Liga Guate Banrural

Founded	1919; 106 years ago (1919) as amateur league 1942; 83 years ago (1942) as professional league
Country	Guatemala
Confederation	CONCACAF
Number of clubs	12 (since1963–64)
Level on pyramid	1
Relegation to	Liga Primera División
Domestic cup	Copa de Guatemala
International cup(s)	Regional CONCACAF Central American Cup Continental CONCACAF Champions Cup
Current champions	Antigua (5th title)
Most championships	Comunicaciones Municipal (32 titles)
Most appearances	Jairo Arreola (651)
Top scorer	Juan Carlos Plata (302)
Broadcaster(s)	Albavisión Claro Sports Tigo Sports TV Azteca Guate
Sponsor(s)	Banrural
Website	ligagt.org
Current:2025–26 Liga Guate

TheLiga Nacional de Fútbol de Guatemala, commonly known as theLiga Nacional orLiga Guate, and officially known as theLiga Guate Banrural for sponsorship reasons, is a professionalassociation football league inGuatemala and the highest level of the Guatemalan football league system. It is controlled by theFederación Nacional de Fútbol de Guatemala and contested by 12 teams.^[1]

The league has had several different formats throughout its history; currently, the league season is divided into two tournaments. TheApertura, which is played in the fall, and theClausura, which is played in the spring. The first 6 clubs in the standings at the end of each competition participate in the playoffs to determine the champion, 1st and 2nd place teams qualify directly to semi-finals, while the others have to play in the quarter-finals. The winners of the Apertura and Clausura tournaments participate in theCONCACAF Champions League.

At the end of 2008-2009Apertura andClausura tournaments the league expanded to 12 teams to compete in a larger versions of theApertura andClausura tournaments. Now the 12th placed team (the team with the fewest points) in the aggregated table standings (combined standings of both theApertura andClausura tournaments) isrelegated to thePrimera División de Ascenso (2nd division) automatically at the end of theClausura tournament in late May. The teams that finish 10th and 11th in the aggregated table standings enter into a two-legged playoff with the second- and third-placed clubs of thePrimera División de Ascenso. The playoff winners play in the top division while the losers spend the next season in the second division.

Its first official professional tournament took place in1942, and succeeded what was known as theLiga Capitalina (League of the Capital), which was an amateur tournament that started in1919. The 1942–43 tournament was played by seven teams in a doubleround-robin tournament. Three teams –Municipal,Tipografía Nacional, andGuatemala FC – finished tied for the first place after the two rounds. Aplayoff between the three teams was conducted to determine the winner, with Municipal earning their first national title.^[2]

Antigua

Cobán

Guastatoya

Malacateco

Xelajú

Achuapa

Xinabajul

Coatepeque

Zacapa

Guatemala Department

Teams inGuatemala Department:
Comunicaciones
Mixco
Municipal

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Location of the2023-24 Liga Nacional de Fútbol de Guatemala teams

Comunicaciones

Mixco

Municipal

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Location of teams inGuatemala Department

Current Liga Nacional managers

Manager	Nationality	Club
Rónald Gómez	Costa Rica	Achuapa
Javier López	Spain	Antigua
Roberto Montoya	Mexico	Cobán Imperial
Ronald González	Costa Rica	Comunicaciones
Dwight Pezzarossi	Guatemala	Guastatoya
Roberto Hernández	Mexico	Malacateco
Mauricio Tapia	Argentina	Marquense
Fabricio Benítez	Guatemala	Mixco
Sebastián Bini	Argentina	Municipal
Amarini Villatoro	Guatemala	Xelajú
Pablo Centrone	Argentina	Xinabajul
Rafael Díaz	Guatemala	Zacapa

• Comunicaciones vsMunicipal -"El Clásico Chapín"
• Comunicaciones vsAntigua -"El Clásico Provincial"
• Antigua vsMixco -"El Clásico del Valle"
• Comunicaciones vsXelajú -"El Clásico del Oeste"
• Marquense vsXelajú -"El Clásico del Occidente"
• Marquense vsMalacateco -"Derbi de San Marcos"
• Cobán Imperial vsZacapa -"Clásico del Norte"

Champions were:^[3]Amateur and Professional Champions.

Nr.	Player	Country	Goals
1	Juan Carlos Plata		302
2	Oscar Sánchez		259
3	Julio César Anderson		220
4	Carlos Kamiani Félix		211
5	Edwin Westphal		188
6	Israel Silva		186
7	René Morales		172
8	Mario Acevedo		170
9	Agustín Herrera		161
10	Selvin Pennant		156
11	León Ugarte		156
12	Edgar Araiza		150
13	Fredy García		144
14	Hugo Peña		136
15	Rolando Fonseca		135
16	Rudy Ramírez		130
17	Carlos Toledo		129
18	Jhonny Cubero		124
19	Julio Rodas		123
20	José Emilio Mitrovich		121

• Banrural
• Molten
• Bantrab
• Tigo
• Claro
• Betcris
• Gana777
• Zeta Gas
• Forza Delivery
• Hielo Fiesta
• Gatorade
• Pepsi
• Sportline
• GNC
• Camas Olympia
• Vitalmed
• Café Quetzal

• Football in Guatemala – overview of football sport
• List of attendance at sports leagues
• List of foreign Liga Guate players
• Liga Nacional Femenina

• Liga Nacional de Fútbol de Guatemala(in Spanish)
• League at FIFA
• Guatemala, 100 años de fútbol – prensalibre.com –Prensa Libre newspaper, Guatemala.(in Spanish)
• guatefutbol.com(in Spanish)
• League Summary at Soccerway(in English)
• Guatemala Liga Nacional, standings, results & fixtures at Live2Sport.com

• Liga Nacional de Fútbol de Guatemala
• Top level football leagues in Central America
• Football leagues in Guatemala
• Sports leagues established in 1919

• CS1 Spanish-language sources (es)
• Webarchive template wayback links
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Articles with Spanish-language sources (es)