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The Uruguayan men’s national football team saw their 2026 FIFA World Cup campaign get off to an eventful start yesterday after the aircraft that they were set to fly to Florida on was denied entry into the United States of America due to regulatory issues. This left the Uruguayan Football Association (AUF) scrambling to find a replacement aircraft, which eventually came in the form of an Aeromexico jet.
While the team’s first two group stage games at this year’s expanded iteration of the world’s leading men’s international football tournament are taking place in Miami, the third will be staged in Guadalajara in western Mexico. With this in mind, the AUF chose Mayakoba Complex in eastern Mexico as its base for the World Cup, with its location near Cancun serving as a useful halfway house.
A Delayed Departure
Later today, at 6:00 PM local time, Uruguay will kick off their 2026 FIFA World Cup campaign in Miami, Florida, as they face off against Saudi Arabia at Hard Rock Stadium. However, as reported by The Independent, their journey there was an eventful one, with the site quoting an AUF spokesperson as saying that “due to problems beyond the control of the AUF, the departure [was] delayed.”
The problems pertained to the paperwork of the aircraft that had been chartered to fly the team to Florida from Mexico. Specifically, AS reported that the plane did not have the required documentation to enter American airspace under US regulations. The AUF thus had to scramble to find another aircraft, and blamed tournament organiser FIFA for the mix-up. The Mirror quoted a FIFA spokesperson as saying:
“FIFA remained in close contact with the Uruguay national team throughout their delay and worked alongside airport and operational partners to help expedite the process and minimise disruption to the team’s travel arrangements.”
The Team Eventually Flew On An Aeromexico Boeing 737
The Uruguayan delegation had reportedly been set a deadline of 7:00 PM local time yesterday for its entry into the US. After all, the squad’s enigmatic Argentinian manager and former Leeds United boss Marcelo Bielsa had been set to attend a pre-match press conference at the stadium in Miami at 8:00 PM local time yesterday evening. This did still take place, but somewhat later than planned.
Indeed, this was because, while a replacement aircraft was eventually able to be sourced, namely a Boeing 737 MAX 9 operated by the Mexican flag carrier and SkyTeam member Aeromexico, it didn’t land in Florida until almost half past seven local time. According to historical tracking data made available by Flightradar24, the flight, numbered as AM9687, departed Cancun (CUN) at 4:46 PM.
After one hour and 41 minutes in the air, the plane eventually touched down at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL), just outside Miami and only around 20 minutes from the stadium by road, at 7:27 PM. It seems that this isn’t the first time that this has happened to Uruguay: indeed, the above tweet from legendary striker Diego Forlan highlights a similar situation from back in 2010.
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More On The Replacement Aircraft
Thus far, the identity of the original aircraft that was supposed to fly the Uruguayan team to the US but did not have the required paperwork to do so remains unclear. However, as previously noted, what we do know is that the replacement plane was an Aeromexico Boeing 737 MAX 9. This aircraft bore the registration XA-MJJ, with current fleet data from ch-aviation showing that it is 4.33 years old.
Before its unplanned trip to the US, XA-MJJ’s last scheduled passenger flight had been a domestic service from Mexico City (MEX) to Cancun on the morning of July 14. This particular jet is one of 30 units of the Boeing 737 MAX 9 that Aeromexico currently has in its fleet, with these planes clocking in at an average age of just 3.3 years old. They have 181 seats on board: 16 in business and 165 in economy.
