HomeSports
Sports

Ronaldo-led Portugal will come to Mexico City for a March match vs El Tri 

MND Staff
By MND Staff
0
Estadio Azteca
When the naming rights were sold to help pay for renovations, the sports world had to get used to calling it Estadio Banorte rather than the familiar Estadio Azteca. As it turns out, neither will be its name during the World Cup when, because of a FIFA policy against using names of corporations that aren't World Cup sponsors, it will be called Estadio Ciudad de México or, if you will, Mexico City Stadium. (@MXEstadios/X)

Mexico City will get an early taste of World Cup fever in late March when Ronaldo, one of the world’s greatest soccer players, trots onto the newly renovated pitch at Estadio Banorte to lead his Portugal side in a friendly match against Mexico’s national team.

In one of the final warm-ups for both squads ahead of next year’s World Cup, Portugal, No. 6 in the FIFA World Rankings, will help the Mexican Soccer Federation celebrate the reopening of the iconic stadium.

Cristiano Ronoaldo and the Pportugal team
Cristiano Ronaldo will be making his first competitive appearance in Mexico in March. Later, he will be competing in his sixth World Cup, an individual record he shares with Argentina’s Lionel Messi and Mexico’s Rafael Márquez, along with Lothar Matthäus. (@Cristiano/X)

For decades known as Estadio Azteca and nicknamed the Colossus of Santa Úrsula (the southern Mexico City neighborhood where it sits), the stadium has been closed for nearly a year for extensive improvements, such as new seating, renovated hospitality areas and upgraded media facilities, in preparation for the World Cup.

The financial group Banorte bought naming rights in March 2025 to fund the repairs, but the venue will be known as Mexico City Stadium during the June 11-July 19, 2026, soccer tournament, in accordance with a FIFA policy that prevents World Cup stadiums from having non-sponsor corporate names.

Regardless of what it’s called, the stadium will become the first venue to host matches at three World Cups, after Mexico staged the tournament in 1970 and 1986. As co-host of the 2026 tournament alongside the U.S. and Canada, Mexico will play host to 13 World Cup matches: five in Mexico City and four each in Monterrey and Guadalajara.

The March 28 friendly will be Ronaldo’s first competitive match in Mexico and the sixth meeting between the two nations. El Tri is 0-3-2 vs the Europeans, including a 2-1 overtime loss in the third-place match of the 2017 Confederations Cup in Moscow.

Mexico, ranked No. 15 in the world despite being winless in its last six matches (0-4-2), has not won since defeating Team USA 2-1 in the Gold Cup final on July 6.

Since taking the reins of Mexico’s national squad for the third time on July 22, 2024, Javier “El Vasco” Aguirre has guided El Tri to a 12-5-4 record marred by a 4-0 trouncing at the hands of Colombia in October, an embarrassing loss to Argentine club side River Plate and a listless 2-1 setback against Paraguay last month.

This will be the third World Cup for Aguirre, who in previous stints led El Tri to the Round of 16 at Korea/Japan in 2002 and at South Africa 2010. 

Tickets for the Portugal-Mexico clash will be available for purchase via Ticketmaster beginning Friday, Dec. 10.

With reports from Reuters, Infobae, ESPN and Olympics.com

Have something to say? Paid Subscribers get all access to make & read comments.
The 49ers were last invited to play at the Estadio Azteca in 2022 against the Arizona Cardinals.

Nov. 22 match-up of Vikings vs. 49ers in CDMX sees extraordinary ticket demand

MND Staff - 3
With tickets starting at 2,108 pesos (US $117), Ticketmaster said the NFL would have to stage 27 games to accommodate the estimated demand, which surpasses 2 million spectators.
El Tri had only one shot on goal against the USMNT in Saturday's friendly.

USA defeats error-prone Mexico, hands Márquez first loss as boss

MND Staff - 1
El Tri face-planted in the first real test of the Rafa Márquez era, producing a handful of blunders that a grateful U.S. team converted into a 3-0 rout on Saturday night in Arizona.
Herencia de México mariachi band performing before the Eagles-Bears football game on Sept. 28, 2026

The Herencia de México mariachi group makes history on Monday Night Football

MND Staff - 4
The mariachi instrumental performance was a first for the Bears' Chicago stadium, and the fact that it was part of the Monday Night Football telecast meant it was viewed by a wide audience.
BETA Version - Powered by Perplexity

VIDEO OF THE WEEK