Dominance in Liga MX Femenil, a double-edged sword

The first women’s division of Mexican soccer seeks to promote national talent as well as capture the attention of fans. There are some teams that from the beginning of the project in 2017 sought to form a solid project and are now constant protagonists in the final phase, something that becomes relevant, for better and for worse, in terms of visibility.

The semifinals of the Apertura 2022 are disputed by Chivas, América, Tigres and Rayadas, teams that, together with Tuzas del Pachuca, have been present in the 10 finals that have been played in the history of the division. If it comes to championships, they are divided into the four teams mentioned with a wide domain of the Monterrey franchises, adding seven of the 10 titles between both clubs, leaving two for Chivas and one for America.

“(Domain) It is a two-edged sword, on the one hand, it is a prize for the teams that, since the League began, gave importance to their women’s branches, can it become tedious or tiring to see them? I think so. I don’t think it affects visibility, because precisely because of the perseverance that these teams have and that commitment, international matches have been held that support the league not only being visible in Mexico, but in more parts of the world,” said Andrea Sierra. for El Economista, partner and CEO of the digital media Campeonas MX.

The leading teams have hit the nail on the head with the main thing in football: scoring goals. Only on two occasions has a scoring champion not been part of the ranks of the four teams to be highlighted, first Isela Ojeda and Fabiola Ibarra in Clausura 2019 and later Alison González in Clausura 2021, a footballer who is already part of Club América.

Despite this, over time, the teams that make up the Liga MX Femenil have taken their respective projects more seriously, however the results remain the same. Among all the semifinals played in the history of the league, only Toluca, Querétaro, Atlas (twice), and Pachuca (five times) have managed to snatch a place among the four best teams, that is, Chivas, América, Tigres and/or o Rayadas have always occupied 75% of the last four teams in the final phase. All teams grow, some more advanced than others along the way. Another reality is that economic investment has been key in the protagonists of the division, something that they are not willing to do in all clubs.

“More well-planned work is needed and people in positions of power need to be aware of where they are and work for the sport. Good planning in the short, medium and long term would help a lot for the other teams. The issue of money is also important, Tigres is a team that has proven that to win you have to invest, and that maybe at the beginning there will be losses, but later there will be gains from that. I feel that many teams are afraid of that part, they see it as an expense rather than an investment in the medium or long term, “added the communicator on the subject.

In this area, Andrea highlighted that there are teams that are already beginning to take steps towards competitiveness and that it is a matter of time before they obtain results or at least balance the statistics in favor of teams with less prominence in the Women’s MX League:

“I think that despite not having had good results this tournament, Atlético de San Luis (has had good management, it is a team that decided to invest and that will surely have results soon. I would also add Juárez to that list, who has Interestingly reinforced and that, although he has had some off-field issues as a matter of facilities, they are working to improve. Maybe he could put Santos there, who has also been doing things well, “he said.

The visibility of women’s soccer not only has to do with how much the participants in the division compete or not, but also the league itself must take action on the issue and Sierra concludes that things are being done well but that there are other aspects to improve :

“What the league has done is good, there are things to improve, of course. Perhaps more pressure on television stations to open the signals nationwide. I think that a good option would be to do something similar to what is done in the United States with the NWSL, or the Spanish F League, or even the Premier League (Men), to have the television rights of the entire league and sell it to the television stations that want to broadcast it, but openly,” he commented.

yoshua.navarro@eleconomista.mx