Cancún FC is the club you need

Football jersey's fans all around the globe, join hands and started to put Cancun FC on your map. If the fact that the city of Cancún overlooks the Caribbean Sea, one of the most crystal clear and popular sub-oceanic basins in North America, isn't enough to convince you, the Mexican club's new third jersey will definitely change your mind. Unveiled today and produced by Nike is one of the best jerseys released this season. The most observant will have noticed a similarity with one of the most iconic jerseys ever made, the 1997 jersey created by ABA Sport for the Mexican National squad with clear references to Aztec culture. Similarly, the one just released by Cancún FC is inspired by another of Mexico's most famous peoples, the Maya, a statement that celebrates community, culture and in particular, Mexico. A dedication that seems almost taken for granted given the goals announced by Giovanni Solazzi in our interview: "we want to be more than just a football club, our goal is to integrate art, culture, history, fashion and entertainment to create a brand that represents Mexico in the eyes of the world. The community is everything. Our president, Jeff Luhnow, says that sports teams belong to the community and we (the owners and managers) are just its custodians. There is no better metaphor."

And to demonstrate this important attachment to its community, the Mexican team will donate a percentage of the sales of the third kit to the Quintana Roo A.C. Mayan Language and Culture Academy, with which Cancún FC will continue to collaborate to further protect and promote the Mayan culture and language. This is something the club's current vice president is keen to emphasise in our lengthy chat, and something also supported by the club's other executives: "Marc Reeves, the former Nike executive who shaped our initial brand vision with the Industry agency, has put an idea in our heads that puts the community first: we collaborate with a different foundation every week for charitable projects, we have chosen a local artist to design our jersey, we collaborate with the municipality to promote local talent, we are turning the stadium into an art district where local artists can showcase their skills, and so on."

In fact, the creativity of the jersey has not been entrusted to the American company as is often the case with most clubs that leave the art direction to their technical sponsor. As stated by the manager himself, almost everything has been entrusted to Leo Tezcucano, a local artist, graphic designer and photographer, one of the forerunners of the contemporary Mexican art scene, who has worked hard to create a jersey that everyone can be proud to wear and that above all incorporates the three colours of the Mexican flag. "The designer we hired, Pete Hoppins, is definitely one of the most talented in the industry, he was inspired by the Mexico 1990 kit because it was the most emblematic and artistic jersey Mexico has ever had. Then Marc Reeves had the idea of integrating a Mayan motif made by a local artist to involve the community and the choice fell on Leo, who lives in Cancún and was one of the forerunners of the contemporary Mexican art scene. I think he has done a magnificent job: he is a very talented artist. With Marc and Diego Rodríguez, our Marketing Director who directed the artistic production, we worked on this shirt for almost a year."

In addition to the homage to Mayan culture, one of the details that characterised the jersey is the absence of sponsors, at least on the front. Indeed, the aesthetics of South American championships are often tainted by the disproportionate amount of sponsors, not only on the jersey but also on the shorts. When we first received the Cancún FC jersey in our hands, one of the first details that jumped out at us was precisely this, a well-researched and expressly desired aesthetic: "the first thing Jeff said when we bought the club was: "We should have a clean jersey". Our vision of being different and doing things differently comes from him and the cleanliness of the jersey was our first act. Aesthetics play a key role in the world and the way we perceive it. We have a clean, high-quality jersey that says Cancún with our character. We are Cancún."

A completely renewed aesthetic that also goes through the new logo, recently unveiled and which is encapsulated in the iguana, an animal representative of Cancún and the Riviera Maya. For any club today, the logo represents a more than important asset, but above all one that knows how to live and survive in the digital age. This is one of the reasons that prompted the management to completely reinvent the symbol with which Cancún FC will make its way in the world, while remaining faithful to the tradition and history of a city as important and great as Mexico: "in the Mayan culture there was a god called Itzamna who had the form of an iguana and was the father of wisdom. If you visit Cancún, the first thing you notice is that there are iguanas everywhere and they arouse a lot of interest from tourists visiting the region - it's funny, you see tourists taking pictures of the animal everywhere! The iguana represents our club: local and typical on the one hand, but also eye-catching and loved by people visiting this beautiful city. In addition to the logo that we launched 6 months ago, we have a new iguana head that we have used for special occasions and we have just introduced a touch of gold in our coat of arms. In the ancient Americas, gold was a manifestation of the sacred."

The road is inevitably still a long one, however, also because Cancún FC currently plays in the Liga de Expansión MX in what is equivalent to the Italian Serie B where there are no promotions or relegations. In fact, the Mexican cadet league is in the process of settling accounts, which means that if there are at least four teams that meet all the requirements set by the league, Liga MX will open promotion as early as next summer. An appointment for which vice-president Giovanni Solazzi affirms that Cancún will be ready, having already built a respectable squad, but one that focuses in particular on young people, the club's true founding base, to build a future full of satisfaction.

A redevelopment of Mexican football that will obviously pass through the most eagerly awaited event for all fans of the sport, the World Cup. After Qatar, where the World Cup will begin this Friday, it will be the turn of Mexico, Canada and the USA in 2026. An opportunity to revitalise football in a country where it has always played a central role, where the sport is experienced with a passion that is probably not even comparable to the greatest European nations. "Mexico is a wonderful country, full of talent and with a great football culture. However, Mexican teams have a closed mentality both in terms of sport and branding. If you want to do something different here, you have to be prepared to be told that things are not working. I think there is a lot of room for innovation. I think Mexican football is too focused on short-term results. Historically, this country has always had the best young national teams in the world, but then the players get lost."

In short, if all these reasons and the new release did not help you get a clear idea of the Mexican club you absolutely need, you should know that Cancún FC is a 'fresh' club. "For our club, the watchword is undoubtedly FRESH. We are a new, clean and alternative club. We don't have the weight of long footballing traditions. We can be different and real. In everything we do, in everything we say, we want to be bold and innovative. We are a young organization, most of our employees are 20 or 30 years old, we don't have old dogmas to follow, we can do things the way we want."