Pétanque in Mexico

Mexican pétanque traces its roots to Baja California's wine country, where regular contact with French winegrowers in the Valle de Guadalupe and visiting players from nearby San Diego turned a casual pastime into the seed of a national federation. From that start in Ensenada, the sport has since spread to clubs in Mexico City, Guadalajara, Querétaro, and Mérida, with the federation itself naming San Luis Potosí as the country's second pétanque epicenter.

History

Lunes de Petank, founded in 2010 in El Sauzal, Ensenada, is recognized as Mexico's first organized pétanque club - a group that got its name from playing every Monday ("lunes") in San Miguel. Growing out of that circle, the Federación Mexicana de Petanca (FedMex) was registered in January 2011 with founding president David Martínez Garza, also of Lunes de Petank, and the federation affiliated with the FIPJP the same year in time to send a team to the 2012 Men's Triples World Championship in Marseille. After Marseille, Mexico returned to the world stage at World Championships in Canada (2018), Spain (2021), Benin (2023), Dijon (2024), and Rome and France (2025).

The real takeoff came in 2021, when Mexico City hosted the first Pan-American Pétanque Tournament with Canada, the United States, and Peru; the national qualifier held to pick Mexico's team drew just 12 clubs and 120 players. Since 2022, FedMex has been led by president Adlai Pulido, who is also sporting director of the Pan-American Petanque Confederation. Under his presidency Mexico took its first women's team to a World Championship, in Thailand.

The Federation (FedMex)

FedMex is headquartered at Calle Hidalgo 48 in El Sauzal de Rodríguez, Ensenada, Baja California - the same wine-country stretch where Lunes de Petank, Club +Petanca, and Chanté Club all sit within about 30 km of each other. The federation groups its affiliated clubs into regions covering Baja California/Norte, Bajío, Centro (including Mexico City), Occidente, and the Sur, with 24 official clubs nationwide and about 400 registered players, including 94 women. FedMex represents Mexico at the FIPJP and is one of the more active members of the Pan-American Petanque Confederation, alongside Canada and the United States.

Mexico's first true national championship followed regional qualifying competitions held in 2023, bringing together teams from across the country's regions to compete in men's and women's doubles and triples.

Federation Contact

FedMex's national office is at Calle Hidalgo 48, El Sauzal de Rodríguez, Ensenada, Baja California 22800, Mexico. General enquiries can be sent to mexico@fedmexpetanca.org (secretariat matters to secretario@fedmexpetanca.org) or by phone at (+52) 1 646 151 3039.

Major Tournaments

FedMex's annual calendar includes several international-caliber open tournaments, reflecting the sport's spread beyond its Baja California birthplace:

Ensenada Opens: Two open tournaments held annually in the federation's home city, drawing on its proximity to Southern California's pétanque scene.
Guadalajara Open: An annual open tournament representing the Occidente region.
Querétaro Open: An annual open tournament in the Bajío region.
Mérida Open: An annual open tournament representing the Yucatán Peninsula, one of the country's newer pétanque hubs.
Campeonato Nacional (National Championship): FedMex's flagship national event for triples and doubles, men's and women's, held since regional qualifiers began in 2023. At the 2025 Nacionales, Tania Gallardo topped the podium in three separate categories - women's doubles (with Ana Farías), mixed doubles (with Regis Codron), and women's triples (with Ana Farías and Marcia Hernández) - while Gustavo Aguilera, Jaasiel Gutiérrez, and Gilberto Estrada won the men's triples title.

National Competition Calendar

FedMex publishes a full-season calendar each year; the 2026 edition, released as a downloadable document from the federation's own calendario-2026 page, lays out the following domestic fixtures alongside training camps and Mexico's outbound trips to international qualifiers:

