Primera División de México

Primera División Profesional

Countries	México
Confederation	CONCACAF
Founded	1943
Number of teams	18
Levels on pyramid	1
Relegation to	Liga de Ascenso
International cup(s)	CONCACAF Champions League, SuperLiga Copa Libertadores
Current champions	Toluca (2010 Bicentenario)
Most championships	Guadalajara (11)
TV partners	TV Azteca, Televisa ESPN Mexico, Univision, Fox Mexico, Sky Sport Mexico Azteca America, Telemundo TVC AYM Sports
Website	www.femexfut.org.mx
Apertura 2010

The Primera División Profesional (English: Professional First Division), simply known as the Primera División, is the top level of the Mexican football league system and is administered by the Mexican Football Federation. It was established in 1943 and as of 2009 has 18 clubs, divided into three groups competing for league titles. Each season the league holds two tournaments, the Apertura in the winter and the Clausura in the summer.

History

Amateur era

Prior to the Liga Mayor, there was no national football league in Mexico, and football competitions were held within relatively 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.^[1]

logo used 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, and CD Marte.

Liga Occidental: Atlas and Guadalajara

Liga Veracruzana: Orizaba, Veracruz Sporting Club and Moctezuma

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 that placed high in the league standings could not afford to participate in prestigious international tournaments such as the Copa Libertadores as did many South American and European clubs.

The Mexican League Boom

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 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.

Liguilla (The Playoffs)

The birth of liguilla (the playoffs) modernized the league despite the disagreements between the traditionalists and the modernists. 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. So throughout the footballing world, the action lasts about ten months. In Europe, where tournaments are played as one single championship throughout the year, there is only one champion per year. In the case of Mexico, Argentina and other countries in South America, a new champion is crowned about every five months, or two per year.

At the end of a season, after the apertura and clausura tournaments, one team is relegated to the next lower division, Liga de Ascenso, 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 two seasons (four 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 Liga de Ascenso 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 is automatically promoted.

Current Teams

Primera División
Name	Manager	City	Stadium	First Season In First Division	First Season of Current Spell In 1st Division
América	Manuel Lapuente	Mexico, D.F.	Azteca	1943–44	1943–44
Atlante	René Isidoro García	Cancún, Quintana Roo	Andrés Quintana Roo	1943–44	1991–92
Atlas	Carlos Ischia	Guadalajara, Jalisco	Jalisco	1943–44	1978–79
Chivas	José Luis Real	Guadalajara, Jalisco	Omnilife	1943–44	1943–44
Cruz Azul	Enrique Meza	Mexico, D.F.	Azul	1964–65	1964–65
Jaguares	José Guadalupe Cruz	Tuxtla, Chiapas	Víctor Manuel Reyna	2002–03	2002–03
Monarcas Morelia	Tomás Boy	Morelia, Michoacán	Morelos	1957–58	1981–82
Monterrey	Víctor Manuel Vucetich	Monterrey, Nuevo León	Tecnológico	1945–46	1960–61
Necaxa	Omar Arellano	Aguascalientes, Aguascalientes	Victoria	1950–51	2010–11
Pachuca	Pablo Marini	Pachuca, Hidalgo	Hidalgo	1967–68	1998–99
Puebla	José Luis Sánchez Solá	Puebla, Puebla	Cuauhtémoc	1944-45	2007–08
Querétaro	Ángel Comizzo	Querétaro, Querétaro	Corregidora	1986–87	2009–10
San Luis	Ignacio Ambriz	San Luis, San Luis Potosí	Alfonso Lastras Ramirez	1971–72	2005-06
Santos Laguna	Ruben Omar Romano	Torreón, Coahuila	Nuevo Corona	1988–89	1988–89
Toluca	Jose Manuel de la Torre	Toluca, Mexico	Nemesio Diez	1953–54	1953–54
Estudiantes Tecos	Miguel Herrera	Zapopan, Jalisco	3 de Marzo	1975–76	1975–76
Tigres UANL	Ricardo Ferretti	San Nicolás, Nuevo León	Universitario	1974–75	1997–98
Pumas UNAM	Guillermo Vázquez	Mexico, D.F.	Olímpico Universitario	1962–63	1962–63

Kit and shirt sponsors

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, TV Azteca in México and Telemundo & Univision In United States.

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.

Most of the matches of the Televisa teams are shown primarily on Galavisión Saturday afternoons and evenings, The games of UNAM, Toluca and America are shown Sundays on Canal de las Estrellas. All of Television Azteca's matches are on Azteca 13 on Saturday or Sunday afternoons except U.A.G. & Necaxa that plays on Fridays and its matches are shown on Azteca 7.

Championship

Champions

List of Mexican football champions

See also

• Liga de Ascenso
• Segunda División Profesional
• Tercera División de México
• Campeón de Campeones
• Copa México
• Football in Mexico
• Mexican Football Federation

References

External links

• Map to all Mexican clubs
• Official League Website (Spanish)
• MedioTiempo Website (Spanish)
• Mexican League Top Goalscorers, Season by Season (Spanish)