Liga MX, officially named asLiga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons,[6] is a professionalassociation football league inMexico and the highest level of theMexican football league system. Formerly named asLiga Mayor (1943–1949) andPrimera División de México (1949–2012).It has 18 participating clubs, the season is divided into two short tournaments, which areApertura from July to December andClausura from January to May. The champions of each tournament are decided by a final phase, commonly known asLiguilla. Since 2020,promotion and relegation has been suspended until 2026.
The league currently ranks first inCONCACAF's league ranking index.[7] According to theIFFHS, Liga MX was ranked as the 10th strongest league in the first decade of the 21st century.[8] According to CONCACAF, the league – with an average attendance of 25,557 during the2014–15 season – draws the largest crowds on average of any football league in the Americas and the third largest crowds of any professional sports league in North America, behind only theNFL andMLB. It is also the fourth most attended football league in the world behind theBundesliga,Premier League andLa Liga.[9] Liga MX ranks second in terms of television viewership in the United States, behind the English Premier League.[10]
América is the most successful club with 16 titles, followed byGuadalajara with 12 titles,Toluca with 11 titles,Cruz Azul with 9 titles,Tigres UANL andLeón with 8 titles each,Pachuca andPumas UNAM with 7 titles each.[11] In all, twenty-four clubs have won the top professional division at least once.[11]
Prior to theLiga Mayor, there was no national and professional football league in Mexico, and football competitions were held within relatively small geographical regions. TheLiga Mexicana de Football Amateur Association, a local league consisting of teams near and aroundMexico City, was the first amateur football league created in Mexico, and also other regional leagues were created, which were theLiga Amateur de Veracruz, Liga Amateur de Puebla,Liga Occidental De Jalisco and the Liga Amateur del Bajío that had talented clubs.
In 1922, after the foundation of the first football federation in Mexico, they created theCampeonato de Primera Fuerza, which was the first amateur league organized by a national football federation. It was held from 1922 to 1943, although most of the participating teams were from Mexico City and the first matches held outside the country's capital were played until the1940–41 season.
Many club owners were keen to remain amateur although they paid players under the table. The increasing interest in football would not thwart a unified professional football system in the country. The first true national and professional league in Mexico was established in 1943, under the name Liga Mayor.[12]
TheFederación Mexicana de Fútbol (FMF) announcement of the nation's first professional league brought interest from many clubs to join. The FMF announced that 10 clubs would form the Liga Mayor. The league was founded by six clubs from the Liga Mexicana de Football Amateur Association, two clubs from the Liga Occidental, and two clubs from the Liga Veracruzana.
Throughout the late 1950s and early 1960s, many small clubs faced many economic difficulties which were attributed to the lack of international competition by Mexico's clubs and an unrewarding league format. Consequently, clubs from Mexico that placed high in the league standings could not afford to participate in the overarching continental competitions, such as theCopa Libertadores.
The1970 World Cup held in Mexico was the first World Cup televised on a grand scale. The season following the FIFA World Cup, the FMF changed the league format and established a final phase to determine the national champion. This was done to regenerate interest and reward teams that placed fairly high in the standings.
The final phase, known asLiguilla, was played using various formats to determine the champions. The most common format was a straight knock-out between the top eight teams in the table. At other times the league was divided into groups with the top two in each group, often as well as the best 3rd placed teams, qualifying for the liguilla and in some seasons the playoff matches themselves involved teams playing in groups with the group winners playing off for the title. The format was changed from season to season to accommodate international club commitments and the schedule of theMexico national team.
The change in the rules affected teams that traditionally dominated the table, as talented teams that had not performed well in the regular season were able to perform successfully in the final phase (Cruz Azul in the 1970s,América in the 1980s, andToluca in the 2000s).
