Sport in Mexico

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Soccer is by far the most popular game in the country. Every state has its own representative teams.

In the country it is known as fútbol. Well-known teams include the UNAM Pumas, "Diablos Rojos" (Red Devils) of Toluca, Club America and Chivas de Guadalajara. Well-known football stars are Hugo Sanchez, Claudio Suárez, Luis Hernández, Francisco Palencia, Cuauhtémoc Blanco, Jared Borgetti, Rafael Márquez, Ramón Ramírez, Jorge Campos, Omar Bravo, Ramón Morales, Oswaldo Sánchez, Óscar Pérez and Jesús Arellano. See Federación Mexicana de Fútbol Asociación.

Mexico has been host of the FIFA World Cup in 1970 and 1986.

The National Team has given good results in championships around the Americas, like in the Copa America and Copa Confederaciones. But in fortays of time the international championships results have been poor. Except, for the excellent participation of the National Team in the FIFA Championship U17 2005 in Peru, in which they became World Champions.

Mexican sport is also known for its strong competitive boxing. In recent years, the country has produced fine champions. They include Marco Antonio Barrera, Erik Morales, Julio César Chávez, Rafael Márquez and Juan Manuel Márquez.

Being so close to the United States, baseball is also a popular sport. Stars have included Fernando Valenzuela, and Mario Mendoza, from whom we get the term the Mendoza line meaning 0.200.

Wrestling stars include El Santo and Blue Demon.

Mexico hosted the 1968 Olympics, and usually gets its medals from boxing, 20km and 50km walks, and more recently Tae Kwon Do.

Mexico also has some famous Indycar drivers as well, such as Adrián Fernández.