Jaime “Jimmy” Lozano will be in charge of leading the Mexico National Football Team through the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the Mexican Football Federation (FMF) announced Thursday.
The 2023 CONCACAF Gold Cup title run convinced the federation to keep Lozano and he will now be in charge of attempting to reach the quarter-finals stage of the World Cup as hosts of the tournament. Last time El Tri moved past the Round of 16 match was in Mexico 1986.
There will be an evaluation process after the 2024 Copa America to see if Lozano is moving in the right direction. He has full support from his players, so it’s unlikely they’ll boot him for subpar results up to that instance
Ivar Sisniega, president of the FMF, shared a video to hix X (Twitter) account to announce the continuation of the “LamborJimmy” project.
“I am pleased to officially inform you that we have chosen Jaime Lozano to head the project for the 2026 World Cup,” said Sisniega. “We did talk to the players, because their opinion is important, but this is only one of the factors that we took into account to make the decision.”
Jimmy Lozano has nothing to prove
Lozano, 44, won the Gold Cup as interim coach following the departure of Diego Cocca, but it’s not his first championship with Mexico.
He led Mexico to a bronze medal finish at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in 2021 with a victory over Japan.
Lozano has now revived a Mexico team which showed no strength at the 2023 CONCACAF Nations League, where they lost to the USMNT in the final.
He becomes the first Mexican head coach to lead El Tri since Miguel Herrera was fired in 2015.
Next games for Jimmy Lozano and El Tri
The next challenge for Lozano is a series of friendly matches, including against Australia (September 9 in Dallas) and Uzbekistan (September 12 in Atlanta).
Mexico will also face Ghana on October 14 and take on Germany three days later.
In a second video, Duilio Davino, who was also ratified as sporting director of El Tri, informed that throughout this process, the national and Olympic teams will work together.
They will take advantage of the fact that Mexico will not participate in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games to offer a wider range of young players for the senior national team.