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| Organising body | Federación Mexicana de Fútbol (FMF) |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2020; 5 years ago (2020) |
| Country | Mexico |
| Confederation | CONCACAF |
| Number of clubs | 15 |
| Level on pyramid | 2 |
| Promotion to | Liga MX (suspended) |
| Relegation to | Liga Premier (suspended) |
| Current champions | UdeG (1st title) |
| Most championships | Atlante (3 titles) |
| Broadcaster(s) | AYM Sports ESPN[1] Hi Sports |
| Website | ligabbvaexpansion.mx |
| Current:2025–26 Liga de Expansión MX season | |
Liga de Expansión MX, officially named asLiga BBVA Expansión MX for sponsorship reasons, is a professionalassociation football league inMexico and the second level of theMexican football league system. It has 15 participating clubs, the season is divided into two short tournaments (Apertura andClausura), the champions of each tournament are decided by a final phase (Liguilla).TheCampeón de Campeones de Liga de Expansión MX is the division's super cup between the Apertura and Clausura champions.
Founded in 2020 as part of theFMF's Stabilization Project, which has the primary objective of rescuing the financially troubled teams from theAscenso MX and prevent the disappearance of a second level league in Mexico.[2] The project also attempts forLiga MX and former Ascenso MX teams to consolidate stable projects with strong administration, finances, and infrastructure.
Atlante is the most successful club with 3 titles, followed byTapatío with 2 titles. In all, seven clubs have won the Liga de Expansión MX at least once.
On 20 February 2020, the presidents of theLiga MX clubs, theAscenso MX clubs and theFMF executives had a meeting, in which different topics were discussed with the intent of strengthening the two main leagues in the country.[3]
On 26 June 2020, the league was officially presented, with the participation of 16 teams: Alebrijes de Oaxaca, Atlante, Atlético Morelia, Cancún, Celaya, Cimarrones de Sonora, Correcaminos UAT, Dorados de Sinaloa, Leones Negros UdeG, Mineros de Zacatecas, Tampico Madero, and Venados F.C. as Ascenso MX teams. Pumas Tabasco and Tapatío entered to the league as Liga MX affiliates.[4] Finally, on 17 July 2020, Tepatitlán and Tlaxcala were invited asLiga Premier expansion teams.[5]
On 22 May 2023, the Liga MX owners assembly approved a reform for the league that should have been carried out in 2024. This reform planned that the 18 member teams of the Liga MX should have had a U-23 team in the Liga de Expansión, which would have represented a merger between the Expansión MX and the Liga MX U–23.[6] However, in May 2024 the proposal was scrapped due to opposition from the owners of the Liga de Expansión teams, as they considered that the project represented a degradation of the participating clubs.[7]
In May 2025, a group of ten league member clubs filed a lawsuit before theCourt of Arbitration for Sport seeking the reinstatement of promotion and relegation between the Liga de Expansión and Liga MX;[8] four teams subsequently dropped the lawsuit, the six remaining teams formed an opposing bloc within the league, which was formed with the aim of combating some of the measures that had occurred previously,[9] 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.[10]
On 4 September 2025, the Court of Arbitration for Sport issued its verdict on the dispute filed by the six Liga de Expansión clubs seeking to reinstate promotion to Liga MX. The ruling established the return of promotion starting with the 2026–27 season;[11] 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 in 2020.[12]
The2025–26 Liga de Expansión MX season has the following 15 participating clubs.
| Club | Titles | Runners-up | Winning editions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Atlante | 3 | 2 | Apertura 2021,Apertura 2022,Clausura 2024 |
| Tapatío | 2 | 0 | Clausura 2023,Apertura 2024 |
| Tampico Madero/Jaiba Brava | 1 | 2 | Guardianes 2020 |
| Atlético Morelia | 1 | 2 | Clausura 2022 |
| UdeG | 1 | 1 | Clausura 2025 |
| Tepatitlán | 1 | 0 | Guardianes 2021 |
| Cancún | 1 | 0 | Apertura 2023 |
| Celaya | 0 | 2 | – |
| Sonora | 0 | 1 | – |
| Club | Titles | Runners-up | Winning editions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tapatío | 2 | 0 | 2023,2025 |
| Atlante | 1 | 2 | 2022 |
| Tepatitlán | 1 | 0 | 2021 |
| Cancún | 1 | 0 | 2024 |
| Atlético Morelia | 0 | 1 | – |
| Tampico Madero | 0 | 1 | – |
| UdeG | 0 | 1 | – |
The current managers in the Liga de Expansión MX are:
| Nat. | Name | Team | Appointed | Time as manager |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Alfonso Sosa | UdeG | 7 September 2021 | 4 years, 77 days |
| Arturo Ortega | Tapatío | 15 June 2023 | 2 years, 161 days |
| Jair Real | Tepatitlán | 23 July 2024 | 1 year, 123 days |
| Miguel Fuentes | Atlante | 3 December 2024 | 355 days |
| Marco Antonio Ruiz | Jaiba Brava | 3 December 2024 | 355 days |
| Marco Fabián Vázquez | Tlaxcala | 16 May 2025 | 191 days |
 | Miguel Bravo | Cancún | 22 May 2025 | 185 days |
 | Hugo Norberto Castillo | Atlético La Paz | 31 May 2025 | 176 days |
| Daniel Alcántar | Irapuato | 14 July 2025 | 132 days |
 | Nacho Castro | Venados | 21 August 2025 | 94 days |
| Juan Manuel Rivera (interim) | Oaxaca | 6 September 2025 | 78 days |
| Jorge Urbina (interim) | UAT | 8 September 2025 | 76 days |
| Luis Ángel Muñoz (interim) | Zacatecas | 23 September 2025 | 61 days |
| Paco Ramírez | Sinaloa | 3 October 2025 | 51 days |
| Mario Ortiz | Atlético Morelia | 7 October 2025 | 47 days |
| Year | Name | Team | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Guardianes 2020 | Alberto Alvarado MorínLizandro EcheverríaGuillermo Martínez Gustavo Ramírez | UAT Atlante Celaya Morelia | 7 |
| Guardianes 2021 | Julio Cruz | Oaxaca | 10 |
| Apertura 2021 |  Raúl Zúñiga | Sinaloa | 12 |
| Clausura 2022 | David AnguloJuan MachadoÓscar Villa | Tepatitlán Raya2 Sonora | 8 |
| Apertura 2022 | Diego Jiménez | Sonora | 12 |
| Clausura 2023 | Ricardo Marín | Celaya | 10 |
| Apertura 2023 | Luis Razo | Zacatecas | 10 |
| Clausura 2024 | José Rodriguez | Cancún | 9 |
| Apertura 2024 | Vladimir Moragrega | Atlante | 11 |
| Clausura 2025 | Jesús Ocejo | UdeG | 13 |
| Apertura 2025 | Juan José Calero | Venados | 15 |
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