The Federación Mexicana de Fútbol (FMF), together with Soccer United Marketing (SUM) and the San Jose Earthquakes, today announced the Mexican National Team’s 2009 U.S. Tour will kick off on Wednesday, January 28 against the Swedish National Team at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum at 7:30 pm PT (TV: Telemundo, Radio: Futbol de Primera), setting up an exciting match up between Mexico’s head coach Sven-Göran Eriksson and his native country where he enjoys superstar status.

The popular Mexican National Team will play five games on U.S. soil in 2009, which will mark the sixth edition of the annual tour. 

Tickets starting as low as $20 for the January 28 match at McAfee Coliseum go on sale today, December 3, 2008 in an exclusive Visa presale. Visa cardholders should visit Tickets.com to purchase tickets with their Visa cards.  Tickets to the general public will go on sale on December 15 and will be available by visiting Tickets.com or calling 1-800-225-2277 and 1-877-QUAKE-01.  The Federación Mexicana de Fútbol encourages its fans to use their Visa cards. 

Mexico vs. Sweden – January 28

Mexico and Sweden have met on eight occasions all-time, with two wins and three ties for the “Tricolor.” The last match between the two on U.S. soil was played on January 26, 2004 in San Diego, California, ending in a 0-0 draw. The upcoming January match will mark Mexico’s return to Oakland where it has played many times, most recently in a 4-2 win over Ecuador on March 28, 2007 in front of a sold out crowd of 47,000 fans.  More recently on March 2, 2008, the Under-23 teams of Mexico and Australia tied 1-1 at the then-named McAfee Coliseum once again in front of a sold-out crowd.

Following its qualification to the Final Round of World Cup Qualification in the CONCACAF region, Mexico will start its quest for a ticket to South Africa against its biggest rival the United States in a venue to be determined in the United States on February 2, 2008.  The match against Sweden is the team’s only preparatory match before it starts the next round of Qualification. 

Sweden, who has qualified for the last two World Cups and made the second round in both, is currently in 5th place with a 1-2-0 record in Group One of UEFA World Cup Qualifying.  Prior to the match against Mexico, Sweden will face the United States on Saturday, January 24 at the Home Depot Center. 

The Mexican National team’s U.S. tour not only allows its U.S.-based fans to witness team’s matches first hand, but also allows the team to play top class opponents while strengthening its player pool in preparation for major international tournaments.

Returning for the Mexican National Team’s 2009 U.S. Tour are the following sponsors: adidas, Allstate, Budweiser, Chase, AT&T, Coca-Cola, Cuervo, Makita, McDonald’s, NAPA, The Home Depot Center and Visa. The tour sponsors will again make the national team’s matches an all-day event, with its participation in Futbol Fiesta, an interactive zone that spans more than 100,000 square feet at every game and includes live music, games, celebrities and thousands of promotional items.

Mexican National Team – 2008 U.S. Tour Results

Date                  Opponent          City                                           Stadium             Score                Attendance
April 16             China                Seattle, WA                               Qwest Field                   1-0                   56, 416
June 4               Argentina          San Diego, CA                            Qualcomm                     1-4                   68, 498
June 8               Peru                  Chicago, IL                                Soldier Field                  4-0                   33, 608
September 24    Chile                 Los Angeles, CA                         Los Angeles Coliseum     0-1                   32,924 
November 12     Ecuador             Phoenix, AZ                               Chase Field                    2-1                   25,587

About Soccer United Marketing

Founded in 2002, Soccer United Marketing (SUM) is the preeminent soccer business company in North America. SUM holds the exclusive rights to the most important soccer properties in the region, including: all commercial rights to Major League Soccer; the United States Soccer Federation; promotional and marketing rights to Mexican National Team games played in the United States; the marketing and promotion of the CONCACAF Gold Cup™, and marketing, promotional and broadcast rights to the prestigious eight-team Mexican club tournament - InterLiga™. SUM also manages promotional and marketing rights in the United States for Mexico's most popular sports team, Club Deportivo Guadalajara (Chivas).

In addition, SUM created SuperLiga, the innovative professional tournament between MLS and Mexico's First Division clubs that debuted in 2007, as well as the Pan-Pacific Championship 2008, an international soccer tournament that crowns the top club from the Pan Pacific region. In 2008 SUM entered into a long term partnership with FC Barcelona which includes tours of the legendary Spanish club.  These global properties are represented by SUM's slogan: One Sport. One Company.™ For more information, please visit www.SUMworld.com.

About Visa Inc.

Visa Inc. operates the world's largest retail electronic payments network providing processing services and payment product platforms.  This includes consumer credit, debit, prepaid and commercial payments, which are offered under the Visa, Visa Electron, Interlink and PLUS brands.  Visa enjoys unsurpassed acceptance around the world, and Visa/PLUS is one of the world's largest global ATM networks, offering cash access in local currency in more than 170 countries.  For more information, visit www.corporate.visa.com