By nearly any measure, the football team bearing the emblem of the western hemisphere’s largest university is an enigma. The National Autonomous University of Mexico’s Pumas have managed to win more titles than any other Mexican league team since the turn of the century, despite having one of the lowest payrolls in the league.
If one had to select a Moneyball team in Mexico, the Pumas would be it. The “cantera” (farming system) is Mexico’s equivalent of Barcelona’s talent factory. It has has produced a slew of homegrown stars, including the country’s most talented player of the last century, Hugo Sánchez, who went on to win glory and trophies in Spain for Real Madrid and later coached the Pumas to the first consecutive championships in Mexican league history.
Yet most of the sales to Europe did not result in reinvestment in the squad itself. In spite of this, the Pumas continue to captivate millions of fans across the country and the world. They will have won over many more this past week, after what many consider to have been the best Mexican football final ever played.
The Pumas had no business topping the league during the regular season, before overcoming a team owned by the country’s media monolith Televisa in the semi-final – but they did. Then last weekend, in the second leg of the final against Monterrey’s Tigres, they pulled off a feat that had never been accomplished before.
For the first time in the 30-year history of the Mexican league championship, a squad came back from a 3-0 margin in the final to tie the score on aggregate. Not only did the Pumas manage this against the team with the highest payroll in the league, they did so with their usual flair for the dramatic.
Just days beforehand, the Pumas had been humiliated in the first leg of the series 3-0 but in the return leg they scored in the 87th minute to force extra-time and then again in the 119th to take the final to penalties. Excitement is an understatement.
A humongous upset on penalties appeared to beckon but the Tigres won the shoot-out 4-2 without missing a kick. Nevertheless, many believed the Pumas had no business pushing their wealthy opponents so hard in the first place. What exactly the Pumas were up against is a case-study in a triumph over the odds.
While the Pumas have not necessarily taken up the statistics driven approach that was made famous by Moneyball, two of the other leading traits discussed in the book are part and parcel of what the team are about: thrifty spending and a strong inclination towards young players.
The Pumas spending on wages was just $30m at the start of this season, a figure dwarfed by their opponents in the final: Tigres’ payroll came in at over $54.5m. The contrast during the final could not have been greater: the Tigres squad featured 11 internationals, the Pumas just four. The Pumas were the fourth youngest squad in the league, with none of the other three younger squads even making the playoffs.
Pumas players have long been proud of being in a squad that lacks big names but still turns out impressive results against richer teams. When former defender Marco Antonio “Pikolín” Palacios was asked if the Pumas had one of the lowest payrolls, his answer was enthusiastic: “Yes, it is and that is historic! It is the nice thing about this team, which makes you see that there are other values that are important aside from that of money alone.”
The team is also helped by its fanatical support and a young fanbase drawn from the university, which can be seen from the Pumas stadium. Pumas fans tend to be the most enthusiastic in the league. There are few stadiums which have as energetic as an atmosphere as Estadio Olimpico does when a goal is scored. Toward the end of every match, fans give voice to their famous chant: “How am I not going to love you if my heart is blue and gold?” The Pumas “rebel” fan section is well-known for standing up on their seats throughout the match, beating drums and tambors. Huge flags are waved amid a fog of marijuana.
While there is little doubt that the enthusiastic pride and symbiotic relationship between the young fan base and the young players is an important dynamic in the success and “purity” of the squad, the Pumas are far from a saint-like team.
In spite of the university being one of the biggest accomplishments in mass higher public education, and remaining tuition-free to this day, the squad does not donate any of its earnings to the university. And the enthusiasm of the Pumas rebel section can go overboard sometimes – they were accused of throwing fireworks at America fans during the first leg of their semi-final tie.
There are some that would say the team do not treat their primary asset – their players – well either. While the Pumas have a long tradition of successfully farming and later selling players to Europe, management has historically spoke in grim terms of pay rises for those who stay. In 2009, Mario Trejo, then director of the club, said “it is a grave error of logic to think that there will be a raise to our payroll ... that is why there are contracts.”
But for now, in the aftermath of yet another historic feat in the weekend’s final, there is little doubt that the Pumas will continue with the same formula of player development, tight budgets, strong team chemistry and an enthusiastic fan base. With that, they hope to propel Mexico’s most enigmatic team forward, for many years to come.
