Soccer leads Mexico in 2023, ahead of Baseball and Boxing. Ranking of 8 sports.
This page ranks the sports of Mexico by the evidence behind each one, because no single, uniformly reported measure (such as national federation membership counts or a per-sport population survey) could be found and verified across enough sports to build a ranking on one comparable number. Rows instead carry the strongest verified evidence available for each sport (professional player/club counts, verified stadium or event attendance, or verified title counts), stated in ‘beleg’ rather than in a shared ‘wert’ field.
Soccer is on top, followed by Baseball and Boxing. The full table below covers 8 sports, and every section further down names the source for the figure it uses.
The Most Popular Sports in Mexico
The table counts evidence, not people who say they like a sport. It is the figure that is published the same way for every sport in the list, which is what makes the rows comparable.
| # | Sport | Basis for the placing |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Soccer | Mexico had both the most professional players (9,464) – with Spain (8,560) and England (5,582) next – and the most clubs (244), followed by Turkiye (136) and Argentina (118). |
| 2 | Baseball | Incluyendo las series que terminaron este domingo 7 de julio, el numero de fanaticos alcanza los 3 millones 153 mil 939. |
| 3 | Boxing | Al cierre de 2025, el pais presume 10 campeones mundiales vigentes, cifra que iguala lo logrado en 2023. |
| 4 | Lucha libre (professional wrestling) | luego de vender las mas de 10 mil localidades en ringside, preferente, balcon y gradas |
| 5 | Tennis | tenemos una cifra record de mas de 90 mil asistentes |
| 6 | American football (NFL games in Mexico) | Estadio Azteca in Mexico City hosts its first NFL preseason game. The Houston Oilers beat the Dallas Cowboys, 6-0, in a game that still holds the record for most fans (112,376) at |
| 7 | Motorsport (Formula 1, Mexican Grand Prix) | 404,958 fans attended the 2024 Mexico City Grand Prix weekend, with Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez posting its highest attendance figure to date. |
| 8 | Running (marathon) | 30,000 corredores (Seccion 2: PARTICIPANTES) |
Most Played and Most Watched Are Not the Same Sport
Membership and license numbers tell you what people do. Audience figures tell you what they watch, and the two lists rarely have the same sport on top.
| Sport | Figure | What it measures |
|---|---|---|
| Motorsport (Formula 1, Mexican Grand Prix) | 404,958 | The 2024 Mexican Grand Prix set a new attendance record for its home venue. |
| American football (NFL) | 112,376 | The 1994 NFL preseason game at Estadio Azteca remains the highest attended NFL game in history. |
| Baseball | 3,153,939 | Total 2024 season stadium attendance in the LMB passed 3 million fans by early July. |
Is There a National Sport of Mexico?
- Charreria. Charreria, Mexico’s tradition of ranch horsemanship and cattle-handling skills, is the country’s legally designated national sport.
- Soccer. In practice, soccer is treated as Mexico’s de facto national sport, reflected in the country fielding more professional players and clubs than any other nation.
Sports That Were Invented in Mexico
- Charreria. Charreria originated in Mexico from the horsemanship and livestock-handling traditions of colonial-era haciendas and was inscribed by UNESCO as part of Mexico’s Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2016.
- Ulama. Ulama, a hip-ball game descended from the pre-Columbian Mesoamerican ballgame Ullamaliztli, is still played today only in a handful of towns in the state of Sinaloa.
#1 Soccer
- Governing body: Mexican Football Federation (FMF)
- Top national league: Liga MX
- Best known athlete: Hugo Sanchez. Real Madrid’s official club biography credits Hugo Sanchez with four Pichichi trophies (La Liga top scorer awards) plus a Golden Boot while playing for the club
Soccer is organized nationally by the Mexican Football Federation and played professionally in Liga MX. FIFA’s Professional Football Report 2023 found that Mexico had 9,464 professional players, the highest total of any country in the world, and 244 professional clubs, also the most of any national federation.
Hugo Sanchez, one of the country’s best known players, won four Pichichi trophies as La Liga’s top scorer plus a Golden Boot during his time at Real Madrid, according to the club’s official biography.
Latest Posts about Soccer
#2 Baseball
- Governing body: Liga Mexicana de Beisbol (LMB)
- Top national league: Liga Mexicana de Beisbol (LMB)
Baseball is organized professionally through the Liga Mexicana de Beisbol, Mexico’s top domestic league, which plays its season mainly in the summer months. Grupo Milenio reported that by July 7 of the 2024 season, total stadium attendance across the league had reached 3,153,939 fans.
The league’s own communications also reported a sustained rise in ballpark attendance during the 2024 season compared with 2023, consistent with baseball’s strong fan base in Mexico’s northern and Gulf coast states.
