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Liga MX

Mexican association football league

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The league has held 115 editions. The inaugural edition as a professional league was the 1943–44 season, with Asturias crowned as the first champions.

Liga MX currently ranks first in CONCACAF's league ranking index. According to the IFFHS, it was ranked as the 10th strongest league in the first decade of the 21st century. According to CONCACAF, the league with an average attendance of 25,557 during the 2014–15 season, draws the largest crowds on average of any football league in the Americas.

Twenty-four clubs have won the title at least once. América is the most successful club with sixteen titles, Guadalajara and Toluca with twelve titles each, Cruz Azul with ten titles, Tigres UANL and León with eight titles each.

History

Amateur era (1922–1943)

Prior to the Liga Mayor, there was no national and professional league in Mexico, and all football competitions were held within relatively small geographical regions. The Liga Mexicana de Football Amateur Association was created in 1902, a local league consisting of clubs near and around Mexico City, it was the first amateur football league played in Mexico. Later, other regional leagues were also created: Liga Amateur de Veracruz, Liga Amateur de Puebla, Liga Occidental De Jalisco and the Liga Amateur del Bajío.

In 1922, after the founding of the first governing body of football in Mexico, the Campeonato de Primera Fuerza was also created as the first amateur league organized by a Mexican football federation. It was held from 1922 to 1943, although most of the participating clubs were from Mexico City and the first matches held outside the country's capital were played until the 1940–41 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 officially established in 1943 as Liga Mayor.

Liga Mayor (1943–1949)

The Federación Mexicana de Fútbol announcement of the nation's first professional league brought interest from many clubs to join. The FMF announced that ten clubs would form the Liga Mayor, six clubs from the Liga Mexicana de Football Amateur Association, two clubs from the Liga Occidental, and two clubs from the Liga Veracruzana.

The inaugural season had ten founding clubs: ADO, América, Asturias, Atlante, Atlas, Guadalajara, Veracruz Sporting, Necaxa, Marte and Moctezuma.

Primera División de México (1949–2012)

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 the Copa Libertadores.

The 1970 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 knockout phase to determine the champions. This was done to regenerate interest and reward clubs that placed fairly high in the standings.

The final phase, known as liguilla, was played using various formats to determine the champions. The most common format was a straight knockout between the top eight clubs 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 clubs, qualifying for the liguilla and in some seasons the playoff matches themselves involved clubs 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 the Mexico national team.

The change in the rules affected clubs that traditionally dominated the table, as talented clubs 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, and Toluca in the 2000s).

Liga MX (2012–present)

Prior to the start of the 2012–13 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.

In August 2018, it was announced that Liga MX would begin testing the use of VAR technology. The initial test run was conducted during U-20 matches played inside senior league stadiums, with live testing across senior Liga MX matches taking place during weeks 13 and 14 of the Apertura tournament. The league needed final approval from FIFA to fully implement the technology.

On April 2026, Liga MX officials convened and passed a historic decision, by fully separating the Liga MX from the FMF's control, and to make Liga MX a separate company running the domestic league, while FMF retains regulation rights. The move took effect on 16 July the same year.

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