Carlos Hermosillo Exposes Corruption and Alleged Match Fixing in Mexican Third Division

Mexican football legend Carlos Hermosillo has made new explosive allegations against the country’s lower leagues, claiming the Liga TDP (Third Division) is plagued by corruption and possibly match fixing. In an interview with TUDN, Hermosillo, who owns Atlético Real Morelos 27, denounced what he described as a lucrative scheme surrounding fines and suspensions issued by match officials.

According to Hermosillo, teams are routinely fined for yellow cards and crowd behavior. “Typically, four or five players are booked per match at 500 pesos each. If the crowd makes a sound the referee doesn’t like, it's a 1,000-peso fine,” he said. Based on the league’s 360 clubs, TUDN reports that the Liga TDP could be collecting over 900,000 pesos per matchday just from disciplinary sanctions.

Hermosillo’s most serious claim, however, involves the suspicion of match fixing. He alleges that, during his team’s most recent fixture, referees were overheard planning to deliberately send off two of his players. “They said, ‘We have to expel number 18 and number 4.’ With this going on, how are we supposed to keep investing?” he stated. The former striker also drew parallels to recent scandals in the Liga Premier, another division under scrutiny for similar issues.

These revelations highlight deep-rooted issues in Mexico’s football development system, where young talent often falls victim to administrative mismanagement and opaque operations, raising concerns about the sport’s integrity at grassroots levels.