To understand how invested fans are in the Mexican Men’s National Team, consider three key stats from the 2022 World Cup:
- The Mexican National Team’s World Cup jersey was Adidas’ top-selling national team jersey in 2022 across the globe.¹
- Fans from Mexico represented the largest group of Latin Americans traveling to Qatar for Group Stage matches, a larger cohort than fans from tournament favorites Brazil and Argentina. The Mexican National Team’s Group Stage match against ultimate champion Argentina drew nearly 89,000 spectators, the highest World Cup match attendance since the 1994 final.²
- And the match against Argentina broke viewership records across U.S. Spanish-language TV, with 6.3 million viewers.³ It was the most viewed single match across linear including the final, as well as the second-most streamed World Cup match in history with 2.1 million streams.⁴
Soccer aficionados are passionate about their sport and their clubs. But fans of the Mexican National Team take it to the next level, and new research shows how the enthusiasm for the team spills over to its brand partners.
“The Mexican National Team is the premier Hispanic property in sports across North America,” said Pablo Zarate, VP of properties for Soccer United Marketing. “Their matches are one of the most-watched, most-attended soccer events among any national team in the world. There is nothing like the interest and passion these fans have for their team.”
A home away from home
In addition to a legion of supporters within its borders, the Mexican National Team has 60 million followers in the U.S.,⁵ the team’s home away from home. Many of those U.S. fans are Mexican American, but others have roots in Latin American countries that often don’t have representation at the World Cup.
In addition, Zarate said, “Our audience is multi-generational. The team is followed largely by first generation Mexican Americans, as well as an avid second- and third-generation group of young bicultural, tech-savvy digital natives.” This reflects the fact that nearly one-fourth of all Americans between the ages of 6 and 34 are Hispanic.⁶
“Our younger fans have a real passion for this team, even some who are second- or third-generation Americans, because support for the Mexican National Team is ingrained in the Hispanic culture and is a fundamental part of who they are,” Zarate said.
For example, when it comes to international tournaments like Concacaf Gold Cup and the FIFA World Cup, Zarate noted “There is a duality of fandom that is perhaps unique to this particular cohort: Hispanic American fans proudly support both the U.S. and Mexican National Teams. However when the U.S. and Mexico compete head to head, these same Hispanic American fans will primarily root for the Mexican National Team.”
New quantitative research conducted by Endeavor Analytics measures the fan passion around the Mexican National Team. The findings pinpoint the emotions fans have about the Mexican National Team, including intense feelings of pride and a connection to their heritage. Among the team’s core fans, 89% said they take pride in supporting the Mexican National Team, while 43% of core fans said the idea of “heritage” comes to mind when thinking about the team.⁷
“This is a fan base that is all in, fully immersed into the team and their performance,” said Zack Rose, senior VP at Endeavor Analytics. “Many of these fans are born into it. It’s just part of you.”
Rose added that Mexican National Team fans consume any and all content they can find about the team, travel just about anywhere to support them—as seen at the last World Cup—and also are loyal to their fandom during the highs and the lows.