Ascenso MX

Ascenso MX

Founded	1994 (1994)
Country	Mexico
Confederation	CONCACAF
Number of teams	16
Level on pyramid	2
Promotion to	Liga MX
Relegation to	Liga Premier Serie A
Domestic cup(s)	Copa MX SuperCopa MX
Current champions	Lobos BUAP (1st title) (Clausura 2017)
Most championships	León Irapuato Necaxa Dorados (4 titles)
TV partners	Televisa[1] TVC Deportes Fox Sports Claro Sports Multimedios Televisión Canal 44 Telemax
Website	Official site
2017–18 season

The Ascenso MX is the second professional level of the Mexican football league system.^[2] The champion of the competition is promoted to Liga MX (top-flight division). The bottom team gets relegated to Liga Premier (the third tier). It is currently sponsored by BBVA through its Mexican subsidiary BBVA Bancomer, and thus officially known as Ascenso BBVA Bancomer.

Formerly known as Primera División A (First Division A) the league changed its name and competition format in 2009 to Liga de Ascenso. It was rebranded as Ascenso MX in 2012. The main changes are that clubs now do not need a FMF certification to get promoted and that the competition doesn't use group stages.

History

In 1994, in order to create a premier league, the Mexican Football Federation decided to upgrade the Second Division to "Primera División A" (First Division A) to bring closer together the level of play in the two tiers, Primera and Primera A. The project was under the direction of José Antonio García Rodríguez, president of the top-tier Primera Division at the time. He envisioned the new division to be joined by the best teams of the Segunda and include teams from the United States (Los Angeles Salsa and San Jose Black Hawks expressed desire to join). Upon review, FIFA did not authorize such integration. As a result, the new league was created instead with the best Second Division teams. The 1994-1995 season began with 15 teams: Acapulco, Atlético Celaya, Atlético San Francisco, Atlético Yucatán, Caimanes de Tabasco, Coras, Gallos de Aguascalientes, Halcones de Querétaro, Inter Tijuana, Irapuato, La Piedad, Marte, Pachuca, San Luis and Zacatepec. Cobras de Ciudad Juárez, which would have been the sixteenth team, declined to participate due to financial problems.

During the 2006 tournament it was decided to increase the number of teams from 20 to 24 and it was also decided to form two groups, A and B divided by geographical areas.

In 2009 major changes occurred the most prominent being the name change from Primera Division A to Liga de Ascenso. The league was reduced to 17 teams and eliminated the groups. Starting with the Apertura 2010 season 18 teams participated. In 2012 the league was rebranded as Ascenso MX. The Alebrijes de Oaxaca was the 16th team of Ascenso MX starting 2013-2014 season. The Alebrijes was composed of the former Segunda Division team Tecamachalco which had won ascendency into Ascenso MX in 2012, but did not fulfill infrastructural requirements set by Mexican Football Federation. Club Zacatepec was also promoted to the Ascenso MX taking the spot of Pumas Morelos in August 2013. ^[3]

From the 2011–2016 Seasons, Ascenso MX did not relegate a team to the Segunda División de México Liga Premier de Ascenso. But on June 6, 2016 the president of the division announced a return to relegating a team to the Segunda División de México Liga Premier de Ascenso for the 2016–17 season after a 5-year absence.

Sponsorship

BBVA Bancomer was named the league's official sponsor in 2015.

The league's current sponsor is BBVA Bancomer, thus making the league's official name Ascenso BBVA Bancomer. The official match ball is manufactured by Voit.

Media coverage

• (*) All match times are UTC−06:00.

Clubs

The following 16 clubs will compete in Ascenso MX during the 2017–18 season.^[4]

Atlante

Atl. San Luis

Celaya

Juárez

Murciélagos

Oaxaca

Sinaloa

Sonora

Tampico Madero

Tapachula

UdeG

UAEM

UAT

Venados

Zacatecas

Zacatepec

Location of teams in the 2017–18 Ascenso MX

Future teams

On hiatus

Champions

† Teams in the First Division
†† Teams in the Second Division
††† Teams in the Third Division
†††† Defunct teams

Promotion and relegation

† Teams in the Liga MX
†† Teams in the Second Division
††† Teams in Amateur Level
†††† Defunct

Notes:

• 1976–77: Tampico bought San Luis's spot in first division
• 1977–78: Deportivo Neza is bought Club de Fútbol Laguna and took its spot.
• 1981–82: Tampico bought Atletas Campesinos and took over its spot
• 1983–84: Ángeles de Puebla bought Oaxtepec and took over its spot
• 1988–89: Veracruz bought Neza and took over its spot
• 1992–93: U.T. Neza changes its name to Toros Neza
• 1998-99: Puebla bought U.D Curtidores and took over its spot
• 1999-00: Irapuato gained automatic promotion as they won both tournaments.
• 2001–02: Veracruz gained automatic promotion due to expansion in first division
• 2012-13: Veracruz bought La Piedad's spot in first division
• 2013-14: Zacatepec bought Cruz Azul Hidalgo's spot in Ascenso MX.

