Mexican Liga MX

The Liga MX was founded in 1943. The season is divided into two tournaments since 1996: the Apertura (lasting from August to December) and the Clausura (lasting from January to May).

Initially football competitions in Mexico were held in several regions. Such amateur leagues were the Primera Fuerza of Mexico City, the Liga Veracruzana, Liga Occidental of Jalisco and Liga del Bajío. The Professional league was founded in 1943 and it united all the local leagues in Mexico. The newly founded Liga Mayor included ten teams: six of them were from the Primera Fuerza of Mexico City, two team-members from the Liga Veracruzan and two clubs from the Liga Occidental.

Before the 1970 FIFA World Cup the Mexican Federation of Football changed the league structure introducing the playoff. Today the league structure is the following: every season 18 teams play 17 matches in a tournament while the qualification lasts, in total every team play 34 matches per season. All participating teams play with each other once per tournament. The teams who pass qualification reach the playoff phase of the tournament.

Until the year of 2011 the clubs in the top league was divided into three groups with six teams in each. The top two teams from every group and two best teams of the General Classification Table reached the playoffs.

In the summer of 2011 it was decided to allow the top 8 teams to get direct qualification to the playoff phase of the tournament, without the 3 groups. The playoff phase, called La liguilla, starts with eight qualifying teams; they face in the ties, the format of two-leg aggregate-score. These eight teams enter the quarterfinal, four teams participate in the semifinal and the winner of final is awarded the First division trophy. The runner up gets a smaller version of the trophy.

The team which shows the worst results in the season, the Apertura and Clausura tournaments, face relegation to lower league, Ascenso MX, while one team from Ascenso MX every season gets the place in the top flight. The relegated team is the team with the lowest the points-per-game-played ratio after four tournaments or two seasons. The winner of a tie between the champions of the Apertura and Clausura tournaments of Ascenso MX promote to the top division. If the team is the winner of both tournaments, it gets promotion automatically.