Liga MX Femenil Won’t Allow Mexican National Team Players Born In America

What the hell is Liga MX Femenil thinking?

Word trickled through the yet-to-start women’s soccer league on Thursday that the player requirements were stricter than anybody realized. Being a citizen of Mexico is not enough to play in Liga MX Femenil, players must have been born in Mexico. 

The fledgling women’s soccer league, set to begin on July 28, is opting to turn its nose up at multiple Mexico national team players, including Veronica Perez, who scored the biggest goal in the history of Mexico women’s soccer when beating the U.S. in World Cup qualifying in 2010. Perez was born in California, so the 29-year-old can’t play in Liga MX Femenil.

Others too, like 2012 Puskas Award nominee Olivia Jimenez, Jazmin Aguas and Clarissa Robles, are being told they cannot play in the league after spending months preparing for the inaugural matches. 

Really? They’re going to keep Mexican national team players, players who are Mexican citizens and represent the country at the international level, from playing in your league just because of where they were born?

Good enough for the Mexican national team, but not good enough for the Mexican league. Photo: @VAVEL_USA | Twitter

With the start of league play a week out, this is a horrible PR blow to Liga MX Femenil. (Or maybe it was a poorly planned move to generate discussion about the league, which, to be fair, is working.) A new women’s league should be celebrated, not lambasted for ridiculous decisions. 

Mexico, ranked No. 26 in FIFA’s women’s rankings, needs all the help it can get competing against the U.S. and Canada (ranked No. 1 and 4, respectively) in CONCACAF. A women’s league in Mexico would have been the perfect place for national team members who can’t find opportunities in the U.S. or overseas to gain playing time.

But by keeping many of them out just for the sake of their place of berth is silly and an unnecessary self-inflicted wound.