While on the Lockdown time, I decided to look more into the Mexican Women’s League, Liga MX Femenil. Something I’d meant to do since it’s creation after being a big fan of the Mexican National Team because of the likes of Christina Murillo and Nayeli Rangel in 2015. After talking to a friend who lives in Mexico she gave me a few pointers on who to look out for and search for. After watching some YouTube videos and highlights it was clear to see this was something defiantly should be looked into deeper. Without translation it seemed hard to begin with to understand what seemed to be two different leagues in one season. But they have a season called Torneo Apertura which begins in July 2019 and runs until December 2019. A season of 23 games with a season of 18 games followed by the top 8 teams going into a playoff that is of a 2 legged Quarter Final and Semi Final before making the Final’s. The second part of the season is called Torneo Clausura which runs from the 4th of January, but this season with the rest of the world is on hold with COVID-19. Some team’s had managed to get 10 games in before the season came to a halt. It has the same layout as the Toreno Apertura with the top 8 going into a play off for the title.
The attendances in the Toreno Apertura saw an average of 2,224 people per game. UANL had the biggest attendance with 26,531. The Toreno Clausura had an attendance of 2,414 which shows growth in between the leagues. UNAM were the top attendance with 22,289. But three sides had attendances over 10,000. When I have watched highlights on YouTube it seems the fanbase in Mexico is very passionate for their teams and that the league is only going to grow as it continues.
Whenever I find a league I always like to support a team and Club America stood out to me because of Jaidy Guttierrez and Jana Guttierrez doing media stuff and TikTok. Also my Mexican friend said they were the big team in Mexico while being located in Mexico City. Finishing 4th in the Toreno Apertura and eventually losing to the winners in the Semi Final 4-3 over two legs. Club America were sitting in 5th place after 9 games in the Toreno Clausura.
Jaidy is Club America’s young and talented goalkeeper who made her debut against Pachuca in 2017. Since then she has made 39 appearances for Club America, playing 3486 minutes. As well as her Club America merits Jaidy made her debut for Mexico in the U17’s World Cup against South Africa on 13th November 2018. Making 3 appearances in the cup before they ended up as runners up to Spain. In her achievements she also picked up the Torneo Apertura 2018 First Divison Title.
Jana is an explosive midfielder for Club America. Making her debut Monaracs Morelia in 2018. Since then Jana has made 46 appearances scoring 4 goals in her 3244 minutes. Jana seems very popular by what I have seen online as Club America have themselves a Young Superstar in the making. She was part of the Torneo Apertura winning team as well in 2018. If you search for Jana on Google, Instagram, YouTube their are many fan pages and accounts that link to Jana.
As I see more on YouTube with the Highlights packages and a breakdown of each match week with the goals, I wish we had something like that for the Championship, I know we have the Women’s Football Show on BBC for the Super League but it would be nice to have just a goals package throughout the divisions. I wasn’t too sure what to think before watching the videos but there really are some cracking goals and some great play by the players in the Division. I know that when it will return after COVID-19 I will be watching on YouTube. Hopefully will be able to find a way to watch live games but with the time difference that might be a struggle but defiantly a league that has caught my attention. With plans in place to hopefully have a trip to Mexico City in 2021 at the end of the year. Seeing Club America stands very high on the list of things that wish to do when the World returns to some kind of normality.
Nayeli Rangel of Tigres UANL, was one of the players that first made me look into Mexican football after seeing her in the National side.
Norma Palafox of C.D Guadalajara is a name that came up when you search for the league the exciting forward shows the talent in the division at 21 years old.
This is something sweet and short that hope people enjoy reading about and will maybe give a search on YouTube also. I’ll always have a wish list for players would love to see come in and play for my team (especially as we might be heading for the top division finally). The dreams of Turid Knaak, Inessa Kaagman, Vicky Losada, Mapi Leon join but this now includes Jaidy Gutierrez and Jana Gutierrez or least hope that one day hopefully we see them play in Europe/England but as my mock up’s show below, I’d love to see them both in Claret and Blue. I’ve defiantly found a new league to follow and keep my interest as well as when I go on holiday i like to see some football and this defiantly creates the link between the two.
