Now that Eva Longoria’s new docuseries “Necaxa” has dropped, more people are turning an eye toward Mexican soccer. In the show, we follow the award-winning actor on her journey of becoming a part-owner of the eponymous soccer club. We learn about the players and fans as Necaxa fights to build its identity in the city of Aguascalientes, where the club moved in 2003.
Whether you’re new to soccer or you’ve been watching other leagues for years and now feel inspired to check out futbol Mexicana, we’re here to help enlighten you. The game in Mexico, dominated by Liga MX, definitely has its quirks. Some fans love the idiosyncrasies and some fans…well…don’t. But one thing they can all agree on is that something buzzworthy is always happening.
So here’s our Mexican soccer primer.
A brief history
Today we think of Mexicans as wildly hype for soccer. The men’s national team routinely sells out their matches. In Liga MX, nearly 6.4 million fans across Mexico attended a match in 2024 – not bad for a country with roughly 132 million people.
But soccer’s popularity in the country is a relatively recent phenomenon.
Legend has it that soccer was introduced to Mexico by immigrants from the UK, just as in many other nations. Men from Cornwall moved to Mexico in the 19th century to work in the country’s mines and brought soccer with them. In fact, the first organized team in Mexico, Pachuca, was founded in 1892 mainly by Cornish miners. To this day, the team’s nickname is Los Tuzos, meaning gophers.
It wasn’t until 1923 that Mexico formed a men’s national team, a full 51 years after England and Scotland played the first official international match. Mexico played in the first World Cup in 1930 in Uruguay, losing all three of its matches. La Seleccion didn’t return to the World Cup until 1950.
Meanwhile, Mexico’s first professional league, Liga Mayor, was founded in 1943. In 1950, the league became the Primera Division. A turning point arrived in the late 1960s. In1966, Azteca Stadium opened in Mexico City with enough room to seat 107,000 people. Two years later, Estadio Cuauhtemoc was opened in Puebla for the Olympic Games. Then Mexico hosted its first World Cup in 1970, which saw a new stadium built in Leon and upgrades to others.
Prior to 1970, Mexico had played in six World Cups and won just a single match against 12 losses. But in 1970, the team finished second in their group, advanced to the knockout stage for the first time and made it all the way to the quarterfinals before losing to eventual finalist Italy. This achievement combined with massive infrastructure investments helped propel the domestic league.
Another boost to Mexican soccer occurred in 1971, when the league adopted an end-of-season playoff called the Liguila. This change was designed to help break the stranglehold larger teams had on the championship and bring more parity to the Primera Division.
Fast forward to 2012 when Liga MX was formed to run the professional leagues in place of the national federation. And here we are.
Top teams in Liga MX
There are 18 teams in Liga MX. The leading clubs include some of the most popular in the world. Not surprisingly, the teams from the Mexico City area (population: 22.5 million) rank among the strongest historically. These are Club America, Cruz Azul and Club Universidad Nacional, aka Pumas UNAM. Between them, they have won 32 league titles with America claiming 16.
Club Deportivo Guadalajara, aka Chivas (goats), a team that fields only Mexican players, have won 12 championships. They have a fierce rivalry with America; whenever they meet, the match is called El Super Clasico. Toluca have won 11 titles, while both Leon and Club Tigres de la Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo León, aka Tigres UANL, have won eight.
For what it’s worth, Eva Longoria’s Necaxa have won three championships, the last in 1998.
As in many leagues around the world, there is a massive gap between the richest and poorest clubs. For example, America have a valuation of approximately $125 million and play in a stadium that seats 81,000. Cruz Azul are worth roughly $94 million and play in a 62,000-seat stadium. By contrast, Queretaro are valued at around $24 million and can host about 34,000 fans. Puebla are worth approximately $23 million and play in a 48,000-seat facility.
To attempt to level the playing field a bit and provide more opportunities for smaller clubs to succeed, Liga MX adopted a format that some call constantly exciting with others criticizing it as contrived.
Liga MX competitive format
Every league season is divided into two mini-seasons. The first is called the Apertura (opening) and runs from July through December. The second is called the Clausura (closing) and runs January through May. Each mini-season ends with a Liguila phase, as mentioned above. The winner of each Liguila is crowned a league champion.
Still with us? Because it gets more complicated. The Liguila playoff features 10 of the 18 teams in Liga MX. So, yes, 56 percent of the league makes the playoffs. On one hand, this provides a chance for more clubs to earn playoff revenue. On the other hand, it’s the kind of everyone-gets-a-trophy mentality that has infected the NBA since 2021 when the league introduced its play-in tournament that essentially gives 20 of its 30 teams a chance at postseason glory.
Teams placing in the top six in the table automatically advance to the Liguila quarterfinals. The team in seventh place plays the team in eighth place for a spot in the quarters. The loser of seven vs. eight plays the winner of nine vs. 10 for the final place in the quarters. At that point, the higher-seeded teams play the lower-seeded teams in two-legged ties, with the winner advancing on aggregate score.
Each spring, the winner of the Apertura meets the winner of the Clausura in a match called the Campeon de Campeones. However, many fans consider this game as little more than an exhibition. After all, the past eight meetings have been held at the L.A. Galaxy’s stadium in Carson, Calif.
Promotion and relegation
One important factor to note is that promotion and relegation are a bit of a mess in Liga MX. In 2020, Mexico’s entire second division, Ascenso MX, folded and was replaced by the Liga de Expansion MX. Simultaneously, Liga MX announced the suspension of promotion and relegation for six years. So if you’re a fan of Juarez, who sit next to last in the league table, you don’t have to worry about going down for at least a couple of seasons. Alternatively, if you’re a supporter of Tapatio, who lead the Liga de Expansion MX standings, you have no hope of being promoted for a while.
How to watch Liga MX
There’s an old saw going around that Liga MX is the most watched soccer league in the U.S. That’s debatable because the English Premier League has gained more and more American followers in recent years. Fortunately for fans wanting to view Mexican matches, there are plenty of options.
Look for a cable provider or streaming service that offers channels such as TUDN USA, Univision and ViX. Select Liga MX matches are shown on Paramount+ and the CBS Sports Network. The best option is to peruse a website/app like LiveSoccerTV to learn what channels are showing your favorite club.