With the World Cup just two weeks away, piracy has become an unbeatable rival for official brands. According to reports from El Financiero, the illegal trade of sports merchandise is causing losses of between 10 and 30 percent in sales for companies like Nike, Adidas, Puma, and FIFA itself.
Santiago Nieto Castillo, head of the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property (IMPI), warned that the economic impact is massive. "To give you an example, the 25 tons of goods seized in Tepito were worth about 15 million pesos; we are talking about figures that could reach up to 150 million pesos in lost sales of original merchandise that the public is no longer purchasing," the official noted. The phenomenon also hits employment hard, with nearly 70,000 jobs lost in the national textile industry, while piracy accounts for up to 8.8 percent of the national GDP.
Beyond physical merchandise, authorities have issued an alert regarding the rise in digital fraud. According to CNN Español, federal and local security agencies have warned that scammers are using social media and sponsored content to offer fake tickets and non-existent products, pressuring users with "limited-time" offers to steal banking data. In 2024, fraud became the most common crime in Mexico, with a rate of 7,574 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, with more than 40,000 victims recorded between January and April of this year.
To safeguard the event, FIFA has registered more than 300 trademarks with the IMPI, implementing "Clean Zone" operations at stadiums and Fan Fest venues. In the digital realm, they have succeeded in shutting down 158 websites. However, experts like José Antonio Arochi, of the firm Arochi & Lindner, describe the problem as a cultural "snowball," noting that piracy is even incorporating artificial intelligence to optimize its supply chains.
At the same time, the tourism sector is facing its own challenges. As reported by Xataka México, citing data from Milenio, the hotel market—especially in Guadalajara—is experiencing low demand. After a wave of price hikes that saw rates spike by up to 1,000% earlier this year, occupancy remains between 30% and 35%. This has forced hotels to slash prices by 67% to 81% and eliminate minimum stay requirements to incentivize last-minute bookings, as initial forecasts of full capacity have failed to materialize.
