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Mexico Opens Antitrust Investigation Into Professional Soccer

By  |  September 15, 2026
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Mexico’s competition regulator has opened an investigation into possible monopolistic practices in professional soccer, bringing fresh regulatory scrutiny to the country’s long-running dispute over promotion and relegation.

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    The National Antitrust Commission, known as CNA, said it found sufficient grounds to begin a formal investigation into potential anticompetitive conduct in the Mexican professional soccer market, according to ESPN. The inquiry followed complaints from supporters and comes amid mounting pressure from lower-division clubs and players seeking a path into the country’s top league.

    Promotion and relegation — the system under which successful lower-division clubs can advance to the top flight while poorly performing teams move down — is at the center of the dispute. Second-tier players and clubs have protested in recent weeks over the continued absence of that mechanism, ESPN reported.

    Mexico’s soccer federation, known as FMF, suspended promotion and relegation in 2019, with the system expected to return by 2026. Owners of Liga MX’s 18 clubs approved a six-season suspension, arguing the move would give second-division teams greater financial and operational stability, according to ESPN. The outlet reported that there are currently no active plans to restore the system.

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    The issue has also moved into international sports arbitration. Lower-division clubs have challenged the arrangements before the Court of Arbitration for Sport, including an additional appeal filed in August, ESPN reported. A CAS decision last year appeared to create a route for promotion and relegation to resume, but implementation details did not follow and the system remained suspended.

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    The FMF has maintained that lower-tier clubs can qualify for promotion if they satisfy a set of operational requirements. Those standards include minimum stadium-capacity rules that, according to ESPN, are not met by some clubs already competing in Mexico’s first division.

    The CNA said its investigative authority had reviewed developments in recent months and determined that evidence justified opening an inquiry into possible monopolistic conduct. The regulator stressed that launching the proceeding does not amount to a finding that the federation or other parties violated competition rules, according to ESPN.

    The potential financial consequences could nevertheless be significant. If authorities ultimately establish anticompetitive liability, the FMF could face a penalty of as much as 10% of its annual revenue, ESPN reported.

    The investigation adds a government competition-law dimension to a dispute that has largely played out among club owners, soccer administrators, lower-division teams and sports arbitrators. Its outcome could influence not only the structure of Mexico’s professional leagues but also the conditions under which clubs are able to enter the country’s highest level of competition.

    Source: ESPN