Mexican Football Federation Files Trademark Lawsuit Against Kalshi

The Mexican Football Federation filed a trademark-infringement lawsuit under the Lanham Act against Kalshi on 22 september 2026, naming Kalshi Inc. and Kalshiex LLC as defendants in a case docketed as No. 1:26-cv-08259 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, according to the federal court docket.

The docket classifies the action as a trademark suit under the Lanham Act, the federal trademark statute, brought on federal-question jurisdiction, and records a jury demand by the federation. Martin Simon Krezalek of Blank Rome LLP filed the complaint on the federation’s behalf, and the docket records a $405 filing fee. A civil cover sheet and a request for issuance of summonses directed at both Kalshi entities accompanied the complaint the same day.

On 23 september 2026, the court assigned the action to U.S. District Judge J. Paul Oetken and designated Magistrate Judge Katharine H. Parker to handle matters that may be referred in the case. The case was designated for electronic filing, and electronic summonses were issued to Kalshi Inc. and Kalshiex LLC the same day.

Kalshi’s Liga MX Listings

Kalshi operates an online platform where users trade YES and NO event contracts priced in cents, and its own website carries a dedicated Liga MX category inside its soccer section. The category listed 13 markets: nine individual games, three futures and one league-leader market.

The nine game markets pair clubs by name: Atlante vs Monterrey, Tijuana de Caliente vs Atlas, Cruz Azul vs Toluca, Guadalajara vs Queretaro, Santos Laguna vs Pachuca, Tigres vs Puebla, Pumas UNAM vs San Luis, Leon vs Juarez and Necaxa vs America. The listings carry match dates of September 25, 26 and 27, 2026, and each game page also offers spread and total markets.

The page displayed YES and NO prices in cents beside percentage chances and per-market trading volumes, including $51,136 on Cruz Azul vs Toluca and $31,230 on Guadalajara vs Queretaro. The same listings showed Cruz Azul priced at 2.66x with a 36% chance against Toluca at 2.52x with 38%, and Guadalajara at 1.38x with a 71% chance against Queretaro at 6.74x with 14%. The market series identifier attached to the game listings reads KXLIGAMXGAME.

In a trade panel for the Atlante vs Monterrey market, the platform displayed a YES price of 26 cents and a NO price of 75 cents on Atlante, put its chance at 27%, and listed a maximum-payout date of 27 september 2026, alongside a stated 3.25% interest rate.

Elsewhere in the platform’s sports menu, the baseball category is labeled Pro Baseball and mixed martial arts appears as MMA, while the soccer categories name leagues and competitions directly, among them Liga MX and a second Mexican category, Liga de Expansion MX, which carried seven markets. The soccer section listed 663 markets across named competitions including the Champions League, MLS, the Bundesliga, La Liga and the EPL.

The Federation and Its Top Division

The plaintiff, Mexican soccer’s governing body and formally Federación Mexicana de Fútbol Asociación, A.C., is based in Toluca, Estado de México, and its official website lists Liga MX, Liga Expansión MX, Liga MX Femenil, Liga Premier and Liga TDP among its divisions. Federal docket records also list an earlier trademark suit brought by the federation in New York, a complaint filed in april 2006 against CVT Prepaid Solutions, Inc. in the Eastern District of New York, likewise docketed as a trademark case.

Liga MX’s official website brands the top division LIGA BBVA MX, and its 18-club standings table for the Apertura 2026 tournament includes the clubs paired on Kalshi’s nine game listings. Toluca topped the table on 19 points, followed by Guadalajara on 18 and América on 17, with Cruz Azul fourth on 15 and Querétaro fifth on 14.

The league’s fixture list shows Jornada 10 of the Apertura 2026 scheduled across September 25, 26 and 27, with nine matches over the three days — the same dates carried on Kalshi’s nine Liga MX game listings.