FIFA affiliation 1929 President Decio de María Founded 23 August 1927 | CONCACAF affiliation 1961 Website www.femexfut.org.mx | |
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Teams Mexico national football te, Mexico national under‑17, Mexico national under‑20, Mexico national under‑23, Mexico women's national f Profiles | ||
The Mexican Football Federation (Spanish: Federación Mexicana de Fútbol Asociación, A.C.) is the governing body of association football in Mexico. It administers the Mexico national team, the Liga MX and all affiliated amateur sectors, and is in charge of promoting, organizing, directing, spreading, and supervising competitive football in Mexico.
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The Federation has three operational centers: the Central Office, the High Performance Center (Centro de Alto Rendimiento, CAR) and the Training Center (Centro de Capacitación, CECAP).
FEMEXFUT is a member of the CONCACAF and FIFA, therefore it must comply with the statutes, objectives and ideals of world football's governing body.
The Mexican Federation of Football was established on 23 August 1927 under its first president Humberto Garza Ramos. In 1929 it became affiliated with the FIFA, and later became affiliated with CONCACAF in 1961.
Structure
The Mexican Football Federation's governing body is the General Assembly that conforms with the participation of the Primera Division with 55% of the votes; Liga De Ascenso with 5%; Segunda División, with 18%; Tercera División, with 13%, and the Amateur sector, with 9%. Its executive and administrative body is the National Council, which comprises five members, one from each of the divisions mentioned, and are elected every four years.
Competitions
The league is composed of four professional divisions: Liga MX, Ascenso MX, Segunda División, and Tercera División. The Superliga is the top level of women's football in Mexico.
Stance on multi-team ownership
The issue of multi-team ownership has been a highly debated one within the owners of the professional football clubs and the Femexfut. Out of Mexico’s 33 clubs in the top two divisions, seven ownership groups control almost half the teams, Grupo Salinas (Atlas, Morelia), Oceanografía (Querétaro, Delfines), the Lopez Chargoy brothers (Puebla, Chiapas), Grupo Caliente (Club Tijuana, Dorados de Sinaloa) and Grupo Pachuca-Grupo Carso (León, Pachuca, Estudiantes Tecos) wield much influence. Most of the owners that have more than one team have them split between the first and second divisions and are in place partly to promote player development.
In May 2013, the owners of the 18 Liga MX clubs voted in favor of a proposal to ban one person or company from owning more than one team. The proposal was introduced after Carlos Slim, whose telecommunications company América Móvil owns a 30% stake in Grupo Pachuca, was rumored to want to acquire Guadalajara (a move he ultimately ruled out). The ruling will not require club owners to sell one of their current Liga MX teams, but will prevent them from acquiring any more.
The issue was once again prevalent in November 2013 when TV Azteca, owner of Monarcas Morelia, paid out 124 shareholders of Club Atlas US$50 million to acquire the club which for years had been struggling financially.
10/8 rule
On May 24, 2016, FMF president Decio de María and Liga MX chairman Enrique Bonilla introduce the '10/8 rule' policy which lifted the limit number of foreign-born players. This here would now allow 17 of the 18 clubs (with the exception of Chivas) to sign as many foreign elements as they wish. On the playing pitch, a club's line-up would consist of placing up to 8 foreign and only 3 domestic elements, another way to determine a match line-up is by placing 9 or 10 foreign and 1 or 2 domestic per match. However, the measure generated so much controversy that it became the subject of severe criticism from part of most domestic players and journalists, alleging that the measure actually favors club owners' financial gain by bringing in foreign elements regardless of whether these are quality players or not and eventually affecting the development of domestic footballers in the near future. Bonilla also stated that the measure is designed to 'improve' the local players' performance but many highly doubt it will bring any positive outcome. Domestic players are to hold Mexican citizenship at the moment of registration before the age of 18 in order to take part of any the league's divisions (including the under-17 and under-20 league categories). Players with dual citizenship may be taken into consideration within the eight-player group if at the time of their first registration with the Mexican association had not yet reached age 19. As of January 2017, the Clausura tournament registered as many as 187 foreign-born footballers, becoming the tournament with the most non-Mexican players in the history of the league.
2026 World Cup Bid
In September 2012, former Mexican Football Federation President Justino Compeán confirmed plans for a Mexican bid. On March 4, 2016, Mexican Football Federation President Decio De Maria announced continued Mexican interest after the new FIFA president Gianni Infantino was elected in the wake of the Garcia Report corruption scandal.