Real Apodaca - The Tip of Mexico's New Match-Fixing Iceberg

Mexico is becoming one of the fastest-growing countries for football match-fixing, after years of relative calm. The recent Real Apodaca case reveals why.

On a warm autumn evening in 2024, Real Apodaca took the field in a suburban Monterrey stadium, looking like any other team in Mexico’s third division.

Just a year earlier, hardly anyone outside the northern state of Nuevo León knew their name. But now, thanks to a social media whirlwind, Real Apodaca had become a national sensation. It started as an experiment: inspired by an Argentine influencer who turned a tiny Swiss fifth-division side into an online phenomenon, Mexican TikToker Diego de la Mora chose Real Apodaca as his pet project​. He invited his followers, numbering more than 1 million, to follow the club.

In a matter of days, the club’s follower count went from just over 500 to 30,000.