A star Mexican soccer player-turned-politician who is well known in South Korea is lacing up his shoes to run for mayor of Mexico City, the country’s No. 2 political office. According to major Mexican newspapers such as El Financiero and El Universal on Thursday (local time), Morelos Gov. Quautemoc Blanco, 50, held a press conference the previous afternoon and said, “I will participate in the intra-party contest to run for mayor of Mexico City. “Blanco, a member of the ruling National Reconstruction Movement (MORENA), was born in Tepito, in the center of Mexico City. He is best known for his soccer career as a striker, scoring more than 250 goals both domestically and internationally. Blanco was particularly famous for his unique dribbling moves against the South Korean national team in the group stage of the 1998 World Cup in France. The technique, which involves catching the ball between the ankles and then jumping up to disrupt the defense, was described as “humiliating” to the opposing defenders. The dribble, commonly called the “frog jump” in South Korea, was named “kwautemina” after Blanco .After retiring from the game in 2015, Blanco went straight into politics, winning election as mayor of Cuernavaca, the capital of the state of Morelos, the same year, and then as governor of Morelos in 2018.The general consensus in the local media is that Blanco’s challenge to the mayor of Mexico City is a big one, as he is the country’s “number two” politician after the president. Current President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and next year’s presidential candidate Claudia Sheinbaum both served as mayors of Mexico City. Given the ruling party’s high approval ratings in the metropolitan area, Blanco’s main rivals include former Mexico City Public Safety Secretary Omar Garcia Harpuch and Mexico City’s Istapalapa District Mayor Clara Brugada. Harpuch, in particular, is a close associate of former Mayor Scheinbaum.”I don’t know if (Harpuch) is a favorite of Mayor Sheinbaum, but the final decision maker is the citizenry,” Blanco said, adding that he is confident that “elections are like soccer, the best will win.” Mexico City’s 안전놀이터 mayoral election will be held next June 2, alongside the presidential election.