Everything about Primera Divisi N De M Xico totally explained
The
Primera División de México (Mexican First Division) is the premier
football championship established by the
Federación Mexicana de Fútbol Asociación (F.M.F.) in the
Mexican football league system.
It is regarded as one of the best leagues in the world, with teams having the highest budget of any league outside of Europe. It is also the only league outside of
CONMEBOL which is allowed to contribute clubs to the
Copa Libertadores. Currently,
CD Veracruz was relegated to the
Primera División A, while
Indios de Ciudad Juárez were promoted.
Amateur era
Prior to the Liga Mayor, there was no national football league in
Mexico, and football competitions were held within relativly small geographical regions. The winners of the Primera Fuerza, a local league consisting of teams near and around
Mexican Federal District, was considered the national competition. There were other regional leagues such as the Liga Veracruzana, Liga Occidental and Liga del Bajío that also had notable clubs. Many club owners were not keen on the idea of establishing a professional league, despite paying players under the table. With the increasing demand of football, there was a sense of urgency to unite all the local amateur leagues in Mexico to progress as a football nation. The professional national league was finally established in 1943.
Professional era
When the F.M.F. announced the formation of the nation's first professional league, many clubs petitioned to join the newly formed league. The F.M.F. announced that ten clubs would form the Mayor League. The first members of the league were founded by six clubs of the
Primera Fuerza of Mexico City, two clubs from the
Liga Occidental and two members from the
Liga Veracruzana.
Founding members
» Primera Fuerza:
América, Asturias,
Atlante, Real España, Marte and Moctezuma
Liga Occidental:
Atlas and
Guadalajara » Liga Veracruzana: Orizabeño and
Veracruz
Expansion was an evidence of the increaseing popularity. The popularity of the league led to the increase of the number of teams. In
1950, the F.M.F. changed the name of the
Liga Mayor to
La Primera División and established the
La Segunda División.
Reformation
Throughout the late
1950s and early
1960s, many small clubs faced economic difficulties which were attributed to the lack of international competition by Mexican clubs and an unrewarding league format. As a result of the difficulties suffered by smaller teams, financially affluent
Deportivo Guadalajara was able to capture 8 championships within a relatively short time span. Mexican clubs who placed relatively high in the league standings didn't have the luxury to participate in prestigious international tournaments like the
Copa Libertadores as many South American and European clubs did. The F.M.F. knew they'd to act to regenerate interest to save many of the smaller clubs from bankruptcy and recruit new investors. The F.M.F., along with affluent club owners, were able to attract key investors. As a result, the F.M.F was in a position to host the
World Cup.
The Mexican League Boom
The
1970 World Cup held in Mexico was the first World Cup televised on a grand scale. In that summer, the world looked at Mexico and this set a trend in marketing, recruitment and development. The new stadiums and practice facilities built for the World Cup pave the path for future events to come. Prior to the World Cup, the
Liga Mayor awarded the team with the most points as the national champion. The season following the FIFA World Cup, the F.M.F. changed the league format and established a playoff phase to determine the national champion. This was done to regenerate interest and reward teams that placed fairly high in the standings.
The Playoffs
The birth of the playoffs modernized the league despite the disagreements between the tradionalist and the modernist. Clubs that were near bankruptcy now were able to compete and generate profits. The playoffs have evolved since their inception. Originally the 18 teams are divided into 3 groups, with the top teams from each group qualifying for a playoff phase called
Liguilla. This playoff phase starts with 8 teams and is played in the "tie" format in two-leg aggregate-score, similar to the quarterfinals and semifinals of the UEFA Champions League.
In
1996, the league decided to split the season into two championships. This measure was done to generate additional revenues to finance the F.M.F.'s lower divisions. The league holds two tournaments per year, originally called
invierno (winter) and
verano (summer), now changed to
apertura (opening - running from August to December) and
clausura (closing - running from January to May). The change was done to correspond with FIFA's world footballing calendar, which "opens" in July/August and "closes" in April/May of the next year. In total, there's about ten months of action throughout the footballing world, thus in the case of Mexico, Argentina and other countries in South America, a new champion is crowned about every five months, totally two crowned champions per year, unlike in Europe, where tournaments are played as one single championship throughout the year, yielding only one champion per year.
At the end of a season, after the
apertura and
clausura tournaments, one team is relegated to the next lower division,
Primera División A, and one team from that division is promoted and takes the place left open by the relegated team. Currently, the relegated team is determined by computing the points-per-game-played ratio for each team, considering all the games played by the team during the last three seasons (six tournaments). The team with the lower ratio is relegated. For teams recently promoted, only the games played since their promotion are considered (two or four tournaments). The team promoted from
Primera Division A is the winner of a two-leg match between the champions of the
apertura and
clausura tournaments of that division. If a team becomes the champion in both tournaments, it's automatically promoted.