Prior to the start of the2012–13 season, the organization Liga MX/Ascenso MX was created to replace the FMF as the main organizing body of the competition. The league also announced a rebranding, with the introduction of a new name and a new logo.[13]
On August 20, 2018, it was announced that Liga MX would begin testing the use ofVAR technology.[14] The initial test run was conducted during under-20 matches played inside senior league stadiums, with live testing across senior Liga MX matches taking place during weeks 13 and 14 of theApertura tournament. The league needed final approval from FIFA to fully implement the technology.[15]
Liga MX uses a single table of 18 clubs that play two short tournaments (Apertura and Clausura) resulting in two champions per season. The season opens with theApertura from July to December, followed by theClausura from January to May. This format matches other Latin American schedules and corresponds with FIFA's world footballing calendar, which "opens" in July/August and "closes" in April/May of the next year. The top 10 clubs advance to the final phase for each tournament, with the top 6 clubs in the table at the end of the regular phase of the tournament qualifying directly to the Liguilla, and the next 4 clubs qualifying for the play-in round that determines the next 2 Liguilla spots. If one club is in last place in the league's relegation table (see below), that club is replaced by the one that finished 11th in the regular phase.
From 1996 to 2002, the league followed a schedule consisting of two short tournaments in the season,Invierno andVerano tournaments. From 2002 to 2011, the 18 clubs were divided into three groups of six, with the top two from each group and the two best third-place clubs qualifying for the Liguilla. The clubs played in the same group for each tournament. The qualification phase of the tournament lasted 17 weeks, with all clubs playing each other once per tournament in a home and away series over both tournaments.
The final phase of each tournament, commonly known as Liguilla, consisting of 10 clubs that qualify for the tournament based on regular phase point totals — the six highest-placed advance to the quarterfinals while clubs seven through ten compete in the play-in round.[16][17] The clubs ranked 7-10 play a single match hosted by the higher seed; the winner of the match between 7th and 8th-placed advances to the quarterfinals as the 7th seed. The losing club then faces the winners of the match between 9th and 10th-placed; the winner of that match advances and is seeded 8th in the quarterfinals. For the remaining rounds, the clubs are paired according to seeding, with the highest-seeded club playing the lowest-seeded and so on. Each tie is played over two legs with the winner on aggregate score progressing.
The champions are awarded the Liga MX trophy, and the runners-up is awarded a smaller version of the trophy. The start of Liguilla in 1970 modernized the league despite the disagreements between the traditionalists and the modernists. Clubs that were near bankruptcy were now better able to compete and generate profits.
Originally at the end of a season, after theApertura andClausura tournaments, one club is relegated to the next lower division,Ascenso MX, and one club from that division is promoted and takes the place left open by the relegated team. Currently, the relegated club is determined by computing the points-per-game-played ratio for each club, considering all the games played by the club during the last three seasons (six short tournaments). The club with the lowest ratio is relegated; if the club that is in last place in the relegation table is among the 12 clubs qualifying for the Liguilla at the end of theClausura tournament, the 13th place team qualifies for the Liguilla instead. For clubs recently promoted, only the games played since their promotion are considered (two or four tournaments). The club promoted from Ascenso MX is the winner of theCampeón de Ascenso, the division's super cup between theApertura andClausura champions. If a club becomes the champions in both tournaments, it is automatically promoted.
Prior to the start of the2017–18 season, the rules for relegation and promotion changed: if a club wins promotion but does not meet certain Liga MX requirements (e.g. stadium infrastructure and a youth team) the relegated Liga MX club of that season will be obligated to pay the prize money to the Ascenso MX club (MXN$120 million) for winning the promotion playoff, which should be utilized to fulfill necessary requirements for promotion within the next season, and remain in Ascenso MX,[19] and the relegated Liga MX club will remain in the top division. However, if the relegated Liga MX club cannot distribute the prize money to the promoted Ascenso MX club, both clubs will lose their right to play in Liga MX and must play in Ascenso MX the following season.[20]
On April 16, 2020, the Ascenso MX was folded due to theCOVID-19 pandemic as well as the lack of financial resources. Liga MX President Enrique Bonilla later announced during a video meeting with the club owners of the league that promotion and relegation would be suspended for six years.[22][23] During the suspension, the Ascenso MX was replaced with theLiga de Expansión MX although no club from that league will be promoted to Liga MX nor any Liga MX team that performs poorly will be relegated from the Liga MX for the time being.[24]
