Soccer matches postponed amid violence after army kills Mexican cartel leader ‘El Mencho’

By: Carlos Rodriguez, The Associated Press Posted: 7:18 PM CST Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026

MEXICO CITY (AP) — 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.

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MEXICO CITY (AP) — 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.

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MEXICO CITY (AP) — 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.

Charred vehicles sit in a parking lot sit outside a shopping mall in Guadalajara, Jalisco state, Mexico, Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026, as authorities reported that the Mexican Army killed Jalisco New Generation Cartel leader Nemesio Oseguera, known as "El Mencho." (AP Photo/Alejandra Leyva)

Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, “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 Mexico’s 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 “the tournament’s operation continues as normal.”

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer