Mexican Football League
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The Mexican football league system is organized by the
Mexican Football Federation The Mexican Football Federation (; abbreviated as Femexfut or FMF) is the governing body of association football in Mexico. It adm the Mexico national team, the Liga MX and all affiliated amateur sectors, and controls promoting, organizing, direc ...
, except for the
Liga MX The Liga MX, officially known as the Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional football division in Mexico, holding 2 tournaments per year. The league is considered the strongest in North America, and among the strongest in a ...
and the
Ascenso MX Ascenso MX was the second tier of professional football in Mexico of the Mexican football league system. The champion of the competition was promoted to Liga MX (top-flight tier). The bottom team was relegated to Liga Premier (the third tier). ...
that are organized independently; The tournaments consist of five levels, male and female professional levels. In addition to having the
Copa MX The Copa MX (formerly called Copa Tower Monterrey, Copa Eliminatoria, Copa México and Copa Corona MX (for sponsorship reasons)) was a Mexican football cup competition that was established in 1907. After a lengthy hiatus that began in 1997, it wa ...
which is also organized independently to the
Femexfut The Mexican Football Federation (; abbreviated as Femexfut or FMF) is the governing body of association football in Mexico. It adm the Mexico national football team, Mexico national team, the Liga MX and all affiliated amateur sectors, and contro ...
.


Men

Liga MX The Liga MX, officially known as the Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional football division in Mexico, holding 2 tournaments per year. The league is considered the strongest in North America, and among the strongest in a ...
, known as the ''Primera División'' (First Division) before the 2012–13 season, is the highest level of Mexican football and consists of 18 clubs. Each calendar year is split into two short tournaments, the ''Apertura'' (Opening) and the ''Clausura'' (Closing). In each short tournament, a club plays the other 17 clubs once. The home team switches, depending on the current short tournament. A new champion is crowned for each short tournament through a playoff system consisting of 12 teams. The top four teams earned a first-round bye, qualifying directly to the ''liguilla'', while the next 8 teams qualify to the qualifying round, known as ''repechaje'' that determines the next 4 liguilla spots. The clubs are re-seeded each round so that the highest seeded team remaining always plays the lowest seed remaining. In the ''repechaje'', the 5th-placed team host the 12th, the sixth-ranked side host the 11th, and so on. If the two clubs are tied after 90 minutes, it proceeds directly to a
penalty shoot-out The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pen ...
. Starting in the quarterfinal round, the clubs (4 directly qualified teams and 4 qualifying round winners) play in a
two-legged tie In sports (particularly association football), a two-legged tie is a contest between two teams which comprises two matches or "legs", with each team as the home team in one leg. The winning team is usually determined by aggregate score, the sum o ...
, with the higher-seed hosting the second leg. The team with the higher
aggregate score There are a number of formats used in various levels of competition in sports and games to determine an overall champion. Some of the most common are the ''single elimination'', the ''best-of-'' series, the ''total points series'' more commonly kn ...
advances to the next round. In the quarterfinals and semifinals, if the two clubs are tied on aggregate and away goals after both legs, the higher seed advances automatically. In the final, if both teams are tied after both legs, 30 minutes of
extra time Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played onl ...
are played. If the clubs are still tied after that, the champion is determined by a penalty shoot-out. One club is relegated to
Liga de Expansión MX The Liga de Expansión MX, also known as Liga de Desarrollo (Liga BBVA Expansión MX for sponsorship reasons), is a Mexican football league founded in 2020 as part of the Mexican Football Federation's "Stabilization Project", which has the prima ...
(and its predecessor, the
Ascenso MX Ascenso MX was the second tier of professional football in Mexico of the Mexican football league system. The champion of the competition was promoted to Liga MX (top-flight tier). The bottom team was relegated to Liga Premier (the third tier). ...
) each year (two short tournaments). To determine the club to be relegated, the ratio of points-to-games is kept for each team. The club that has the worst points-to-games ratio over the previous three years (six short tournaments) is relegated to ''Liga de Expansión MX''. It is organized by the
Mexican Football Federation The Mexican Football Federation (; abbreviated as Femexfut or FMF) is the governing body of association football in Mexico. It adm the Mexico national team, the Liga MX and all affiliated amateur sectors, and controls promoting, organizing, direc ...
and consists of four levels. #
Liga MX The Liga MX, officially known as the Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional football division in Mexico, holding 2 tournaments per year. The league is considered the strongest in North America, and among the strongest in a ...
(18 clubs) #
Liga de Expansión MX The Liga de Expansión MX, also known as Liga de Desarrollo (Liga BBVA Expansión MX for sponsorship reasons), is a Mexican football league founded in 2020 as part of the Mexican Football Federation's "Stabilization Project", which has the prima ...
(18 clubs) #
Liga Premier de México The Liga Premier is the third tier of Association football, football in Mexico within the Mexican football league system that governs Serie A de México, Serie A and Serie B de México, Serie B leagues/group competitions. They compete from the fa ...
(44 clubs) (4 groups) #
Liga TDP The Liga TDP is Mexico's fourth tier in the Mexican League System. The Liga TDP is divided into 17 groups. For the 2009/2010 season, the format of the tournament has been reorganized to a home and away format, which all teams will play in their ...
, (217 clubs) (14 groups) As of 2021, promotion and relegation is suspended for at least five to six years since 2020 due to the shutdown of the Ascenso MX's which was caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and financial woes.


International Competitions

The champions and runners-up of the ''Apertura'' and ''Clausura'' tournaments earn a spot in the
CONCACAF Champions League The CONCACAF Champions League, known officially as the Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League for sponsorship reasons, is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONCACAF. The tournament is contested by clubs from North Ameri ...
. Between 2005 and 2008, 2 Mexican teams were invited to participate in the
Copa Sudamericana The CONMEBOL Sudamericana, named as ''Copa Sudamericana'' (; pt, Copa Sul-Americana ), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 2002. It is the second-most prestigious club competition in South American ...
. Beginning in Apertura 2014 (2015 edition), two Mexican clubs that qualify to the Copa Libertadores are the best eligible teams in ''Apertura'' tournament not participating in the CONCACAF Champions League and one Mexican club that qualifies to the Copa Libertadores are the champions of
Supercopa MX The Supercopa MX ( en, Supercup MX) was a Mexican football championship contested by the winners of the Apertura and Clausura Copa MX. History In June 2013 Liga MX president Decio De María announced the winners of Apertura and Clausura Copa MX w ...
.


Women

Established in 2007, the women's league consists of two levels – the top division Super Liga and the lower division Liga Premier. As of Apertura 2012, there were 19 clubs participating in the Super Liga and 11 clubs in Premier. In September 2017 the
Liga MX Femenil The Liga MX Femenil, officially known as the Liga BBVA MX Femenil for sponsorship reasons, is the highest division of women's football in Mexico. Supervised by the Mexican Football Federation, this professional league has 18 teams, each coincidi ...
started. It's an under-23 league for Mexican nationals. It's unconnected to the SuperLiga. There also is a Liga Mayor Femenil, which established in 2012 is also unconnected to those two others.


See also

*
Football in Mexico Mexico's most popular sport is football (called fútbol in Mexico). , the top tier leagues in Mexico are Liga MX for the men and the Liga MX Femenil for women. In Mexico, football became a professional men's sport in 1943. Since then, Mexico ...


References


External links


Official website of Liga MX and Ascenso MXOfficial website of Segunda División de MéxicoOfficial website of Tercera División de MéxicoOfficial website of Liga Mexicana de Fútbol FemenilMexico women football news
{{League systems Football league systems in North America