When Mexico faces Portugal on the field, something peculiar happens in the streets of Mexico City (CDMX): the numbers skyrocket in a way that reveals much more than simple football enthusiasm. It’s a phenomenon of mass consumption that concentrates a quarter of all digital activity in mobility and home deliveries in the country.
The Numbers of Organized Chaos
During the friendly match between Mexico and Portugal on May 22, 2026, the DiDi platform registered approximately 700,000 trips in the capital in just four hours, covering the two hours before kick-off and the duration of the match. But the most revealing numbers are in the virtual pantries.
According to internal DiDi data, at a national level, the demand for beer soared by 160% compared to other sporting events (specifically compared to the Clásico Nacional between América and Chivas on February 14, 2026). Potato chips were not far behind, with an increase of 66%.
These data come from internal DiDi analyses conducted during the friendly match. According to the platform, CDMX currently accounts for about 25% of the total demand for trips and food orders through its services. This projects what could be expected during the 39 days of the main tournament, where more than 9 million inhabitants of the capital and more than 5 million visitors will gather in the city.
The Map of Capital Consumption
According to DiDi’s analysis, the concentration is not uniform. Three boroughs emerge as the epicenter of consumption during major matches: Iztapalapa, Cuauhtémoc, and Gustavo A. Madero positioned themselves as the areas with the highest volume of both mobility requests and orders through DiDi Food and DiDi Shop.
The top 5 most ordered categories on DiDi Food during the match painted a clear picture of the capital’s appetite:
- Pizza
- Chicken and wings
- Hamburgers
- Sushi
- Mexican food
In beverages and snacks, the dominant trio was: beers, soft drinks, and potato chips.
A Phenomenon of Digital Urbanization
The interesting aspect here goes beyond rampant consumption. DiDi’s data reveals how massive sporting events function as catalysts for digital behavior. Mexico City, with its demographic density and connectivity, acts as a kind of natural laboratory to understand how millions of people behave when they converge on a single objective: to celebrate (or suffer) in real time.
During the first months of 2026, according to DiDi, digital financial services also showed concentration in these same boroughs, suggesting that the digital infrastructure is not accidental but responds to deeper patterns of technological adoption.
With the inaugural match of the FIFA World Cup about to begin, the capital is preparing to be the epicenter not only of football passion but of an unprecedented consumption phenomenon. The numbers from the Portugal-Mexico match are just a prelude to what is to come during 39 days of competition that will transform CDMX into a living laboratory of digital consumption behavior in real time.
Source: https://fastcompany.mx/2026/05/22/consumo-digital-cdmx-otro-marcador-futbol/
