Mexico and CONMEBOL Split Over Swine Flu

By: Daryl | May 11th, 2009

Remember the big debate over where Mexican teams Chivas and San Luis were going to play their Copa Libertadores games? Basically, due to swine flu fears/panics the Mexicans’ opponents Sao Paulo (of Brazil) and Nacional (of Uruguay) refused to play in Mexico. And CONMEBOL’s solution of playing the Mexicans’ home legs in Colombia was rejected by both the teams themselves and the Colombian authorities.

The situation was resolved on Friday, in the worst possible way. Chivas and San Luis withdrew from the Copa Libertadores and the Mexican Football Federation (FMF) has also canceled Mexico’s involvement in all CONMEBOL tournaments. That means no Mexican teams in the Copa Libertadores or Copa Sudamericana and no Mexican national team at the next Copa America.

“As president of the FMF, I would like to announce that Mexican football will withdraw completely from all CONMEBOL competition until we reach an agreement,” Justino Compean said. “If we want to compete, it has to be as equals. ‘Fair play’ must prevail.”

There’s already a slightly complicated history between CONMEBOL and Mexico. As most Offside readers will know, CONMEBOL is the federation of South American football nations. Mexico is in North America and so part of CONCACAF, but has been regularly invited to play in CONMEBOL competitions.

Though often competitive, a Mexican team has never won either the Copa Libertadores or the Copa America. But the benefits are definitely mutual. Mexican soccer gains a great deal from competing against CONMEBOL teams instead of just CONCACAF, and CONMEBOL gains financially from accessing a big football loving nation.

I’m personally disappointed by this because I’m hoping to one day the see a CONCACAF and CONMEBOL merger of some sort, forming a regional “American” confederation and tournaments. Mexico’s split with CONMEBOL is a definite step away from that. Really, the only people this is good news for are Nacional and Sao Paulo fans, because now those teams get a bye into the Copa Libertadores quarterfinals.

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Soccerfan

Although both Mexican and the American soccer federations are strong; they are not equal. Soccer needs passion and the USA is on the way, but it is not there yet. It is illogic to think that the MLS without fans and companies that are willing to support them could compete with Mexico in that aspect. The MLS is far from being more organized than its neighbor's federation and even farther to generate the same revenue than Mexico do. (again, I'm talking about soccer)The Mexican federation by itself has more power economically speaking than Conmebol. Right now Conmebol is trying to get Mexico into their competitions again. Watch and see, MLS teams in South American competitions its fine, but do you what is worst than a Mexican competing in a South American tournament? A gringo team playing there. What make you think that a US team would be treated like one of them? My opinion only, I'm not trying to offend anyone, peace.
gavion

It's fine with me if Mexico withdraws. They are already too isolated from the rest of the world and always think they are so unique. By withdrawing they shoot themselves in the foot and make themselves less competitive. Good.
But ... the truth is .. they will patch things up and find a way not to withdraw. At the most they will sit out one year. You just watch. Mexico always has to make a big thing of its pride.
Concacaf could merge with Conmebol just as easily without Mexico involved. Yes Mexico brings some fans, but the U.S. also brings money and better organization and better venues. I dont see this happening for years and years though. And if it does, Mexico will be involved
Jose150

I like the general idea of joining CONCACAF and CONMEBOL, I just don't know how it would work. Just for the World Cup, 8 spots to allot amongst 45 countries?

Come to think of it, it would probably very similar to Asia, UEFA and Africa in the distribution of talent.. You'd have a good gradient:

From the very top level (Argentina, Brazil, maybe Paraguay),

teams that could hold their own (Uruguay, Mexico, U.S.A., Chile, Colombia among others),

then those that couldn't so much (the bottom rung of South America, some of the Central American and Caribbean countries, Canada),

and those at the bottom (most of the Caribbean).

There are important questions that need to be answered, however. How would World Cup qualification work? How would the Copa America be adjusted now (it would have to have allotment for individual regions)? A lot of these would have to be geared toward the fundamental question of: how does CONMEBOL gain from this? Do the advantages to CONCACAF really justify such a move?

It's an intriguing idea, to say the least, but I agree with the general sentiment that now is not the right time. When would it be, though? When we see more parity between CONCACAF and CONMEBOL?
Alan

This is terrible news for football, I do hope that the way this gets resolved is in the merger of CONCACAF and CONMEBOL, as unlikely as that is