Liga de Balompié Mexicano is a semi-professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

league in

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

. It is the first division of the league system of the National Association of Mexican Football (ANBM in Spanish). The league is an alternate to

Liga MX Liga MX, also known as Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Mexico and the highest level of the Mexican football league system. Formerly known as Liga Mayor (1943–1949) and also as Primera Divis ...

, which is organized by the

Mexican Football Federation The Mexican Football Federation (), abbreviated as FMF is the official governing body of football in Mexico. It administers the men's and women's national teams with all its youth teams, the national teams of futsal and beach soccer, Liga MX wit ...

(the only entity representing Mexico before

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

), thus not recognized by FIFA. On 8 July 2020 the Liga de Balompié Mexicano became the first national league sanctioned by

CONIFA The Confederation of Independent Football Associations (CONIFA) is the international governing body for association football teams that are non-FIFA international football, not affiliated with FIFA. Competitions Men's competitions * CONIFA Wo ...

History

The Liga de Balompié Mexicano (Mexican Football League) was presented on 29 January 2020 with the aim of providing another development opportunity to football players who did not get a place in one of the teams in the main Mexican football leagues, in addition to bringing professional football to locations that have not had sufficient presence of sports institutions or do not have adequate facilities to participate in

Ascenso MX Ascenso MX, also known as Ascenso BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, was a professional association football league in Mexico and the second level of the Mexican football league system. Formerly known as Primera División A de México (1994–2009 ...

. On 22 February 2020 the first league team assembly was held. On 8 July 2020 it was announced that the LBM would be the first league sanctioned by

. On 14 October 2020, the first official game of the LBM was played, in the match, San José F.C. defeated Morelos F.C. by score of 1–0. Omar Rosas scored the first goal in the history of the competition.

Competition format

The league's teams will play one single table tournament per season. The top finisher of the league table will advance directly to the championship final, known as the ''Super Final'' at the end of the regular cycle. The clubs classified in the second, third, fourth and fifth positions will qualify to a final phase to determine the second championship finalist. Tiebreaker criteria in the semifinal stage are in the following order: Global score,

away goals The away goals rule is a method of tiebreaking in association football and other sports when teams play each other twice, once at each team's home ground. Under the away goals rule, if the total goals scored by each team are equal, the team that ...

and general table. A tie score after regulation time in the championship final will be resolved by

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 pe ...

. Unike most football tournaments, two points are awarded for victory, zero for a draw. Teams have the right to enroll five foreign players, however, only three can participate on the field of play. Teams must meet infrastructure obligations in order to participate in the League, including stadiums with a minimum capacity of 5,000 spectators, along with keeping their facilities in good conditions.

Teams

Champions

References

External links

Official website
{{Football in Mexico Association football leagues in Mexico Sports leagues established in 2020 2020 establishments in Mexico Liga de Balompié Mexicano Professional sports leagues in Mexico