Somber month of May for Mexican Football comes to an end

After crawling through its final days, May 2020 has finally come to an end, and it didn’t come soon enough. One of the most controversial, one-sided, and downright embarrassing months in Mexican Football history will finally be in our rearview mirror. To add insult to injury, the fact that it happened during one of the COVID complete lockdown months where players and fans weren’t even able to have a say or response is no coincidence. This was all evidently planned beforehand, and as soon as league officials realized their plans would take place in a much swifter way by acting now, they went right ahead and hurried the announcements.

In summary, these are the main actions that occurred this month:

• The cancellation of the remainder of the Clausura 2020 season. This decision is the only one I find correct and I support out of the outstanding events, but it’s a decision that many still do not agree with and it caused just as much backlash as the other events.
• Morelia and its probable move to Mazatlán. While FMF / Liga MX weren’t the ones behind the operation, they have more than allowed for the negotiations to occur with no previous warning whatsoever and have even allowed for a state governor to give unofficial announcements to the press. This also seems to explain why they were in such a rush to end the current season; no way they could resume the league with Morelia located in a different city.
• Yon de Luisa announcing FIFA ‘recommended’ back in February that Promotion/Relegation system be restored and multi-property come to an end in Mexico. The fact that FIFA had to intervene in Mexican Football as they observe the chain of bad decisions that have been made is mighty embarrassing if you ask me. FMF’s president de Luisa was told by FIFA in short that Mexico isn’t moving in the right direction with its decisions, and requested they do as soon as possible.
• Asociación Mexicana de Futbolistas (AMFpro) request to FMF that Veracruz’s bond be clarified. Many players from the now disaffiliated TIburones Rojos de Veracruz franchise are still owed money; roughly $37 million pesos to be exact which date all the way back to more than a year ago since the Clausura 2019 season. Following Veracruz’s relegation that same season, the FMF of course allowed owner Fidel Kuri to buy his teams’ permanence in First Division, with the knowledge that some of his players were still owed money from the previous season; another bonehead move by FMF.
• Finally, the revelation that “Billy” Álvarez’s accounts were frozen last Thursday due to supposed illegal activity, such as money laundering. The Cruz Azul president claims this is not true and it is reported that his accounts will apparently be unfrozen tomorrow, although this is not proof that he didn’t engage in illegal activity. How the FMF had no clue of this remains beyond me.

The fact of the matter is that FMF and Liga MX have shown extreme incompetence in managing their local football league. It is completely inexcusable to act in the manner they have during these extremely difficult times that people are going through. The league, including games and league official decisions should have been put on hold until everybody was cleared to return to work. This month they proved the weak leadership they have by making monumental decisions and changes while hiding behind closed doors, not having to show their faces or explain themselves to anyone.

Mexico still has the capacity to be a great football league, but to be that, it needs league officials that don’t think selfishly and can instead be empathetic with their teams and their fans, and prove their decisions truly favor mutual benefits. Until that day comes, Liga MX will continue to suffer and be extremely scrutinized, which is exactly what it deserves.