Mexico Sports – The Most Popular Sports in Mexico
Wondering what sports the Mexicans like to play?
Discover everything about the most popular sports in Mexico in this post. ⚽️
The Most Popular Mexican Sports
Find below Mexico national sports, ranked by popularity:
| Rank | Sport |
|---|---|
| 1 | Football |
| 2 | Boxing |
| 3 | Baseball |
| 4 | Basketball |
| 5 | American football |
| 6 | Bull riding |
| 7 | Taekwondo |
| 8 | Tennis |
| 9 | Auto racing |
| 10 | Racquetball |
| 11 | Ice hockey |
So there you have them, the most popular Mexican sports! Keep reading below for more information about each sport in Mexico.
What is the National Sport of Mexico?
The national sport of Mexico is charrería. Charrería in Mexico dates back to the 16th century. It is a series of equestrian events that were developed in Mexico. The most famous of these events is the charreada, a type of rodeo in which local horses are used (the charro breed). There is even a national federation that oversees charrería: the Federación Mexicana de Charrería.
Learn More About Mexico Popular Sports
Mexico is a huge Spanish-speaking country. It is located in the southern part of North America, and it is bordered by both the Pacific ocean and the Caribbean sea, as well as the United States, Belize, and Guatemala. Its capital city is Mexico City, which has over 9,200,000 inhabitants (but more than 21,804,000 if you count the metropolitan area!).
An interesting part of the country that I wanted to tackle is its most popular sports. In light of that, I have listed the 11 top sports played in Mexico, and I hope you will love them:
Football
The most popular sport in Mexico is, by far and away, football. Football was introduced in Mexico somewhere at the end of the 19th century by English Cornish miners. A 5-team league was founded right after that, in 1902, and the sport finally became a professional one in 1943.
Two FIFA World Cups were held in Mexico (1970 and 1986), and the country boasts some of the biggest stadiums in the world: Estadio Azteca is one of the only two stadiums in the world which hosted 2 World Cup finals, and it is also one of the highest capacity stadiums on the planet (more than 87,000 seats).
Famous Mexican Football players: Rafael Márquez, Jared Borgetti, Javier Hernández, Cuauhtémoc Blanco, Hugo Sánchez, Jorge Campos, Claudio Suárez, Luis Hernández, Antonio Carbajal, Carlos Hermosillo, Hirving Lozano, Carlos Salcido, Alberto García Aspe, Pável Pardo
Boxing
The second most popular sport in Mexico is boxing. Mexico is very famous for its boxing tradition. Boxing is the most popular individual sport in the country, by far.
Mexico is very proficient at boxing since it is the second in total number of world champions produced right after the United States. It has also produced more World Champions in the last 30 years.
There are many Boxing Hall of Fame Mexican members, including Julio César Chávez, Carlos Zárate and Salvador Sánchez.
Famous Mexican Boxing players: Canelo Álvarez, Julio César Chávez, Juan Manuel Márquez, Marco Antonio Barrera, Erik Morales, Salvador Sánchez, Rubén Olivares, Carlos Zárate
Baseball
The third most popular sport in Mexico is baseball. And here we are, the first American sport on this list. With Mexico being so close to the United States, you must have expected some of these, and baseball is definitely not the only one.
In fact, baseball is even the most popular sport in some regions of the country, like Sonora and Sinaloa.
No one really knows where or when baseball started in Mexico, but some people estimate it to date back to the 1840s. Nowadays, the sport is played both professionally and casually, all around the year.
Famous Mexican Baseball players: Fernando Valenzuela, Joakim Soria, Vinicio Castilla, Esteban Loaiza, Aurelio Rodríguez, Roberto Osuna, Yovani Gallardo, Ismael Valdez
Basketball
The fourth most popular sport in Mexico is basketball. There is a national professional league for basketball: the Lica Nacional de Baloncesto Profesional, and the most successful local club is the Halcones UV Xalapa, which won the competition 4 times.
However, despite the fame of the sport, there is only one Mexican player in the FIBA Hall of Fame: Manuel Raga. The first Mexican to participate in an NBA game was Horacio Llamas, in 1996. The best result for the national team was winning the 2013 Americas Championship.
Famous Mexican Basketball players: Juan Toscano-Anderson, Eduardo Najera, Horacio Llamas, Jorge Gutierrez, Gustavo Ayon
American football
The fifth most popular sport in Mexico is American football. American football has been played in Mexico since the beginning of the 1920s. The main place where American football is enjoyed is Mexican colleges and universities. While it is still very popular in the country, it could become one of the top sports in a few years, considering the Mexican youth absolutely loves it.
It was not before 2016 that a professional American football league was created in Mexico, the Liga de Fútbol Americano Profesional.
Famous Mexican American football players: Victor Leyva, Jose Portilla, Tony Zendejas, Raul Allegre, Luis Zendejas, Max Zendejas, Dave Etherly, Rafael Septien, Joaquin Zendejas
Bull riding
The sixth Mexico favorite sport is bull riding. You must know Mexico for its bull riding traditions. Well, it is in fact a sport and a very popular one.
