Women’s soccer in Mexico continues to grow and to evolve, and no one knows that better than Club Tijuana’s head coach Andrea Rodebaugh. Rodebaugh played college soccer with the University of California-Berkeley in the mid-1980’s before playing professionally in Japan and France and captaining the Mexico Women’s National Team. She’s the only head coach Xolos Femenil has ever had, and she spoke with me about the past, present, and future of women’s soccer in Mexico.
Prior to Liga MX Femenil, there was indeed women’s soccer in Mexico. “Women’s football has existed in Mexico since the 60’s,” Rodebaugh says, “but it has always developed outside of the Federation (the FMF - Mexico’s governing body for the sport) or the ‘official’ governing body.