The 2026 World Cup succeeded in attracting crowds, filling stadiums, and igniting the enthusiasm of millions of fans in Mexico, but it was unable to achieve the great economic impact that the authorities were betting on, in light of weak investment and the continuing state of uncertainty related to the review of the North American Free Trade Agreement between Mexico, the United States, and Canada.
Mexico hosted 13 matches out of the 104 matches in the tournament, within the version that was held jointly in Mexico, Canada and the United States over the course of more than a month.
Despite official expectations that the global event would contribute to supporting the local economy, the results were limited, as Mexico’s gross domestic product contracted by 0.6% during the first quarter of 2026, and the International Monetary Fund reduced its expectations for the growth of the Mexican economy during the year from 1.6% to 1.2%.
Humberto Calzada, chief economist at Rankia Financial Corporation, said that the World Cup will not lead to a structural change in the course of the Mexican economy, noting that the impact of the tournament is limited to a short-term economic boost.
The Mexican Banorte Bank reduced its estimate of the tournament’s contribution to the gross domestic product to between 0.4% and 0.5%, after previous expectations indicated the possibility of it reaching 0.62%.
The National Bank of Banamex estimated the total economic impact of the World Cup on Mexico at about two billion dollars, equivalent to about 0.1% of the size of the economy, a figure that is significantly lower than the value of remittances from Mexicans residing abroad, which amounted to 5.6 billion dollars in just one month.
For its part, Deloitte expected that the tournament would create about 100,000 temporary jobs in Mexico, but it reduced its previous estimate by 10%.
Data from the Spanish bank BBVA also showed that the household consumption index in Mexico declined by 0.2% on a monthly basis in June, with spending on hotels falling by 10.5% and restaurants by 4.9%, despite spending on the entertainment sector increasing by 16.5%.
The impact of the tournament was varied between the three Mexican cities hosting the matches, namely Mexico City, Guadalajara, and Monterrey. The Mexican Restaurant Association indicated that about half of its affiliated institutions recorded lower than usual performance, due to poor hotel occupancy and the protests witnessed in the capital.
Aviation sector indicators were also mixed, as Guadalajara and Monterrey recorded a slight increase in the number of passengers during June, while the number of passengers declined at the main airport in the capital, Mexico City.
Analysts believe that the future of the Mexican economy is still linked to factors greater than the impact of the tournament, most notably the stability of trade relations with the United States and Canada and the future of the North American Free Trade Agreement.
