Liga MX is the best attended league outside of Europe; there are two champions every year; every game counts; and tickets are as cheap as £2. What’s not to like?

If asked to name the fourth most popular domestic football league in the world, would you pick Liga MX? The Mexican league attracted higher average crowds than any league outside of Europe last season – and more than Serie A and Ligue 1. The Campeonato Brasileiro and the Primera División in Argentina are better known but not as well attended, with average crowds of fewer than 16,000 in Brazil and just over 20,000 in Argentina.

With its avowed aim of becoming the Premier League of Latin America, Liga MX’s average crowds of over 26,500 provide a solid platform to become the dominant league in the region. Monterrey averaged 48,392 a match last season – more than Chelsea, Tottenham, Liverpool and league champions Leicester City. Attendances have been steadily rising over the last five years, with many games sold out and attendance rates of close to 80% for the most popular clubs. With some clubs charging as little as 50 pesos (£2) for admission, there is plenty of scope for growth.

How to win the Premier League: steamroller everyone outside the top six Read more

Club América are traditionally the best supported club in Mexico. They have the considerable advantage of playing in the capital city, which has a catchment area of 21 million people, in one of the world’s five largest stadiums used for club football. The Estadio Azteca’s capacity was recently reduced to 87,000 but it is still far larger than any Premier League ground. It was built in 1966 for Club América with a capacity of 140,000 and happens to be one of only two stadiums to have hosted two World Cup finals, alongside the Maracanã.

There are many parallels between Club América and Manchester United. They both have the largest stadiums in their leagues and the most supporters both domestically and internationally. They are also hated. Like United, América have been the most successful club in their league, with a record of 12 titles, but they have not won one for a few of years, their most recent success coming in 2014.

The Mexican season is split into two separate and distinct competitions, bringing a new meaning to the concept of a mid-winter break. The system, which has been used in Argentina since 1991, consists of the Torneo Apertura, which runs from July to December, and then the Torneo Clausura, which runs from January until May. Both consist of 17 regular league games before the top eight teams enter the Liguilla, a play-offs system that determines the eventual champions. Tigres UANL won the 2016-17 Torneo Apertura on Christmas Day, beating Club América on penalties after the two clubs could not be separated in regular time over two legs.

There are some critics of this system as the intensity of two short competitions, with just 17 regular league games, means managers are reluctant to risk young players. There is little leeway to allow development of untried talent when the pressure to perform is so relentless. On the positive side, there are very few meaningless matches as most of the 18 clubs have a chance of qualifying for the eight-team Liguilla and winning the title.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Tigres players celebrate during their match against Club América in Monterrey. Photograph: Julio Aguilar/AFP/Getty Images

At the other end of the table, there is only one relegation spot, which is decided by averaging results over a three-year period. With only one club relegated every year, there is not much fluidity between the first and second divisions. Recently promoted clubs face a disadvantage as they are competing against clubs who have been in the top flight for a number of seasons and can mitigate against the odd bad campaign.

In a move that echoed the Premier League’s split from the Football League back in 1992, Liga MX was formed 20 years later in 2012, when the top league broke away from the Mexican Football Federation. While this was not such an acrimonious breakaway, with several key personnel switching between the two organisations, there was still a distinct separation, which was exacerbated by the limited promotion opportunities from Ascenso MX, the division below.

One development that has set the Liga MX apart from the more cosmopolitan Premier League is the 10/8 rule, which was introduced last May. The rule stipulates that eight players in a club’s 18-man matchday squad must be homegrown Mexican nationals, with no more than 10 foreign-born players. The rule has proved controversial, with critics suggesting that it puts naturalised Mexicans and dual-citizens at a disadvantage and does not do enough to encourage clubs to bring through young players. Mexico won the Under-17 World Cup in 2005 and 2011, but the country’s young players are not dominating the league and improving the national team – Mexico were hammered 7-0 by Chile in the Copa América last year.

Club Deportivo Guadalajara – or Chivas as they are more commonly known – need not worry about the 10/8 rule, as they only select players who were born in Mexico. Guadalajara is in the heartland of the country and Chivas relish the idea that they – and not the more corporate Club América – are the club of the people. The two teams contest the Súper Clásico, a game that drew last season’s biggest crowd of 61,561.

Some of the most recognisable players to have played for the Goats – the literal translation of Chivas – include Carlos Vela, once of Arsenal, and Javier Hernández, formerly of Manchester United and Real Madrid. Only a few Mexicans have proved very successful in European football. Hugo Sánchez won five league titles with Real Madrid and Rafael Márquez, who is still playing in Liga MX for Atlas at the age of 37, won four while at Barcelona, but Mexico no longer sends many players to Europe.

There are around a dozen Mexicans playing in Europe at the minute, which is very low considering that there are 14 Argentinians and 12 Brazilians in the Premier League alone. Tom Marshall, who covers Mexican football for ESPN, believes finances play a part in players’ decisions not to move abroad. “Mexican football is so much richer than the other two and such economic power means that, firstly, the players enjoy high incomes and extremely comfortable lifestyles and so are less tempted to seek their fortune abroad. Secondly, the clubs themselves are much wealthier and have less of a need to sell players to balance the books.”

As ever, the crucial barometer of a league’s wealth lies with the broadcast revenues it generates. Liga MX’s annual figure of $120m for domestic rights looks small in comparison to the billions made by the Premier League, but Liga MX has gone through a similar media revolution. Soon after its formation in 2012, the established free-to-air broadcasters, TV Azteca and Televisa, had their duopoly broken up by satellite and cable entrants such as Fox Sports, who were backed by Carlos Slim, the billionaire businessman whose wealth puts Rupert Murdoch very much into the shade.

There is a fundamental difference between the way the broadcast revenues are arranged in Mexico and England. While the Premier League have negotiated collectively for all 20 clubs in a central contract, Liga MX clubs have acted unilaterally, so coverage is split between many more channels. For example, Fox signed an exclusive deal with Leon to broadcast their home games in 2012 and then added CF Pachuca in 2014. Slim runs Movil, Mexico’s largest telecommunications company, so he effectively combines the power of Sky and BT, which he is determined to exploit.

Again Chivas are the outliers. After the club refused to renew the Televisa contract in May 2016 following a 22-year relationship, they were disappointed by what was on offer from the likes of ESPN so decided to set up their own television channel, Chivas TV. The only way to watch Chivas home games is to subscribe to this channel, which is a characteristically bold move.

Some argue that this approach restricts access by the poorer and older supporters who may not be able to afford a subscription or internet access to watch on their laptops or phones. To counter this, the club have offered different levels of coverage, allowing less affluent fans reduced prices for games on delay, for example. At the moment the club do not release viewing figures or revenues but many clubs, including Boca Juniors, are watching carefully to see how this model works.

What do footballers do while recovering from long-term injuries? Read more

As Mexican football attracts a larger television audience in USA than any other football league, including the Premier League, it has solid foundations from which to grow – some clubs receive more income from their US deal than their domestic one. The next step for Mexican clubs is to attract viewers – and sell broadcast rights – in Europe. Chivas’ pre-season friendly with Arsenal in Los Angeles showed the league’s intentions. “Mexican football exists in a bubble and is doing absolutely fine as it is,” says Marshall. “But to make the next step they need to burst that bubble and open up to new ideas that may shake the existing order.”

As Mexican football stands at the crossroads, a concerted effort is required to make an impact outside the Americas. The test of its success will be when more people can name the fourth best attended league in the world.

• This article is from the author of The Agony and the Ecstasy

• Follow Richard Foster on Twitter