The state of women’s football in Mexico

In this interview with Mariana Gutierrez, Women’s Football Director at Liga MX, we deep dive into the current state of women’s football in Mexico.  

Mariana is currently the Director of the LIGA MX Femenil, with over 10 years of experience developing women’s football in Mexico.

In 2009, Mariana co-founded the largest football 7 vs 7 tournament for women in Mexico. Later in 2015, she joined the amateur football department of the Mexican Football Federation (FMF) as a coordinator of National Leagues, highlighting her leading role in developing and coordinating the first national amateur women’s league of the FMF U16 and U13. In 2016, she took on the management of the new professional women’s football league “LIGA MX Femenil” in the LIGA MX / ASCENSO MX office, focusing her work on the development of professional women’s football in Mexico. 

She is a member of the Women’s Football Committee of the FMF and LIGA MX / ASCENSO MX and a member of the Advisory Board of “School of Sports Sciences” of the “Universidad Anahuac”. Mariana participates in different industry events and conferences such as our online meetup to share her knowledge and insights about women’s football.

1. What’s the current state of women’s football in Mexico and where is it heading? What is Liga MX doing to support the women’s game?

The current situation of women’s football in Mexico is growing and evolving. Before 2017, we did not have a weekly competition where our national players could compete in. In 2017, the General Assembly approved the creation of a Women’s Professional League and we launched the Liga MX femenil. The main goal of creating a professional league was to help and continue the growth of the women’s game, to seek Mexican talent and to allow us to develop a specific player profile. The LIGA MX Femenil governance and administration model is the same as the men’s competition. We share the same structure, format, clubs and General Assembly as the men’s competition and we have our own Women’s Football Committee. 

That means that all the clubs have a women’s team and a men’s team. By setting up the professional league we have seen a much more competitive league, players performing at a higher level, and also growing our fan base by attracting a new profile of fans. I believe that this league, with time, hard work and great investment will allow us to get closer to countries like the USA, France or Spain.

In 2021, four seasons later, the General Assembly approved the following agreements for the LIGA MX Femenil with the purpose to enhance our competition:

• 2 foreign players in the roster for each club. 
• The launch of the new U17 LIGA MX Femenil competition. That means that each of our 18 clubs must register a U17 team. It is mandatory that each U17 team registers a woman either as a head coach or as an assistant coach. 
• Seek international games or competitions

2. What are some actions that women’s football can take in order to develop the game going forward?

The first thing we need to do is to approach women’s football as today’s football; as entertainment. The second action is to think about the business model. And as with every business model, it is important to get to know your market thoroughly to understand your positioning. Keep in mind your strengths and weaknesses and clearly identify the business opportunities and the market to go after.

Here in Mexico, we understand our strengths. One of them is the know-how and experience of our clubs, and this is integrated directly into our strategy for development. We are working closely with them to develop the women’s game, and to leverage marketing, sponsorship & other business opportunities. One of the weaknesses is our lack of understanding of the women athletes’ bodies, performance needs, and the best way to ensure their high performance. So that is an area we are investing in; coaching staff, technology & processes are part of this investment and support us to develop the game going forward.

3. The term innovation has become a very popular one and it’s brought up in many conversations. How is Liga MX approaching innovation?

As we look at the growth of the women’s game globally, to build an attractive product to the fans, and to bring new value to stakeholders, innovation and technology should play a leading role in the conversation. Liga MX Femenil works with CITEC, a football technological innovation center. It provides shared resources to clubs across technology, methodology, development, training, data analysis and other areas in sports performance. On the business side, it helps with digital transformation, fan experience, engagement and digital commercialization.

We also work closely with different service providers and suppliers like Golstats, Wimu, Wyscout, Pixelot, and Nuubo. These services are provided centrally through the league to all the clubs and players, bringing down the overall cost, driving efficiencies and creating new value for the clubs primarily. Again, as one of our strengths, we develop the women’s game when our clubs do, so it is important to empower them. They are the key stakeholders.

4. What does the fan profile look like for women’s football?

Based on our data, I can confirm that the fan profile of Liga MX Femenil is family-oriented. They are young, around 35 years old as an average. Having said that, we also have a large portion of Generation Z (those born after 1998) fans. This has driven us to invest in and prioritize digital communications and innovations. These fans expect brands to interact with them across channels, seamlessly. It is a challenge for us but has pushed us to deliver new digital experiences that have benefit fans as well as commercial partners.

As an example, social media has been an area where we have made significant strides. Due to the direct nature of the conversation, we are able to moderate a large group of people around key topics, create excitement around the women’s game, and ultimately to approach it as a digital-age-ready sports property. We are different from the men’s game, and that is made possible by creating a different discourse around it through social media.

Thanks to these investments, our fan base is growing. With that, we have clear opportunities ahead of us, such as negotiating better broadcasting deals or leveraging social media commercially. 

5. Sponsors are a crucial part of fueling the development of the women’s game and moving it forward. What kind of value proposition does the women’s game add to sponsors?

From a sponsorship perspective, awareness is no longer enough. Partners and sponsors require digital activation and detailed fan insights that can help create new hyper-personalized experiences. BBVA, as the naming partner of Liga MX for both the men’s and women’s competitions, has been helping the league to grow on a global scale, to create new products and experiences around women’s football, and to attract new audiences.

Realizing the value now while still in a relatively early stage of global women’s football development can provide partners with a first-mover advantage and a big reward both financially and culturally. To put this in numbers, almost 34 million Mexicans are interested in the LIGA MX Femenil. We reach 4.5 million people each season through broadcasting. This is on the back of 4 consecutive record-breaking seasons. In terms of social media numbers, the Liga MX Femenil has more than 1 million followers, and together with our 18 clubs we reach almost 5 million followers and with our top-ranked players, we reach almost 7 million. 

Women’s football is expected to be the fastest-growing segment of the sports industry in the next 10 years. This is the value we add to brands. We build and engage with new communities, empower women and be part of the global discussion on gender equity. This is all done through an entertainment property that creates life-long fans that want to be part of a new discourse that combines sports, culture, and societal values.