Live press conference on the tragedy in Liga MX

After the tragedy that occurred in Liga MX last Saturday, March 5 at the Estadio Corregidora, this Tuesday, March 8, there will be a live press conference on the subject, as well as on the sanctions and changes that will take place in Liga MX.

Live press conference begins:

The President of Liga MX, Mikel Arriola, identifies the causes of the violent incident at the Estadio Corregidora, one of them being the private security company that was hired to guard the stadium.

The second is the anonymity of the barras, which is why the Assembly approved measures to punish the actions of the club and the barras. 

Yon de Luisa now shares the sanctions to be given to the Querétaro club, who commented that they were decided at a hearing, giving the club a chance to defend itself. 

De Luisa identifies that there were omissions on the part of the Queretaro club, which hired the private security company. 

The penalties are as follows:

The Gallos Blancos club will forfeit the match against Atlas with a score of 0-3.
Gallos Blancos will play all home games behind closed doors for 1 year.
The team will have to pay a fine of 1 million 500 thousand pesos.

The current board of directors of Querétaro will be disqualified for 5 years from any activity that involves managing clubs in Liga MX in order to prevent a repetition of what happened at the Corregidora Stadium. 

Any person found guilty of the acts that occurred last Saturday will be banned for life from any Liga MX stadium. 

Cheerleading groups will be regulated, visiting cheerleading groups will not be allowed to enter the matches, and all clubs must generate an identity for each of the members of the cheerleading groups in order to have access to the designated areas for their home matches. 

The designated areas for the cheering groups will only be able to receive fully identified persons and minors will not be allowed to enter these areas.

 
From now on, security operations at Liga MX matches will be managed by the City Hall or state security, and not by private security companies. 

As of Liga MX 2023, facial identification instruments will be used in all the stadiums of the tournament. 

Liga MX Round 9, Liga Expansión and Liga MX Femenil matches will be rescheduled. 

The Liga MX 2022 tournament will be reactivated this weekend. 

The round of questions and answers begins:

In the round of questions and answers, the directors were asked if the "barras" will be banned in Mexican soccer, to which Mikel Arriola replied that they will not, and that all members of these groups will be required to have an identification document.

He wonders why the commissioner of the Corregidora Stadium did not stop the match since the aggressions started very early in the match, and he was also asked why Querétaro was not disaffiliated if the regulations indicate that this is what corresponds according to what happened.

Mikel Arriola responded to the first question by saying that the corresponding protocols were carried out, but that at that time it was not the commissioner who was responsible for what happened, but the club.

On the other hand, the president of the league says that the issue of disaffiliation is very complicated, and that if the team is disaffiliated, the economic consequences would fall on the players, since in previous cases when teams have been disaffiliated, the players are left without their pay. 

Arriola says that what matters is to make those who owe pay, and not those who were not responsible.  

It is also confirmed that from now on it is forbidden for clubs to financially support the supporters' groups in any way, so that they do not make a direct profit from supporting their teams. 

A reporter asks how to reverse the image that was given to the entire world about Mexican soccer.

Mikel Arriola replies that they will do so with the sanctions and with the measures that will be taken in the future to prevent the event from happening again.

On the question of what demands FIFA made of Mexico, De Luisa said that the issue of centralizing identifications and improving security in stadiums will help respond to the international organization's concerns.

The press asks if FIFA communicated directly with Liga MX and if Concacaf has concerns about the next World Cup in 2026.

Yon de Luisa says that Gianni Infantino contacted him by phone and affirms that the FIFA leader shared his concern with him and that he endorsed his support in this situation.

Regarding the contact with Concacaf, De Luisa commented that the organization told him that they also have their support for the problems they face.

The manager stated that in none of those calls did the issue of taking Mexico's participation in the 2026 World Cup come up.

How did Liga MX get to this moment?

After the tragedy that occurred in Liga MX last Saturday, March 5 at the Estadio Corregidora, this Tuesday, March 8, there will be a live press conference on the subject, as well as on the sanctions and changes that will take place in Liga MX.

Among what has been leaked to the press, some of the sanctions that Queretaro will face having been announced, such as a change of board of directors and a ban on away games for one year.

These and other sanctions and changes in Mexican soccer will be announced at the press conference that is about to begin.