SPORT IN SOCIETY 2021, VOL. 24, NO. 7, 1123–1141 Gender social change, international influence and sensemaking in the launch and evolution of the Mexican professional women’s football league Daniel Añorve Añorve Department of Political Studies, Universidad de Guanajuato, Guanajuato, Mexico ABSTRACT This paper analyzes the launch and evolution of Liga MX Femenil in Mexico. Indicators pertaining to two dimensions of the game, on-field actors and off-field organization-administrative structures, help to ana- lyze the degree of women’s participation in the formation and growth of the league as well as its evolutionary perspectives. The main objective is to identify the factors that have influenced the effective advancement of women’s professional football in Mexico. The analysis is mainly based on documentary evidence. It is concluded that rather than the govern- ing body, Federación Mexicana de Fútbol, designing specific policies for women, a combination of non-football women’s advancement within the broader Mexican society, international influence, and changes in sensemaking may explain the growing participation of women that led to the launch of LMXF. Based on the findings, four sce- narios of evolution are outlined. Introduction Women’s football in Mexico can be traced back to the leagues developed from 1969 to 1971, but the Mexican Liga MX Femenil (LMXF) was launched in as recently as 2017. The out- come by the end of the fourth tournament, i.e., the Clausura 2019 1 has been mixed. A big problem has been the appalling salaries of players. It is estimated that monthly salaries range from as low as $1,500 pesos (80 USD) to $6,000 pesos. Approximately 90% of the players make less than $6,000 pesos monthly. Top paid players in LMXF earn $29,688 pesos monthly (1,600 USD) (Mondragón 2017). It is rather unfortunate that, despite this harsh reality, LMXF is regarded as one of the top paid women’s sports leagues in the world (Cfr. Harris 2017). On the brighter side, the average attendance is well above the average of most leagues. For the Clausura 2019, the average attendance was 2,685 people per game (including the playoffs). Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) (2017) reported that only six women’s national leagues had average attendance over 1,000 per game: France, Portugal, England, Spain, Italy, and Kazakhstan. Meanwhile, women’s football powerhouses — Germany, Norway, and Sweden— averaged less than 1,000 spectators per game. During its © 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group CONTACT Daniel Añorve Añorve danorve@gmail.com https://doi.org/10.1080/17430437.2020.1734561 KEYWORDS Gender; football (soccer); professional leagues; international influence; sensemaking