In May 2025, a group of ten league member clubs from the Liga de Expansión MX filed a lawsuit before theCourt of Arbitration for Sport seeking the reinstatement of promotion and relegation between the Liga de Expansión MX and Liga MX;[25] four clubs subsequently dropped the lawsuit, the six remaining clubs formed an opposing bloc within the league, which was formed with the aim of combating some of the measures that had occurred previously,[26] their first triumph was the rejection of the relocation ofCelaya F.C. to Veracruz and the sale of the affiliation certificate betweenCimarrones de Sonora andClub Jaiba Brava.[27]
On September 4, 2025, theCourt of Arbitration for Sport issued its verdict on the dispute filed by the six Liga de Expansión MX clubs seeking to reinstate promotion to Liga MX. The ruling established the return of relegation on the Liga MX starting with the 2026–27 season;[28] however, the CAS allowed the Mexican Football Federation to retain the authority to establish the requirements for clubs to be promoted to the top flight of Mexican football, returning to a situation similar to that in place before the creation of the Liga de Expansión MX in 2020.[29]
Each year, at least six clubs from Liga MX qualify for theCONCACAF Champions Cup, the North American premier club competition; Liga MX itself is guaranteed six spots while teams from the league can earn three more spots via theLeagues Cup withMLS for a maximum of nine spots. Generally, the Apertura and Clausura champions and runners-up, as well as the next best two clubs in the aggregate table, qualify, with the higher ranking champion from the Apertura and Clausura tournaments earning a bye to the Round of 16. Liga MX would implement a formula for ensuring that the Apertura and Clausura had two qualifying clubs should one or more clubs reach the finals of both tournaments, devised when Liga MX sent 4 clubs to North America premier club competition:[30]
If the same two clubs qualify for the finals of both tournaments, those two clubs will qualify along with the non-finalists with the best record in both the Apertura and Clausura.
If the same club wins both the Apertura and Clausura (facing two different clubs in the finals of each tournament), then the berth reserved for the Clausura champions is passed to the Clausura runners-up and the berth reserved for the Clausura runners-up is passed to the non-finalists with the best record in the Clausura. This occurred most recently in the2021–22 season (2023 CONCACAF Champions League) whenAtlas (2021 Apertura andClausura 2022 champions),Pachuca (Clausura 2022 runners-up) andLeón (Apertura 2022 runners-up) were placed in Pot 1, whileTigres UANL (non-finalists with the best record in the Clausura 2022) were placed in Pot 2 (at the time, the pot placings were determined via the CONCACAF Club Index, which ranked the performance of certainspots within the last 5 years). As of the2022–23 season, the team that wins both the Apertura and Clausura also automatically qualifies for the Round of 16.
If the Apertura runners-up win the Clausura (facing two different clubs in the finals of each tournament), then the berth reserved for the Apertura runners-up is passed to the non-finalists with the best record in the Apertura. This occurred most recently in the2011-12 season (2012–13 CONCACAF Champions League) whenUANL (Apertura 2011 champions) andSantos Laguna (Apertura 2011 runners-up andClausura 2012 champions) were placed in Pot A, whileGuadalajara (non-finalists with the best record in the Apertura 2011) andMonterrey (Clausura 2012 runners-up) were placed in Pot B (at the time, the champions and runners-up were placed in different pots).
If the Apertura champions are runners-up in the Clausura (facing two different clubs in the finals of each tournament), then the berth reserved for the Clausura runners-up is passed to the non-finalists with the best record in the Clausura. This has not happened since Liga MX began using this qualification procedure.
With Liga MX sending a minimum of six clubs to the Champions Cup (Liga MX can send a maximum of nine clubs if three Liga MX clubs all hold the top three spots in the Leagues Cup), these rules still generally apply, although if a club qualifies for the Champions Cup via Liga MX and the Leagues Cup, the spot is given to the next best club in the aggregate table. If a club is the highest-ranked tournament champion or the champion of both Apertura and Clausura tournaments and also wins the Leagues Cup for that same cycle, both the Apertura and Clausura champions qualify for the round of 16.
In previous years, when a team was relegated, the team that was promoted could only negotiate with the company holding the television rights of the relegated team. This agreement was canceled by Liga MX in 2012 when the promotion ofClub León caused a television rights dispute with Televisa.[48] Currently, Club León matches are broadcast in Mexico by Fox Sports and other online media sites, and in the United States by Univision (Telemundo from 2013–16).[49]
Fox Sports is the only network that holds rights to broadcast selected matches in United States and South America.
Additionally, Televisa-owned networksSky Sports andTUDN hold exclusive broadcasting rights over selected matches throughout the regular season, although the majority of the most important ones are broadcast live on the national networks. The coverage also available for Central America viewers.
