Municipal officials in Mulegé inspected new synthetic turf soccer fields being built across the municipality as part of a federal program tied to the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Celina Ramírez, Mulegé’s municipal secretary, and Silvia Salas, director of SEDATU (Secretaría de Desarrollo Agrario, Territorial y Urbano) in Baja California Sur, conducted a working tour to review construction progress at multiple sites. The fields are being installed under the Mundial Social 2026 program, a federally backed initiative that channels World Cup-related investment into community sports infrastructure across Mexico.
Federal Program Brings Fields to Remote Communities
The Mundial Social 2026 program operates separately from the professional stadium preparations for this summer’s FIFA World Cup, which kicks off June 11 in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. While FIFA and host cities focus on the 16 professional venues, the social program targets smaller communities that rarely see this kind of federal sports investment.
Mulegé municipality stretches across a vast section of central Baja California Sur. It includes the towns of Santa Rosalía, Mulegé, Guerrero Negro, and Vizcaíno, all of which are hours from the state capital of La Paz. The region is better known among tourists for whale watching in the Ojo de Liebre lagoon and the historic mission town of Mulegé than for organized sports facilities.
SEDATU Oversees the Construction
SEDATU, Mexico’s federal agency for territorial and urban development, is overseeing the construction. The agency coordinates land use and community infrastructure projects across the country. In Baja California Sur, Silvia Salas leads the state delegation and has been working with municipal authorities on the rollout.
The new fields feature synthetic turf rather than natural grass, a practical choice for the arid desert climate of central Baja California Sur, where water scarcity makes maintaining natural playing surfaces expensive and difficult.
Ramírez and Salas visited several construction sites during their tour, though the municipal government did not specify completion dates or total investment amounts for the projects. The fields are intended to give local youth and residents permanent facilities for organized soccer.
Mexico’s role as a co-host of the 2026 World Cup has spurred federal spending on sports infrastructure well beyond the three host cities of Mexico City, Guadalajara, and Monterrey. The Mundial Social program aims to leave a lasting footprint in communities that will not see any tournament matches but can still benefit from the global event.
This story was first reported by the Mulegé municipal government via its official website.