Senators to propose law restoring promotion and relegation in Mexican football
Senator Clemente Castañeda and other lawmakers announced on Tuesday in the Mexican Senate that they will propose legislation to reinstate promotion and relegation in Mexican soccer, a system top-flight owners suspended in April 2020. The move comes after a promised return under a five-year suspension failed to materialize and renewed protests from second-division clubs.
Owners of top-flight teams eliminated promotion and relegation in April 2020, citing financial difficulties among second-division clubs exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic; under the original plan the suspension was set for five years and was scheduled for reinstatement last year so that a team could earn promotion and another face relegation at the end of the most recent season in May of this year, but reinstatement never materialized. The Mexican Football Federation previously said returning to the system was impossible because the necessary economic conditions did not yet exist, and from last year several second-division clubs began protesting to demand that authorities honour the agreement.
Clemente Castañeda of the Movimiento Ciudadano party formally put forward the proposal with backing from representatives including Ignacio Mier of the ruling Morena party. Castañeda said the initiative is critical for "expressly incorporating sporting merit among the obligations that national sports associations must observe" and ensuring promotion and relegation are enshrined in Mexican law. "When they closed off the possibility of promotion, they didn’t just change a sporting rule; they also restricted a path for players, staff, and sports projects to grow in a country that needs to open up opportunities," Castañeda added. The senator said that she invited the president of the Liga MX, Francisco Iturbide, and the commissioner of the Mexican football, Mikel Arriola, and they declined; the Associated Press contacted the Mexican Federation for comment but did not receive a response.
Liga MX imposed a certification process on second-division clubs that included a venue capacity requirement of 30,000 seats, a standard the article says is not even met by all active first-division clubs. Facing pushback from some second-division owners, Mexican soccer authorities this year removed the promotion and relegation system from the regulations; neither the Federation nor Liga MX provided an explanation for the decision.
Protests escalated after the promised return failed to occur: several second-division clubs began demonstrations last year to demand that authorities honour the agreement and players staged on-field protests by standing motionless after the opening whistle or passing the ball passively without attacking. Alberto Castellanos, president of U de G Leones Negros, said: "The whole pandemic thing was a sham; they always knew they were going to permanently shut down promotion and relegation." Spanish goalkeeper Roberto Galán described his personal experience: "I arrived in Mexico on 8 June under the premise that there would be promotion – joining Morelia, a team contending for promotion – but then we were notified that it wasn’t happening," and added that protests led to sanctions but would continue. Fan groups have appeared at stadiums wearing protest shirts.
The elimination of promotion affected prospective and new investors: Cancún FC was acquired in 2022 by an investment group led by figures like former Houston Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow on the premise that promotion would return. Cancún president Giovani Solazzi said: "When we bought the team, we saw great potential – potential that often even Mexicans don’t see – but the current system fosters mediocrity; it’s very sad."
Some influential figures within Mexican football have signalled conditional support for reinstatement; the owner of Club América said: "I am in favor of promotion and relegation. Everyone makes comparisons, pointing out that it exists in Spain, England, or Portugal; however, those countries have very solid second divisions, whereas here, we haven’t managed to build that kind of solid second-division league." Separately, Mexico’s National Antitrust Commission (CNA) launched an investigation last week into potential monopolistic practices in the Mexican league centring on the absence of a promotion and relegation system.
The legislative reform to restore promotion and relegation will be formally proposed in the Senate on Tuesday.