On top of bull riding, there is also bullfighting. It was introduced in Mexico in the 16th century by the Spanish, and while it is banned in many countries around the world, it is a very important part of Mexican culture, even to this day. There are thousands of bullfighting events all around the country, and the most prominent bullfighter of the 20th century is Carlos “El Ciclón” Arruza.
Famous Mexican Bull riding players: Francisco Garcia Torres, Francisco Morales, Juan Carlos Contreras, Gustavo Pedrero, Adrian Ferreiro, Hugo Pedrero, Mario Galindo
Taekwondo
The seventh most popular sport in Mexico is taekwondo. Maybe you did not expect an Asian fighting sport to be so popular in a Spanish-speaking country like Mexico, yet it is definitely one of the top sports.
Taekwondo has been around in Mexico since 1969 when Korean Mexican Dai Won Moon introduced the sport to the country. There are nowadays more than 1.5 million practitioners and 3,500 schools spread all around Mexico. Since their debut at the 2000 Summer Olympics, Mexican athletes have won a medal at every other Olympic Games.
Famous Mexican Taekwondo players: Óscar Salazar, Guillermo Pérez, Victor Estrada, Iridia Salazar, María del Rosario Espinoza
Tennis
The eighth most popular sport in Mexico is tennis. Historically, the best Mexican tennis player is undoubtedly Rafael Osuna, who was ranked number 1 in the world in 1963 after winning the US Open Championship. Before that, he also led Mexico to the Davis Cup, making them the first Latin American team to compete in the tournament.
There is an annual tennis tournament in Mexico, the Abierto Mexicano Telcel, which is held in Acapulco. It is part of the ATP Tour and the WTA Tour.
Famous Mexican Tennis players: Rafael Osuna, Raúl Ramírez, Santiago González, Antonio Palafox, Eduardo Peralta-Tello, Juan Manuel Elizondo, Yola Ramírez, Leonardo Lavalle
Auto racing
The ninth main sport in Mexico is auto racing. Similar to other sports, the most successful Mexican auto racers were competing a long time ago. Pedro Rodríguez won the 1968 24 Hours of Le Mans, and his brother Ricardo became the youngest ever to stand on the podium of this very same tournament.
Besides, Rally Mexico became part of the FIA World Rally Championship in 2004, and it is held in the state of Guanajuato. Now, it is one of the most popular rounds of the championship.
Famous Mexican Auto racing players: Sergio Pérez, Pedro Rodríguez, Ricardo Rodríguez, Héctor Rebaque, Moisés Solana, Esteban Gutiérrez
Racquetball
The tenth most popular sport in Mexico is racquetball. To this day, racquetball is still very popular in Mexico. The Racquetball World Championships have been happening every two years since 1981, and Mexico hosted 2 editions, in 1994 and 2000.
A Mexican player, Álvaro Beltrán, won the 2000 edition and became World Champion. On top of that, Mexican men have won the doubles titles 4 times, and the women’s team is also very proficient at the sport. The number 1 player in the Women’s Professional Racquetball Organization at the end of 2008 was Paola Longoria, the first woman not from Canada or the United States to do so.
Famous Mexican Racquetball players: Álvaro Beltrán, Daniel De La Rosa, Alejandro Landa, Susana Acosta, Paola Longoria
Ice hockey
The eleventh Mexican favorite sport is ice hockey. I bet you did not expect this last sport. Who would think ice hockey could be popular in such a desertic country as Mexico? Well, believe it or not, similar sports like pelota purépecha have been around in the country for a very long while.
While ice hockey is not extremely popular in Mexico, it is still largely played in the major cities of Monterrey, Guadalajara, and Culiacán.
Number of Ice hockey licensed players in Mexico: 2,690
Famous Mexican Ice hockey players: Scott Gomez, Auston Matthews, Max Pacioretty, Raffi Torres, Andrés de la Garma, Fernando Ugarte, Tyler Chavez, Carlos Gómez, Jorge Pérez
So there you have them, these were all the most popular sports of Mexico. I hope you enjoyed them and that you learned something new today. Keep reading below to get a few more facts about the major sports in Mexico.
What sports did Mexico invent?
The most notorious sport that Mexico invented is the mesoamerican ball game. It has been played in the country for over 3,000 years now, and the oldest ballcourt is located in Paso de la Amada, Mexico. The exact original rules are now lost, but it is believed that one or two players would play on each side of the court with rackets, bats, or their bodies, to keep a ball moving across the court.
On top of that, charrería, which I already described, is typically from Mexico, and lucha libre is also very famous in the country: it is basically freestyle wrestling and the wrestlers wear colorful masks which you must have seen at least once.
What is the oldest sport in Mexico?
The oldest sport in Mexico is definitely the mesoamerican ball game. And while, according to its name, it was not only played in Mexico, it still originates in the Spanish-speaking country. Later in history, the Maya added vertical stone rings on each side of the court, probably adding another way of winning as well as other rules.
What is Charrería in Mexico?
Charrería is one of the traditional Mexican sports from the 16th century and Mexico’s national sport. The sport is taken very seriously, even to this day, and even though it dates back to colonial times, it is a strong part of the national identity of Mexico.
More Sport Facts!
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