Current Teams
| La Primera División - Apertura 2008 and Clausura 2009 |
| Name |
City |
Stadium |
First season infirst division
|
First season ofcurrent spell in
top division
|
| América |
Mexico, D.F. |
Azteca |
1943-1944 |
1943-1944 |
| Atlante |
Cancún, Quintana Roo |
Andrés Quintana Roo |
1943-1944 |
1991-1992 |
| Atlas |
Guadalajara, Jalisco |
Jalisco |
1943-1944 |
1978-1979 |
| Guadalajara |
Guadalajara, Jalisco |
Jalisco |
1943-1944 |
1943-1944 |
| Cruz Azul |
Mexico, D.F. |
Azul |
1964-1965 |
1964-1965 |
| Chiapas |
Tuxtla, Chiapas |
Víctor Manuel Reyna |
Apertura 2002 |
Apertura 2002 |
| Monterrey |
Monterrey, Nuevo León |
Tecnológico |
1945-1946 |
1960-1961 |
| Morelia |
Morelia, Michoacán |
José María Morelos y Pavón |
1957-1958 |
1981-1982 |
| Necaxa |
Aguascalientes, Aguascalientes |
Victoria |
1950-1951 |
1983-1984 |
| Pachuca |
Pachuca, Hidalgo |
Hidalgo |
1967-1968 |
Invierno 1998 |
| Puebla |
Puebla, Puebla |
Cuauhtémoc |
1944-1945 |
Apertura 2007 |
| U.N.A.M. |
Mexico, D.F. |
Olímpico Universitario |
1962-1963 |
1962-1963 |
| San Luis |
San Luis, San Luis Potosí |
Alfonso Lastras Ramirez |
1957-1958 |
Apertura 2005 |
| Santos Laguna |
Torreón, Coahuila |
Corona |
1988-1989 |
1988-1989 |
| U.A.G. |
Zapopan, Jalisco |
3 de Marzo |
1974-1975 |
1974-1975 |
| U.A.N.L. |
San Nicolás, Nuevo León |
Universitario de Nuevo León |
1971-1972 |
Invierno 1997 |
| Toluca |
Toluca, México |
Nemesio Diez |
1953-1954 |
1953-1954 |
| CF Indios |
Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua |
Olimpico Benito Juárez |
Apertura 2008 |
Apertura 2008 |
Television
The teams of the Primera, like those of
Serie A in
Italy have the right to sell their own broadcast rights. What this means in practice is that the league is effectively divided between teams broadcast on
Televisa and others broadcast on
TV Azteca.
Additionally,
SKY Latin America and
Fox Sports LA hold exclusive broadcasting rights over certain matches, although the majority of the most important ones are shown on
free-to-air television.
The matches of the Televisa teams are shown primarily on
Galavisión Saturday afternoons and evenings, with the "big match" shown Sundays on
Canal de las Estrellas. All of Television Azteca's matches are on
Azteca 13 on Saturday or Sunday afternoons.
The clubs are divided as follows:
Televisa teams:
Television Azteca's teams are:
All times are on Mexico's Central Time.
Champions
Teams in
bold are currently participating in the Primera División.
| Champions |
| Team |
Championships |
| Guadalajara |
11 |
| América |
10 |
| Cruz Azul |
8 |
| Toluca |
8 |
| U.N.A.M. |
5 |
| Pachuca |
5 |
| León |
5 |
| Atlante |
3 |
| Necaxa |
3 |
| Santos |
2 |
| Monterrey |
2 |
| Puebla |
2 |
| U.A.N.L. |
2 |
| Veracruz |
2 |
| Zacatepec (defunct) |
2 |
| Atlas |
1 |
| Morelia |
1 |
| U.A.G. |
1 |
| Tampico |
1 |
| Oro (defunct) |
1 |
| Marte (defunct) |
1 |
| Real España (defunct) |
1 |
| Asturias (defunct) |
1 |
Top Scorers
The Brazilian player
Evanivaldo Castro "Cabinho" is the all-time highest goalscorer in the Mexican league with 312 goals. Cabinho won the title for most goals in a season eight times, namely 4 with
UNAM Pumas, 3 with
Atlante and one with
Club Leon.
Jared Borgetti is the highest goalscorer still active in the Mexican League, with 231 goals. He returned to the league for the Clausura
2007 Tournament.
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