Antonio Mohamed is widely regarded as one of the best managers in Liga MX history, but soon after conquering the Apertura 2025 season with Toluca, the Argentine boss emphatically shut down any hopes of one day seeing him managing the Mexico national team.
“El Turco” led Toluca to back-to-back titles in 2025, lifting his fourth and fifth career Liga MX trophies to become one of the most decorated managers in competition history.
His sustained success in Mexico’s top flight have resulted in plenty of calls for him to become El Tri’s manager. Mohamed was tempted in the past, but he recently revealed he has no plans of ever managing Mexico.
“No, I already said I will never [manage Mexico],” Mohamed told ESPN. “Maybe one day I will regret it, but that’s it. There are things that hurt me and that’s that, never.”
In a separate interview with TUDN, Mohamed added: “I felt like I was in talks [to become Mexico’s manager] because I was one of the bunch, but I was never really. considered. So that’s it, the train has passed and I think the national team already chronologically ordered what will happen [in the future].”
Mohamed was one of the main candidates to take over El Tri following Jaime Lozano’s dismissal after the 2024 Copa América. In the end, Javier Aguirre returned for his third stint with El Tri, ending any potential hope of ever seeing Mohamed at the helm.
Who Will be Mexico’s Next Manager?
As Mohamed mentioned, El Tri already have a succession plan in place for legendary center back Rafael Márquez to take over from Aguirre after the 2026 World Cup.
Márquez represented El Tri in five World Cups during his career and is one of the greatest players the country has ever produced. After retiring in 2018, he returned to Barcelona, where he spent the best years of his career, to start his managerial preparation.
“El Kaiser” spent a season managing Barça Atlètic—Barcelona’s B team—but everything changed when Aguirre returned to El Tri. The Mexican soccer federation poached Márquez away from Barcelona, integrating him to Aguirre’s El Tri staff with the promise he will inherit the managerial role to kick off Mexico’s process towards the 2030 World Cup.
Aguirre, the manager that gave Márquez his World Cup debut in 2002, is now mentoring him during the infancy of his managerial career.
After changing managers four times in less than two years, Mexico is trying to find some stability in the dugout. If all goes according to plan, El Tri already knows who will be on the touchline for the rest of the decade.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Mexico National Team Snubbed by One of Liga MX’s Greatest Ever Managers.