How a 3,400-year-old ballgame survives in Mexico against all odds

MexicoHow a 3,400-year-old ballgame survives in Mexico against all oddsMexico is embracing its ancient ballgame, ulama, as it prepares to co-host the 2026 FIFA World Cup. This 3,400-year-old sport, nearly erased during the Spanish conquest, is gaining attention alongside international soccer.Listen to this article with a free account00:0000:00Youth play ulama, a traditional Mesoamerican ballgame dating to pre-Hispanic times, in Los Llanitos on the outskirts of Mazatlan, Mexico, on April 25.Marco Ugarte / AP fileShareAdd NBC News to GoogleMay 9, 2026, 12:43 PM EDTBy The Associated PressOn a dirt field on Mexico’s Pacific coast, five cousins between the ages of 8 and 13 strip down and kick off their shoes. Nearby, adults help them fasten the pre-Hispanic-style “fajado,” securing loincloths and leather belts that wrap around their hips.Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.The Osuna children grab the rubber ball, all 3.2 kilograms of it — around 7 pounds or seven times heavier than a soccer ball — and begin playing. Only the hips may touch it, forcing players to leap through the air or dive low when it skims the ground.As Mexico prepares to co-host the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the nation is looking back 3,400 years to one of the oldest team sports: the ancient ballgame known as ulama, a ritual practice nearly erased during the Spanish conquest that survived only in the remote pockets of northwestern Mexico before its late 20th-century rebirth. Today, authorities and its modern players are leveraging the momentum of international soccer to shine a spotlight on the ancient sport once again.While players acknowledge that tourism fueled the sport’s revival, many worry that projecting an “exotic” image undermines a tradition central to their identity.“We must rid the game of the notion that it is a living fossil,” said Emilie Carreón, a researcher at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, UNAM, and director of...