25 Jul 2026
Liga MX Apertura and Clausura: how Mexico’s two football tournaments work
Liga MX divides its season into two championships: the Apertura in the second half of the year and the Clausura in the first. Each has its own table, route to the final stage and champion.
What are the Apertura and Clausura?
Mexico’s top flight does not use one long league campaign with a single champion per season. Instead, it stages two independent tournaments: the Apertura, usually played from July to December, and the Clausura, generally held from January to May. The names mean opening and closing, but both are full national championships.
Schedule and regular season
Each tournament features the same Liga MX clubs in a 17-match regular season. With 18 teams, each side faces every other team once in each championship. Home advantage alternates between the Apertura and Clausura, and the schedule may be adjusted for FIFA international windows, the Concacaf Champions Cup and Mexico national-team commitments.
The league tables are separate
Apertura points do not carry over to the Clausura. When the Clausura begins, every club starts a new table on zero points. A team can therefore finish the Apertura near the bottom and still challenge for the Clausura title with a strong campaign in the next tournament. Each table records wins, draws, defeats, goals and tiebreakers for that tournament only.
How qualification for the Liguilla works
After the 17-match regular season, the top six finishers advance directly to the Liguilla, the knockout stage that decides the champion. Teams finishing seventh to 10th enter the Play-In for the remaining two places. Seventh plays eighth, with the winner reaching the Liguilla. The loser then faces the winner of ninth versus 10th to determine the final qualifier. The quarter-finals, semi-finals and final are usually played over two legs.
There is one champion in each tournament
The winner of the Apertura Liguilla is crowned Apertura champion; the winner of the Clausura Liguilla is crowned Clausura champion. Liga MX therefore normally has two national champions during a single football season. Finishing top of the regular-season table brings seeding advantages and, in several rounds, an advantage under the tiebreaking rules, but it does not guarantee the title.
What provides continuity between the tournaments
The competition resets its league table, but clubs do not start from scratch off the pitch. Squads, coaches, injuries, signings and suspensions can affect the next tournament. Cumulative rankings are also used by the league and Concacaf for specific purposes, such as continental qualification, according to the regulations for each cycle. This does not turn the Apertura and Clausura into one points competition: each tournament’s champion is still decided separately.
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