Cancún is a city in southeast Mexico on the northeast coast of the Yucatán Peninsula in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo. The city is on the Caribbean Sea and is one of Mexico's easternmost points, just north of the resort area known as the Riviera Maya It was originally known to its Maya inhabitants as Nizuc meaning either 'promontory' or 'point of grass'.
Cancún is derived from the Mayan name kàan kun, composed of kàan 'snake' and the verb kum ~ kun 'to swell, overfill' which suggests translations may have been- 'nest of snakes' or 'place of the golden snake'.
Cancún is a planned city, created to foster tourism, which started in January 1970, Isla Cancún had only three residents, all caretakers of the coconut plantation and 117 people lived in nearby Puerto Juárez, a fishing village and military base. Due to the reluctance of investors to gamble on an unknown area, the Mexican federal government financed the first nine hotels. As the hotel zone extended, Cancun Centro cropped up on the mainland to become one of the fastest growing cities in the country and now Quintana Roo's most populated city and economic capital.
Cancún Futbol Club currently plays in the second tier of Mexican football - Liga de Expansión MX. and was established in June 2020, after the Cafetaleros de Chiapas franchise moved to the city of Cancún. In June 2020 Atlante F.C.relocated from Cancun to Mexico City and on the same day, Cafetaleros de Chiapas moved to Cancún from the city of Tuxtla Gutiérrez and renamed Cancún F.C.
The Estadio Olímpico Andrés Quintana Roo
is a 18,844 seat stadium which officially opened on the 11th August 2007, in a match between Atlante and Universidad Nacional.
The stadium has four separate stands with a dirt track running around the pitch. All four stands are open and nicely presented in the club colours of sky blue and black. The main stand has a row of executive boxes along the top, with separate tunnel entrances for each team. Behind the pitch side stands there's a set of five splendid floodlight pylons.
Cancun 1(Rivera 32OG)
Tlaxcala 2(Araujo 80 German 90+4)
2005 ko
Att. 500.est
Admission 25 MX PESOS (£1.20)
What an enjoyable game of football, played at a constant fast pace with plenty of skill on show. Cancun were up against Tlaxcala, who were rooted at the bottom of the league having lost all six opening fixtures. This was quite evident in the first half as the Iguanas bossed the game but only had a one goal advantage. A cross from the right broke free in the box and a first time effort took a deflection off Ulises Rivera and found the corner of the net.
As the match progressed the visitors grew in confidence, missing three golden chances to draw level. During the first half the only efforts on goal from Tlaxvala were from a distance as they spotted the home keeper too far forward. With ten minutes remaining a wasteful opportunity from the hosts saw the ball cleared and picked up by Luis Araujo just inside the opponents half, and this time he fired over the stranded goalkeepers from distance to equalise.
Now, the momentum was with the away side and with time running out they had a goal chalked off for offside, but moments later substitute Damian German steered home the winner in the fourth minute of added on time.
#Heedhopper
Newcastle - Cancun 4,846 miles airport-to-airport
This was our main summer holiday this year and once again I was able to enjoy some vacation football.
The best thing about watching matches in foreign parts is the local football culture. The Mexican spectator experience seems to involve food, with lots of sellers in the stand touting their fare and bringing it to your seat.(so no long queues for bait at halt time) Another novelty is every time the ball goes out or there's a stoppage in play, they blast out some music on the P.A. There was quite a mix, along with modern stuff there were a couple of classic tracks from Creedence Clearwater Revival, some Boney M and even a bit of Shakin' Stevens.
We arrived in Mexico on Monday and for the match on Wednesday night we got into the old town early. We headed to the stadium to purchase our tickets, done via the girl’s mobile phone, attending to my requirements through Google translator. Once we trousered our tickets we spent an enjoyable few hours in the nearby El Estadio Cerveceria, supping some very nice Mexican craft beers. Overall a great night and just a small part of what was a fantastic week in Mexico.
