Such a promising 2026 World Cup campaign seemingly placed Mexican soccer in perfect position to build on the summer success by working on fixing the issues that still plague it. Less than a month after Mexico’s World Cup journey ended, it’s already clear that any hope of positive change happening was nothing but a dream.
Mexico arrived at the 2026 World Cup having failed to progress past the group stage in its two most recent appearances at major international tournaments (2022 World Cup, 2024 Copa América). The first half of the decade was one of the most dire moments in Mexican soccer’s recent history, and as results worsened, fan discontent reached unprecedented heights.
Then came the 2026 World Cup and everything changed. It took Mexico just four wins and a valiant defeat against England to completely rebuild a previously fragmented relationship with its supporters in a matter of 25 days. It was a month in which El Tri and soccer’s power united a country—a month that platformed the Mexican soccer federation (FMF) in a dream position to continue the positive momentum as the 2030 cycle starts.
But ever since the World Cup ended, the federation hasn’t just opted to continue operating under its current, money-over-sport structure—it’s made decisions to further decline the quality of Mexican soccer.
Promotion, Relegation Death Sentence Inspires Protests
Promotion and relegation was a trademark feature of Liga MX ever since it was introduced during the 1991–92 season. Every year, a Liga MX side dropped to the Liga de Ascenso (Mexico’s second tier) and the champion from said league got promoted to the top-flight.
Then came the COVID-19 pandemic and everything changed. In April 2020, Liga MX owners (who essentially run FMF) ruled that promotion and relegation would be suspended in an effort to protect teams that were already dealing with significant losses due to the pandemic and the suspension of the Clausura 2020 season. Ever since, teams that finished bottom of the league paid significant fines instead of dropping out of Liga MX. The second flight became the Liga de Expansión.
The original decision said promotion and relegation would return in six years time. Fast forward to the start of the 2026–27 season, and that hasn’t happened. Instead, during the final week of the 2026 World Cup, Liga MX modified its competition guidelines without any explanation, handing promotion and relegation a death sentence.
“Based on the agreement taken by FMF’s executive committee, from the start of the 2026–27 season, Liga MX clubs won’t get relegated to the Liga de Expansión,” the new competition guidelines read, via Proceso. “At the same time, teams from Liga de Expansión won’t get promoted to Liga MX.”
🚨⚠️ THE PROTESTS IN LIGA DE EXPANSION ARE NOW BECOMING IMPOSSIBLE TO IGNORE.
— All Fútbol MX 🇲🇽 (@AllFutbolMX) July 26, 2026
Third match where the players refuse to play, forcing the referee to STOP THE GAME and speak with both captains.
The pressure on the federation is growing. ✊🏼🤯 pic.twitter.com/k9Gg9WKflL
A number of Liga de Expansión teams instantly released statements vehemently rejecting and opposing the decision. Espansión’s season started over the weekend and there were protests against the measure in three of the seven games of Matchday 1, with players refusing to play once the starting whistle blew, simply passing the ball around at the back without moving from their positions.
Eventually the games got underway, but the protests stole headlines all over the nation. Regardless of the outrage, Liga MX hasn’t addressed the situation, knowing the league holds the power over the situation.
Last year, 10 Expansión teams filed a legal complaint with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to try and bring back promotion and relegation given the six-year window originally established was entering its final year. CAS ruled in Liga MX’s favor based on the fact that there was still a year left before the end of the six-year window. During the legal dispute, Liga MX threatened to remove the 10 Expansión clubs from the league's financial support plan.
Without promotion and relegation, Liga MX teams don’t have a tangible obligation to field competitive teams given there’s no real risk of them suffering significant consequences. The idea is that having a stable, unchanging 18-team field can attract more investors to financially boost the league, essentially turning soccer clubs into franchises, following the model of the league Liga MX appears growingly interested in becoming.
The Growing Desire to Copy MLS Has Hurt Mexican Soccer
It’s almost poetic that exactly one week after player protests in Expansión dominated headlines, Liga MX will play its final Gameweek before interrupting its calendar to first go compete in the MLS All-Star Game and then kick off the 2026 Leagues Cup.
Abolishing promotion and relegation is the clearest example of Liga MX and FMF’s desire to adopt MLS’s competition system and overall league structure. Furthermore, growing the relationship between leagues has become of paramount importance for FMF—particularly the commercial relationship.
The Leagues Cup, a month-long, inter-league tournament that until this year was solely played on U.S. soil, has forced Liga MX to significantly alter its calendar over the past three years. Two or three games into the season, Liga MX teams travel to America to play in the Leagues Cup, a tournament many clubs essentially utilize as an extended preseason so soon after the summer break. Since the tournament became an official competition in 2023, MLS teams have won every edition, without a Liga MX club ever making it to the final.
For Liga MX, the Leagues Cup—since its inception in a reduced format in 2019—was essentially a replacement for another international competition it used to participate in: the Copa Libertadores, which is South America’s version of the Champions League.
From 1998 until 2016, Liga MX team featured in the most competitive, prestigious and important soccer tournament on this side of the Atlantic ocean. Cruz Azul, Chivas and Tigres all were Copa Libertadores finalists. Club América once stunned Brazilian powerhouse Flamengo 3–0 at the Maracanà Stadium to eliminate them from the competition, and even modest clubs such as Atlas dispatched continental powerhouses like Boca Juniors.
But in 2016, FMF decided that a modification of the Copa Libertadores calendar—which would’ve forced Liga MX to alter its schedule—made featuring in the competition no longer worth it. Three years later, the Leagues Cup was born, and now, FMF has no issue tweaking Liga MX’s calendar in order to participate in the tournament.
It’s evident that for FMF and Liga MX, the Leagues Cup is a significantly more profitable tournament, and continuing to grow a commercial relationship with a league based in a country which is home to millions of Mexican soccer fans is key to their financial model. That goes above all else.
In Mexican Soccer, Cash Is King
Mexican soccer, FMF and Liga MX are structured in a way that dramatically prioritizes maximizing every possible profit. Bringing in as much money as possible is the be-all-end-all. Establishing a competitive sporting structure comes far behind in the list of priorities.
From abolishing promotion and relegation to trying to imitate the model of an inferior league—the results of the Concacaf Champions Cup this century speak for themselves—to passing on the opportunity of playing against the best teams in the continent, every major FMF decision over the past decade has prioritized Mexican soccer’s economic benefit over sporting improvement.
Individually, Liga MX teams aren’t much different. After a strong World Cup campaign, a number of El Tri talents looked bound for a major European move. So far, not a single player from Mexico’s World Cup squad has left Liga MX for Europe, and not for a lack of interest. Club América are reportedly out-pricing AS Roma’s intention to land center back Israel Reyes.
Cash is king in Mexican soccer, and everything that’s transpired over the past month reflects exactly that. The system in place compromises Mexico’s ability to improve on the pitch, and the issues slowly funnel their way all the way up until the national team—as was evidenced by the dreadful results to start the decade.
Mexico endured a fairytale 25 days during its 2026 World Cup campaign, a moment in time in which a team maximized its potential and captured the hearts and minds of the country. Less than a month since El Tri’s journey ended, it’s starting to become clear not only improving on that result, but even replicating it come the 2030 World Cup might be optimistic.
