Netflix finally dropped the first trailer for Mexico 86, and the timing could not be more deliberate. The satirical comedy-drama, directed by Gabriel Ripstein and written by Daniel Krauze, follows Martín de la Torre, a low-level pen-pusher who makes an audacious promise to deliver the World Cup to Mexico after Colombia suddenly withdraws as host, setting off a chaotic and politically charged scramble to pull the whole thing off.
Diego Luna plays real-life bureaucrat Martín de la Torre
Luna, who also executive produces, described his character simply: “He’s just a bureaucrat in the right place who decides to promise the impossible, and then he delivers.“
The film covers considerably more than just the behind-the-scenes FIFA maneuvering. The devastating Mexico City earthquake of 1985 nearly derailed the entire hosting plan, with FIFA raising serious concerns about whether the country could still stage the tournament after thousands of people died. De la Torre pushes forward regardless.
As Luna explained, “We ended up saying we’re doing the World Cup no matter what. Thousands of people died in the earthquake, and we kept going. So that’s why I say it’s a World Cup that wasn’t supposed to happen in Mexico, but it ended up happening, and ended up being not just a World Cup, but a great one.”
For Luna, the project is personal. The 1986 tournament was the first World Cup he could remember, and it happened at home. He was taken as a child to watch Italy versus France at the Estadio Olímpico Universitario, the stadium of his club, Pumas.
Daniel Giménez Cacho plays Emilio Azcárraga, the Televisa media tycoon with a major vested interest in the outcome. Karla Souza plays de la Torre’s on-off girlfriend.
The cast also includes Álvaro Guerrero as FIFA official Guillermo Cañedo, Davor Tomic as coach Bora Milutinovic, Frank Crudele as Henry Kissinger, and Guillermo Villegas as Mexican football icon Hugo Sánchez.
The film arrives on Netflix on June 5, just days before Mexico kicks off its role as co-host of the 2026 World Cup alongside the United States and Canada, making it the first country to host the tournament three times.
As Luna put it, “As a team, we haven’t won anything, but as an organizer, we tend to be very good.“
Mexico 86 premieres globally on Netflix on June 5, 2026.
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