Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum explained on Friday why she did not attend the World Cup opener between Mexico and South Africa at the Estadio Azteca, stating that tickets were too expensive for most Mexicans and that she had given her ticket to a young female fan.
“Stadium tickets are very expensive,” Sheinbaum said during her daily morning news conference. “As president it’s better that I give my place to someone who couldn’t have gone, who loves football, especially a young woman, and I can celebrate it with the people for free.”
The soaring ticket prices for World Cup matches have become a major point of contention, particularly in Mexico where tickets selling for an average of $3,000 are unaffordable for the majority of Mexicans who earn barely that amount in a month. “Very few people can pay a ticket at that price,” Sheinbaum added.
The young woman who received the president’s ticket was Yolett Cervantes Cuaquehua, an Indigenous Nahua athlete from Veracruz. She won a national contest held by the Mexican government after submitting a viral video of herself in traditional dress juggling a soccer ball with her bare feet, beating 1,000 other finalists.
In the video, Cervantes recounts that at age eight she won a state poetry contest with a prize of a trip to Spain to watch a soccer match. “Coming home I was in love with football, and at that moment I forgot about poetry,” she says. “My father trained me for four years. After two years I could juggle the ball 3,000 to 4,000 times.”
Announcing the contest in March, Sheinbaum framed it as a way to empower young women in sport. “For many years, doors were closed to us – preventing us from becoming referees, soccer players, commentators or sports hosts,” she said. “Today, we want to open those doors to women and their rights, so they can be whatever they want to be and have every opportunity to achieve it.” On Thursday, Sheinbaum watched the match at one of 18 neighbourhood viewing spots set up by the Mexico City government.