Latest Posts about Baseball
#3 Boxing
- Governing body: World Boxing Council (WBC)
Boxing in Mexico is represented by fighters holding titles from multiple sanctioning bodies, including the World Boxing Council, which is headquartered in Mexico City. Grupo Milenio reported that Mexico closed 2025 with 10 active world champions, matching the total reached in 2023.
Milenio also reported that Mexican boxing surpassed countries such as Japan and England in the number of active titleholders, a position the sport has held for multiple years running.
Latest Posts about Boxing
#4 Lucha libre (professional wrestling)
- Governing body: Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL)
- Top national league: Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL)
Lucha libre is organized nationally through the Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre, which holds regular weekly shows at Arena Mexico in Mexico City. Record reported that CMLL sold more than 10,000 tickets across the ringside, preferred, balcony, and bleacher sections for its 90th anniversary show on September 16, 2023.
The sellout confirmed Arena Mexico’s status as one of the most consistently filled sports venues in the country for a domestically organized event.
#5 Tennis
- Governing body: Abierto Mexicano de Tenis (ATP 500, Acapulco)
- Top national league: ATP Tour (ATP 500)
The Abierto Mexicano de Tenis in Acapulco is Mexico’s leading professional tennis event on the ATP Tour. According to the tournament director, quoted by Grupo Milenio, the 2023 edition drew a record of more than 90,000 attendees over the course of the tournament.
Latest Posts about Tennis
#6 American football (NFL games in Mexico)
- Governing body: National Football League (NFL) international games
- Top national league: ONEFA (Liga Mayor, college football) / NFL international games
American football’s largest recorded audiences in Mexico have come from NFL games hosted at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City. The NFL’s own operations department states that the 1994 preseason game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Houston Oilers drew 112,376 fans, a figure that still stands as the highest attendance of any NFL game in history.
The NFL also states that Estadio Azteca continues to hold several of the largest in-person crowds ever recorded for the league, reflecting the scale of demand for the sport whenever it is played in the country.
#7 Motorsport (Formula 1, Mexican Grand Prix)
- Governing body: FIA Formula One World Championship – Mexican Grand Prix
- Top national league: FIA Formula One World Championship
The Mexican Grand Prix at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City has become one of the best attended events on the Formula One calendar. GPDestinations reported that the 2024 race weekend drew 404,958 fans, the highest attendance figure recorded at the venue.
The event has sold out its full race weekend in consecutive years, underlining sustained demand for motorsport in the country even though Formula One itself is organized outside Mexico.
#8 Running (marathon)
- Governing body: Maraton de la Ciudad de Mexico (race organizers)
Long distance running is organized in Mexico City through annual events such as the Maraton de la Ciudad de Mexico. The official call for entries for the 41st edition in 2024 set a registration capacity of 30,000 runners.
The race finishes at the Zocalo in downtown Mexico City and is run at high altitude, a feature organizers and participants regularly cite as one of the event’s defining challenges.
Sources
- FIFA, Professional Football Report 2023
- Grupo Milenio
- Grupo Milenio
- Record
- Grupo Milenio
- NFL Football Operations
- GPDestinations
- Official race convocation, published via Marcate
- Federacion Mexicana de Charreria (national federation)
- UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage
- National Museum of the American Indian (Smithsonian)
- FIFA, Professional Football Report 2023
Figures on this page come from national federations and statistics offices and are only as current as their latest published report. Last reviewed: August 2026.
FAQ
What is the most popular sport in Mexico?
Soccer is the most popular sport in Mexico by every verifiable measure. FIFA’s Professional Football Report 2023 found that Mexico had 9,464 professional players, the highest total of any country in the world, and 244 professional clubs, also the most of any national federation.
What is Mexico’s national sport?
Charreria, Mexico’s tradition of ranch horsemanship and cattle-handling skills, is the country’s legally designated national sport, according to the Federacion Mexicana de Charreria. Soccer is treated as the de facto national sport in everyday use, given Mexico’s 9,464 professional players and 244 professional clubs, the most of any country according to FIFA.
Which sport, besides soccer, draws many spectators in Mexico?
Several sports and events draw large crowds in Mexico. The 2024 Mexican Grand Prix in Formula 1 drew 404,958 fans over its race weekend, an NFL preseason game at Estadio Azteca in 1994 drew a record 112,376 fans, and Liga Mexicana de Beisbol stadiums recorded 3,153,939 fans over the course of the 2024 season.
What sports are played in Mexico?
Well documented sports played and followed in Mexico include soccer, baseball, boxing, lucha libre, tennis, American football, and motorsport, alongside distance running events such as the Maraton de la Ciudad de Mexico, which set a 30,000 runner registration capacity for its 2024 edition.
What sports are popular in Mexico City?
Mexico City hosts some of the country’s largest sporting events. The Formula 1 Mexican Grand Prix drew 404,958 fans in 2024, the Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre sold more than 10,000 tickets for its 90th anniversary show at Arena Mexico in 2023, and the Maraton de la Ciudad de Mexico set a 30,000 runner capacity for its 2024 edition.
