Mexican Senate proposes reform to restore promotion and relegation in soccer

Mexico’s Senate is stepping onto the pitch. A bipartisan group of senators announced a reform proposal on September 21, 2026, that would legally require sporting merit as the basis for participation in national sports associations, a move aimed squarely at forcing Liga MX to bring back promotion and relegation. The legislation, spearheaded by Senator Clemente Castañeda of the Movimiento Ciudadano party, will be formally introduced on September 22. It targets amendments to the Ley General de Cultura Física y Deporte, Mexico’s general law governing physical culture and sport. How Mexican soccer became a closed shop Liga MX suspended promotion and relegation in April 2020, citing the financial pressures of the COVID-19 pandemic. At the time, the arrangement was framed as a temporary five-year pause. Clubs in the lower divisions were told to hang tight: the system would return in 2025. It didn’t. Instead of restoring the mechanism that lets top-performing lower-division clubs earn their way into the top flight, Liga MX went the other direction. In July 2026, the league formally eliminated promotion and relegation rules for the 2026-27 season, turning what had been a temporary pandemic ...