Most of the Saturday afternoon and evening matches broadcast by Televisa are shown primarily onGala TV, though Saturday games played by Televisa's club America, are broadcast on Televisa's flagship network,Canal de las Estrellas. However, ablackout policy is usually applied in selected markets where affiliates are forced to air alternate programming during the matches, Sunday noon and afternoon games broadcast by Televisa are shown onCanal de las Estrellas. All of the games broadcast by TV Azteca on Saturday and Sunday are shown onAzteca 13; Friday's matches however are shown onAzteca 7. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday (known in Mexico asFecha Doble orDouble Date) matches picked by the national networks are shown onCanal 5 andAzteca 7 and the rest of the matches air onSky Sports andTDN.
A recent rule, in effect since 2011, requires teams to play the final game of every season on Sunday duringprime time, regardless of whether the team used to play local games in another timeslot, in order to capture more television audience during the game. This also prevents most playoff collusion, where one or both teams already in theliguilla put in lesser effort to lose or draw, in order to draw a more favorable opponent.
For the Apertura 2016, and the majority of the Clausura 2017, Guadalajara home matches in Mexico were not shown on over-the-air television or cable and satellite operators. Instead, they were exclusively shown on aninternet streaming service calledChivas TV. As of April 8, 2017, the matches are shown on both Televisa'sTelevisa Deportes Network (TDN) andChivas TV.
On February 13, 2017, it was announcedUnivision Deportes would live stream 46 games in English onFacebook in the United States.[52]
After the Clausura 2017 season,Azteca América sold the rights of the Atlas, Morelia, Tijuana, and Veracruz matches to Univision. The network then held the rights of 17 of the 18 clubs, only missing recently promotedLobos BUAP. In September 2017, Univision began airing Lobos BUAP's home matches, thus holding the rights to all 18 Liga MX teams through the end of the Clausura 2018 season.
In October 2017,Fox Sports announced that it acquired the long-term exclusive Spanish-language rights to Tijuana and Santos Laguna home matches in the United States, Mexico, and the rest of Latin America starting in the Apertura 2018 and Apertura 2019 respectively, thus ending Univision's monopoly.[54] The matches air onFox Sports in the United States (viaFox Deportes) and the rest ofLatin America (including Mexico and excluding Brazil).[54]
On May 26, 2018, Fox Sports announced it acquired the rights ofC.F. Monterrey's home matches in the United States and Latin America.[55] The network announced the matches would be shown in the United States on Fox Deportes in Spanish as well as theFox Sports family of networks in English.[55]
As of the Apertura 2019 season, via a sublicense agreement with Univision,ESPN Deportes airs the majority of León, Necaxa, Pachuca, Querétaro, and UANL regular season home matches in the United States. The network also airs at least one home match of nine other clubs.[56]Televisa also sublicenses one match per week toESPN in Mexico and Central America.[57]
In Brazil,DAZN broadcast the league for two seasons 2019–20 and 2020–21.[58]
On 15 July 2021,OneFootball announced it would broadcast between two and five live matches as part of a deal covering the 2021/22 Liga MX season in selected international markets.[59]
On 16 August 2021,Eleven Sports announced it would broadcast the home Liga MX matches ofC.D. Guadalajara for the 2021-22 season in more than 100 countries.[60]
Guadalajara home matches in Mexico are not shown on over-the-air television or cable and satellite operators, instead they exclusively are shown on aninternet streaming service calledChivas TV. The service is also available onPrime Video as a Prime Video channel.
BBVA México is the league's current title sponsor after the 2019 rebranding of BBVA Bancomer.
Up until its rebranding in 2012, Liga MX did not have a title sponsor. In July 2013, league president Decio de María announcedBBVA Bancomer as the official sponsor, with the goal of modernizing the league's image. De María also stated that the money generated from the sponsorship would be divided among the 18 clubs and to be invested in each club's youth teams.[68] On 18 September 2015, the sponsorship deal was extended until 2019.[69] On 18 June 2019, the league was renamed as Liga BBVA MX, adopting the new identity of the sponsor.[70] On 4 July 2019, the sponsorship contract with BBVA was renewed until 2021.[71]
Since 1986,Voit has been the official match ball manufacturer. In 2014, the contract was extended for four years.[72]