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Around 4,500 people braved the cold Tuesday night to watch Forge FC face off against Tigres UANL from Nuevo Leon, Mexico, for the first round of the CONCACAF Champions Cup.
'A big Mexican team comes here and we're going to come and back them,' said fan at Tuesday game
Aura Carreño Rosas · CBC News
· Posted: Feb 04, 2026 3:35 PM EST | Last Updated: 4 minutes ago
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More than 4,500 people braved the cold Tuesday night in Hamilton to watch Forge FC face off against Tigres UANL from Nuevo Leon, Mexico, for the first round of the CONCACAF Champions Cup.
For two hours, fans faced freezing temperatures of around –13, with wind chill, at the Hamilton Stadium.
It was Juan Perez's second time in Hamilton to support a team from Mexico. Perez lives in Vaughan, Ont., but is "Mexican to the bone," he said in an interview translated from Spanish.
"I feel like it's a really nice night because we've come to watch good soccer and we're having fun seeing great players," he said.
Like him, many in the crowd were there to support Mexico, while bundled up in hats, scarves and warm jackets. They showed their support with Mexican flags and Spanish-language chants, singing and yelling.
Perez and his friend, Vidal Ibarra, bought tickets around a month ago. Ibarra said he knew that "no matter the temperature, we would have come to support."
"The Latin soul," he said in an interview translated from Spanish, "we're like that us Latin Americans, a big Mexican team comes here and we're going to come and back them."
Forge fans, meanwhile, could be seen throughout the stands as well, dressed in orange. The loudest of the team's supporters stood in the northeast section, banging drums and chanting, "Soy Hamilton."
Forge and the Tigres had a scoreless draw on Tuesday.
The second game between the teams is set for next week, Feb. 10, at Estadio Universitario in Monterrey.
The CONCACAF Champions Cup is an international competition organized by CONCACAF as its top continental tournament for clubs from North America, Central America and the Caribbean.
The champion automatically qualify for the FIFA Club World Cup and the FIFA Intercontinental Cup.
Hamilton resident Mariana Martinez, who is also from Mexico, said she attends these games every year.
"Tonight is very cold," she said in an interview translated from Spanish, "but this is fun, it's good to be here with friends and enjoy the soccer match."
Alex Llamas, another Mexican fan who attended the game with two others, said he prepared for the cold by wearing a shirt, his jacket, gloves, a good hat and his "support for Mexico."
"It's cold [but] I like it, the atmosphere is very nice," he said in Spanish.
Llamas said he liked being around so many other Mexican compatriots.
Tigres had the ball most of the game
The Tigres, who compete in the Mexican opt division Liga M-X, had eight shots on target and eight corners but ultimately could not beat Forge's keeper Dimitry Bertaud.
Los Tigres outshot Forge 10-2 in the first half and had the ball 72 per cent of the time and had seven corners compared to the hosts' one.
Los Tigres had more fouls (12-11) and Forge took the game's only yellow card and had four corners and three shots on target.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Aura Carreño Rosas is a reporter at CBC Hamilton. She's originally from Venezuela. She has extensive experience in covering stories about immigrants and migrant workers as well as interesting people with diverse journeys. You can contact her at aura.carreno.rosas@cbc.ca
With files from Eva Salinas, The Canadian Press
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