Games in Mexico called off after cartel boss killed
Feb 22, 2026, 08:35 PM ET MEXICO CITY — Four high-level soccer matches were postponed Sunday after the Mexican army killed the leader of a powerful drug cartel in a town close to the World Cup host city of Guadalajara. Two top-tier games — Queretaro vs. Juarez FC in the men’s tournament and Chivas vs….
MEXICO CITY — Four high-level soccer matches were postponed Sunday after the Mexican army killed the leader of a powerful drug cartel in a town close to the World Cup host city of Guadalajara.
Two top-tier games — Queretaro vs. Juarez FC in the men’s tournament and Chivas vs. America in the women’s league — were postponed, and two in the second division were called off.
Mexico’s national team has a friendly against Iceland scheduled for Wednesday at the Corregidora stadium in Queretaro. The Mexican soccer federation hasn’t made any public moves to postpone it.
Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, nicknamed El Mencho, who led the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación, was wounded in Tapalpa, Jalisco, about a two-hour drive southwest of Guadalajara, and he died while being flown to Mexico City.
Following his death, cartel members burned cars and blocked roads in nearly a dozen Mexican states.
Jalisco’s capital, Guadalajara, is scheduled to host four games in the World Cup in June, including two involving South Korea. Co-host Mexico, Spain, Uruguay and Colombia will also play there.
The CJNG cartel is considered the most powerful in Mexico, with an estimated 19,000 members and operations spanning 21 of the 32 states. It has been designated a foreign terrorist organization by the Trump administration.
The Mexican Open, an ATP tennis tournament, will begin Monday at the GNP Arena in Acapulco, Guerrero. Organizers issued a statement Sunday saying that “the tournament’s operation continues as normal.”
