How LIGA MX verifies 4.7M fans with Incode
After the violence that shook Mexican soccer in 2022, Fan ID brought verified identity to every stadium gate in the country, starting from a single selfie.
identities enrolled since launch, enough to fill Estadio Azteca 54 times
matches operated with Fan ID at the gate
stadiums live across Liga MX, the country's First Division
nationalities among the fans enrolled
Mexico's First Division, with a nation of fans at the gate
LIGA MX is the highest level of professional soccer in Mexico, and match day is the heartbeat of the country's sporting life.
Its clubs fill stadiums across Mexico every week, drawing fans from around the world. Every one of them passes through a gate, and every gate now starts with a verified identity.
Violence in the stands
In 2022, Mexican soccer lived one of its worst days: fan violence at a match left 26 people injured.
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01
No record of who was in the stands
Clubs had no reliable record of who attended a match. Video caught the chaos but could not put a name to a face.
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02
Offenders could always come back
The people responsible could walk back through the gate the next matchday, and nothing stood in their way.
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03
One standard, at national scale
Mexican soccer authorities wanted a single safety standard for every stadium in the country, and it had to hold when tens of thousands of fans arrive in the same hour.
LIGA MX needed to know exactly who was in every stand in the country, without turning the gate into a bottleneck.
One identity, from the phone to the turnstile
Working in close collaboration with the league, Incode adapted its fully in-house technology to the needs of soccer fans and built Fan ID as a purpose-built biometric access system. A fan sets it up once; from then on, their face is their ticket to safety at every venue.
Enroll once, from a phone
Identity Verification · Selfie + document · passive liveness
A fan registers with a single selfie and an ID document, and the result is a secure Fan ID they carry on their phone.
Prove it's you at the gate
Authentication · 1:1 face re-authentication · designed for <5s
At the stadium, a scan of the Fan ID and a live facial capture confirm the person is who they registered as. The check is designed to clear a fan in under 5 seconds, so a venue can move tens of thousands of people through entry on match day.
Keep barred offenders out
Restricted-access enforcement
Because entry is tied to a verified identity, the league gains a clear record of who attended each match. Fans who behave badly on matchday can be added to a blocklist and kept from coming back, which helps keep families safe in the stands. Camera footage alone could never make that stick.
When the stadium where the violence happened reopened, the first match back was played with no reported incidents. Fans returned in numbers: at peak, 99K+ registered for a single three-day matchday.
How it works
One trusted identity across every venue
A real person, not a photo
Passive liveness at enrollment confirms a real, present person rather than a photo or a spoof.
An encrypted Fan ID
The verified identity travels as an encrypted QR code. The gate scan retrieves the enrolled template and matches it to a live capture of the fan's face.
150+ document types
Enrollment reads more than 150 document types, covering fans from 130+ nationalities, so anyone can register from their own phone.
A record that makes blocklists stick
Every entry ties to a verified identity, so barred offenders stay out and the same standard runs at every First Division stadium.
Trusted experience, proven integrity
LIGA MX trusted Incode's experience and the integrity of a fully in-house solution, backed by independent proof: iBeta-certified liveness and NIST-evaluated face recognition.
Privacy is the architecture
Incode made privacy a founding conviction long before regulation or the market asked for it. Fan ID handles vast data demands while keeping fans' personal information safe.
Testimonial
“The arrival of Fan ID at all LIGA MX stadiums speaks to the great commitment we have to our fans in all venues, considerably improving their security. This is a historic measure for soccer in Mexico.”
Mikel Arriola, Executive President, LIGA MX
What's next
See how Incode secures physical access at scale
Verify a real identity once, and confirm the same person at every gate, in seconds.