'It's a unique pitch': Mexican volcano crater hosts football matches


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A volcano crater is not an obvious venue for a football match, but that's where a referee blows the whistle for kick off each weekend on the outskirts of Mexico City.

"It's a unique pitch," said 32-year-old player Adrian Garcia, a graphic designer by profession.

"It's very nice to come here to distract yourself, to relax, with friends and family," he added.

The inactive Teoca volcano rises around 8,900 feet above sea level in the district of Xochimilco, a green lung in the southeast of the sprawling megacity.

About 10 teams belonging to an amateur league play in its crater on weekends.

The area was once a ceremonial centre, but after falling into disuse, it was transformed into a football venue.

"The pitch must be about 70 years old," said league representative Joel Becerril.

"They used to carry me up here when I was a child," he added.

A single road reaches the summit, as well as an 18-kilometer hiking trail up the volcano's forested slopes.

According to experts from the National Autonomous University of Mexico, there are more than 200 volcanoes, most of them inactive, in the south of Mexico City and on the border with the neighboring state of Morelos.

Mexico sits in the world's most seismically and volcanically active zone, known as the Ring of Fire, where the Pacific plate meets surrounding tectonic plates.

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Updated: July 11, 2023, 4:12 AM`