Top scorers

Year	Name	Team	Goals
1994-95	Marco de Almeida	Marte	15
1995-96	Lorenzo Sáez	Pachuca	30
Invierno 96	Nílson Esidio Mora	UANL	11
Verano 97	Ángel Lemus Carlos Pavón	Irapuato UAT	12
Invierno 97	Niver Arboleda	Zacatepec	17
Verano 98	Daniel Fasciolli Carlos Morales Valtencir Gomes	UAT Pachuca Tigrillos UANL	12
Invierno 98	Cristián Ariel Morales	Irapuato	19
Verano 99	Ángel Lemus	San Luis	16
Invierno 99	Cristián Ariel Morales	Irapuato	17
Verano 2000	Carlos Muñoz Emmanuel Sacramento	BUAP	15
Invierno 2000	Christian Patiño	La Piedad	16
Verano 01	Héctor Giménez	Aguascalientes	16
Invierno 01	Héctor Álvarez	Tampico-Madero	16
Verano 02	Ariel González	Querétaro	15
Apertura 02	Héctor Álvarez	Zacatepec	23
Clausura 03	Héctor Álvarez	Zacatepec	16
Apertura 03	Héctor Álvarez	León	17
Clausura 04	Mauro Gerk Francisco Bravo	Celaya Zacatepec	18
Apertura 04	Ariel González	San Luis	16
Clausura 05	Rubén Darío Gigena	Cruz Azul Hidalgo	17
Apertura 05	Mauricio Romero	Sonora	16
Clausura 06	Diego Olsina	Coatzacoalcos	15
Apertura 06	Álvaro González	Puebla	14
Clausura 07	Álvaro González	Puebla	16
Apertura 07	Mauricio Romero	León	14
Clausura 08	Freddy Bareiro	León	17
Apertura 08	Mauro Gerk Raúl Enríquez	Querétaro Tijuana	14
Clausura 09	Sebastián Maz	Sinaloa	15
Apertura 09	Ariel González	Irapuato	11
Bicentenario 2010	Ariel González Carlos Casartelli	Irapuato León	11
Apertura 10	Eder Pacheco	Durango	13
Clausura 2011	Blas Pérez	León	14
Apertura 11	Nicolás Saucedo	UAT	11
Clausura 2012	Sebastián Maz	León	13
Apertura 12	Víctor Lojero Rodrigo Prieto	Necaxa Neza	11
Clausura 2013	Víctor Lojero	Necaxa	12
Apertura 2013	Gustavo Ramírez	Oaxaca	11
Clausura 2014	Roberto Nurse	UAT	12
Apertura 2014	Diego Jiménez Giancarlo Maldonado	BUAP Atlante	10
Clausura 2015	Roberto Nurse Leandro Carrijó	Sinaloa Atlético San Luis	10
Apertura 2015	Carlos Garcés	Atlante	10
Clausura 2016	Ismael Valadéz	Tapachula	10
Apertura 2016	Roberto Nurse	Zacatecas	16
Clausura 2017	Diego Jiménez	BUAP	10

References

1. ↑ includes SKY México and TDN
2. ↑ "Nace la Liga de Ascenso". www.femexfut.org.mx. 2009-06-22. Archived from the original on 2011-07-16. Retrieved 2009-06-22. 
3. ↑ http://televisadeportes.esmas.com/futbol/futbolmexico/535339/nacen-guerreros-oaxaca/
4. ↑ Die 18 Mannschaften in der Liga de Ascenso 2010/11 Archived 2012-03-24 at the Wayback Machine. (Spanish; retrieved on May 27, 2010)

External links

• Official website

Ascenso MX seasons
Primera A	Primera División A 1994-1995 Invierno 1996 Clausura 2008 Apertura 2008 Clausura 2009
Liga de Ascenso	Apertura 2009 Bicentenario 2010 2010–11 A C 2011–12 A C
Ascenso MX	2012–13 (A,C) 2013–14 (A,C) 2014–15 (A,C) 2015–16 (A,C) 2016–17 (A,C) 2017–18 (A,C)

Ascenso MX 2017–18 teams
Atlante Atlético San Luis Celaya Juárez Murciélagos Oaxaca Sinaloa Sonora Tampico Madero Tapachula UAEM UAT UdeG Venados Zacatecas Zacatepec

Football in Mexico
Federación Mexicana de Fútbol Asociación
National teams	Men National team Olympic (U-23) U-20 U-17 Women National team U-20 U-17
League system	Men Liga MX Ascenso MX Segunda División Tercera División Women Liga MX Femenil Super Liga Femenil
Domestic cups	Men Copa MX Supercopa MX Campeón de Campeones Pre Libertadores Cup (defunct) InterLiga (defunct) International 1985 Ciudad de México Cup Tournament 1985 Azteca 2000 Tournament
Awards	Balón de Oro Top scorers
Lists	Champions Clubs Venues El Clásico Clásico Regiomontano
Men's players Women's players Expatriate players Managers Referees Venues Seasons

Second level association football leagues of North America, Central America, and the Caribbean (CONCACAF)
North America	Mexico United States & Canada1 (NASL, USL)
Central America	Belize Costa Rica El Salvador Guatemala Honduras Nicaragua Panama
Caribbean	Anguilla Antigua and Barbuda Aruba Bahamas Grand Bahama New Providence Barbados Bermuda2 British Virgin Islands Cayman Islands Cuba Curaçao Dominica Dominican Republic French Guiana3 4 Grenada Guadeloupe4 Guyana3 Haiti Jamaica Eastern Kingston–St. Andrews South Central Western Martinique4 Montserrat Puerto Rico Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Martin4 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Sint Maarten4 Suriname3 Trinidad and Tobago Turks and Caicos Islands United States Virgin Islands St Croix St Thomas
1: Canada and the United States share the same second league. 2: North American member but affiliated to CFU. 3: South American member but affiliated to CONCACAF and to CFU. 4:Full CONCACAF member, but not affiliated to FIFA.