4th Open Puerto Vallarta - 9-11 January 2026, doubles, hosted by Las Bolas Saladas.
4th Open Mérida - 7-8 February 2026, doubles, at Universidad Modelo, hosted by Club Petanca Mérida.
4th Torneo de la Amistad - 14-16 February 2026, doubles, León (hosted by Haz Hilo).
5th Open Querétaro - 20-22 March 2026, triples, in Ezequiel Montes, hosted by Club Belle Boule.
5th Torneo de la Amistad Petanquera - 1-3 May 2026, doubles, León (Haz Hilo).
XVII Torneo Abierto Mexicano de Petanca - May 2026 (no exact dates published), doubles, Ensenada, hosted by Lunes de Petank.
4th Abierto Charro de Petanca Guadalajara - July 2026 (no exact dates published), doubles, hosted by PetanClub GDL.
Open + Petanca, 3rd edition - September 2026 (no exact dates published), doubles, Ensenada, hosted by Club +Petanca.
Regionales 2026 - May to September 2026, the regional qualifying rounds for the nationals in men's and women's doubles and triples plus mixed doubles.
3rd Open Internacional CDMX - 31 October-1 November 2026, doubles, at Petanca Pública Chapultepec in Mexico City.
Nacionales FEDMEX - Senior (the Campeonato Nacional) - 13-15 November 2026, doubles and triples across women's, men's, and mixed categories.
Nacionales FEDMEX - Junior - 21-22 November 2026, mixed doubles and triples.

The same calendar places Mexico's outbound international commitments alongside the domestic circuit: FFPJP/FIPJP-CIEP technical training camps in Mexico City (17-19 April and 26-29 October 2026), the Pan-American qualifier for women's and men's doubles (teams of four) in Lima, Peru (19-21 November 2026, run jointly with the Federación Peruana de Bochas), and the 52nd Men's Triples World Championship, listed as an FIPJP event abroad. Mexico's 4th-place finish at the November 2025 Pan-American qualifier in Iquique, Chile left it just outside the confederation's three qualifying places (see International Results below). The World Championship's host changed after the federation's calendar document was compiled: it was originally awarded to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, but moved to Khon Kaen University in Khon Kaen, Thailand, 20-24 November 2026, after the Malaysian organizer withdrew for lack of financial resources - see our 2026 World Championship preview for the full story. The federation's own history page describes the same backbone of five major international Open tournaments each year: two in Ensenada and one each in Guadalajara, Querétaro, and Mérida.

International Results

2025 was a breakthrough year for Mexican pétanque on the world stage, according to FedMex's own year-end report. For the first time in the federation's history, Mexico sent a team to a World Doubles Championship, competing in Rome, Italy across men's, women's, mixed, and individual doubles categories. Julia D'Acosta and Kyara Acosta represented Mexico in women's doubles (20th of 50 teams) and individual play, while Noel Magny and Diego Gutiérrez competed in men's doubles (40th of 50 teams) and mixed doubles (38th of 50 teams), coached by Sönke Backens of Germany.

Mexico also fielded a women's team at the World Triples Championship in Douai, France - played at the world's largest boulodrome - marking the national women's side's second appearance at that event. Julia Inés D'Acosta Ramos, Kyara Acosta Ramos, Karla Orozco Ruiz, and Mariana Sánchez finished 42nd of 45 teams under French coach François Gálvez; in precision shooting, Acosta placed 36th of 43 competitors, one point outside qualification, a personal best.

At the World Junior Championship in Isla Cristina, Spain, Mexico fielded its first-ever junior national team with a Mexican head coach, Luis Ariel Correa. Karla López, Mónica Iturralde, Carlos Vargas, and David Canche placed 36th and 50th of 58 teams across two mixed doubles entries, and 44th of 50 players in mixed triples.

Chasing a place at the 2026 Men's Triples World Championship, Mexico competed at the Pan-American qualifier in Iquique, Chile (5-7 November 2025), an eight-team event where the top three teams earned World Championship berths: per FIPJP's results report, the United States, the Dominican Republic, and Argentina, in that order. Javier Guzmán, Mario Guzmán, and Esteban Palafox, coached by American Will Poire, finished 4th overall, one place short of qualification, after losing 13-0 to Argentina for the third berth (FIPJP's report lists only the top three, so it neither confirms nor contradicts Mexico's 4th place). Mexican referee Vanesa Zoreda, who had also officiated at the 2024 ODESUR Games, refereed the Iquique event and was subsequently selected to referee the 2026 Pan-American doubles qualifier in Peru.

Clubs & Hotspots

Lunes de Petank remains the federation's core club, playing on 12 courts in El Sauzal and serving as the historical and administrative heart of Mexican pétanque. In Mexico City, Club Petanca Roma was the country's first dedicated pétanque restaurant-bar, running four courts alongside food and drink service in the Roma Norte neighborhood, while Club de Petanca Coyoacán organizes tournaments at local venues in the capital's south. Beyond Baja California and Mexico City, clubs and informal groups play in Guadalajara, Querétaro, and Mérida, tracking the federation's five-region structure.