Paseo de la Reforma

Paseo de la Reforma is the grand ceremonial boulevard running through the centre of Mexico City, laid out in the 1860s on the model of European avenues such as the Champs-Elysees. It is lined with monuments, roundabouts and the Angel of Independence, and functions as the city's default stage for mass gatherings, from political protests to national football celebrations.

When Mexico's team wins, hundreds of thousands converge on Reforma around the Angel. On the night of 30 June 2026, after Mexico beat Ecuador 2-0 to reach the World Cup round of 16, a crowd the city put near 1.4 million filled the avenue, and four people died in the crush that followed .

That safety question got its first answer on 3 July, when Mexico City doubled the police presence on Reforma to 6,000 officers for Sunday's Mexico-England last-16 tie and introduced a new two-stage Ultima Milla restricted perimeter around the Angel, alongside a citywide alcohol ban and matchday transit closures . The plan targets the walk to the ground rather than the ground itself, because the four deaths came on the open boulevard, not inside a stadium.

That plan held on 5 July. Mexico City deployed a roughly 40,000-strong security operation, including about 17,000 SSC officers, for the Mexico-England tie at the Azteca, the first major crowd there since the Reforma crush. The government declared 'saldo blanco', no incidents, across the Azteca, the Zocalo and the Angel de la Independencia afterwards.