By the 18th-century Spanish colonialists had introduced new sports such as horse racing and bullfighting, which quickly gained popularity among the elite and became significant social events. Additionally, activities like fencing and swordplay were adopted from European martial traditions, particularly among the upper classes. Cultural festivals often featured a variety of athletic competitions, blending local customs with colonial practices, and reflecting the rich, hybrid nature of Mexican society during this period.
19th century In the 19th century, British influences brought sports such as tennis and cricket to Mexico. By the end of the century, the growing American presence introduced baseball, with the sport taking root in Mexico City before growing in prominence throughout the rest of the country.
International Games competitions Olympic Games
Mexico City hosted the 1968 Summer Olympics, the first time that the event was held in Latin America. Since then, the only edition of the Olympic Games held in the region was in 2016, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Mexico first participated at the Olympic Games in 1900 and has sent athletes to compete in every Summer Olympic Games since 1924. Mexico has also participated in several Winter Olympic Games since 1928. Mexico has performed best in athletics, boxing, equestrian, diving, and Swimming events, and more recently taekwondo and football.
Enriqueta Basilio made history by being the first woman to light the Olympic Cauldron at 19th Summer Olympics in Mexico City on 12 October 1968.
In diving, Mexico is the best Latin American representative with a long tradition of diving founded by Joaquín Capilla, a Mexican diver who won the largest number of Olympic medals among Mexican athletes. Many others who have excelled in World Championships and Olympics are Carlos Girón, Fernando Platas and Paola Espinosa who is the first Latina woman to become world champion. Soraya Jiménez became the first ever female athlete from Mexico to win an Olympic gold medal in 2000.Profile: "Soraya Jimenez" databaseOlympics.com (Retrieved on 19 January 2008)
At the 2012 Summer Olympics, Mexico finished in thirty-ninth place; the Mexico team brought home seven medals, including their first gold medal won in football, and the rest of the medals in archery, diving, and taekwondo.
Donovan Carrillo is the first Mexican figure skater to compete at the Olympics in 30 years in 2022, and after scoring a personal best in the short program became the first ever Mexican skater to advance to the free skate.
Pan American Games
The Pan American Games competition is held among athletes from nations of the Americas, every four years in the year before the Summer Olympic Games. Mexico ranks sixth in the top ten nations all time at the Pan American Games (minus medals won at the Winter Pan American Games). Mexico and Canada have hosted three Pan American Games each, more than any other nation. Among cities, only Winnipeg and Mexico City have played host to the Pan American Games more than once, each holding that honor twice.
Similar to the Olympic flame, the Pan American Games flame is lit well before the Games are to commence. The flame was lit for the first games in Olympia, Greece. For subsequent games, the torch has been lit by Aztec people in ancient temples, first in the Cerro de la Estrella and later at the Pyramid of the Sun at the Teotihuacan Pyramids. The only exception was for the São Paulo games in 1963, when the torch was lit in Brasília by the indigenous Guaraní people. An Aztec then lights the torch of the first relay bearer, thus initiating the Pan American Games torch relay that will carry the flame to the host city's main stadium, where it plays an important role in the opening ceremony. The 2011 Pan American Games were the third Pan American Games hosted by Mexico (the first country to do so) and the first held in the state of Jalisco in the city of Guadalajara.
Central American and Caribbean Games
The Central American and Caribbean Games is a multi-sport regional championship event, held quadrennially (once every four years), typically in the middle (even) year between Summer Olympics. The Games are for countries in Central America, the Caribbean, Mexico, and the South American Caribbean countries of Colombia, Guyana, Suriname, and Venezuela. They are designed to provide a step between sub-CACG-region Games held the first year following a Summer Olympics (e.g. Central American Games) and the Continental Championships, the Pan American Games, held the year before the Summer Olympics. The CACGs are the oldest continuing regional games in the world.History of CACSO from the CACSO website (www.cacso.org); retrieved 2009-06-26. As of 2014, Mexico has hosted the CACG games four times, three in Mexico City and one in Veracruz. Mexico is also one of the three countries present at the first games and the first organizer of the Games. Mexico is the only country that has attended all editions, without a single absence and has the most medals and second most gold medals as of 2019.
Individual sports Boxing
Mexican sport is also known for its boxing tradition. Boxing is the most popular individual sport in Mexico. Mexico is also the second in total number of world champions produced, after the United States, and has recently produced more World Champions in the last 30 years. The first boxing champion Mexico produced was Battling Shaw when he became the Light Welterweight Champion by outpointing Johnny Jadick in 1933. Fourteen Olympic boxing medals have been won by Mexico.
International Boxing Hall of Fame members include Julio César Chávez, Sr., Salvador Sánchez, Ricardo Lopez, José Nápoles, Rubén Olivares, Baby Arizmendi, Pipino Cuevas, Chiquita González, Sugar Ramos, Daniel Zaragoza, Miguel Canto, Vicente Saldivar, Carlos Palomino, and Carlos Zárate. Other prominent Mexican boxers include World Boxing Hall of Fame members, Kid Azteca, Jesús Pimentel, Lupe Pintor, Juan Zurita, Jorge Paez and José Luis Ramírez. More recent champions include Canelo Álvarez, Julio César Chávez Jr., Marco Antonio Barrera, Érik Morales, Juan Manuel Márquez, Rafael Márquez, Israel Vázquez and Juan Francisco Estrada.
Mexico's biggest rival in the sport of boxing is Puerto Rico. There have been many classic match ups between the two such as Salvador Sánchez–Wilfredo Gómez, Gómez–Carlos Zárate Serna and many more. Other great match ups are between two Mexican fighters and Mexican vs. Mexican-American. Good examples of fighting between two Mexicans are the Barrera vs. Morales trilogy and the Márquez–Vázquez rivalry. A good example of a Mexican vs a Mexican-American are Julio César Chávez vs. Oscar De La Hoya, Bobby Chacon vs. Rafael Limón, Chiquita González vs Carbajal, (particularly so Michael Carbajal vs. Humberto González) Márquez vs Díaz, and Castillo versus Corrales.
Taekwondo
Taekwondo was introduced to Mexico in 1969 by Korean Mexican Dai Won Moon. With over 1.5 million taekwondo practitioners and 3,500 schools throughout the country, taekwondo is one of the most popular sports in the nation. Mexico has also been competitive on the international level in the sport of taekwondo. Over forty Mexican taekwondo practitioners have medaled at the World Taekwondo Championships.