2021–22 Liga MX season

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75th professional season of the top-flight football league in Mexico

Football league season

Champions League

Atlas León Pachuca UANL
Matches played	306 Apertura: 153 Clausura: 153
Goals scored	716 (2.34 per match) Apertura: 331 (2.16 per match) Clausura: 385 (2.52 per match)
Top goalscorer	Apertura: Germán Berterame Nicolás López (9 goals) Clausura: André-Pierre Gignac (11 goals)
Biggest home win	Apertura: Pachuca 4–0 León (24 July 2021) Cruz Azul 4–0 Toluca (14 August 2021) Clausura: UNAM 5–0 Toluca (10 January 2022)
Biggest away win	Apertura: Atlético San Luis 2–6 Atlas (24 October 2021) Clausura: Necaxa 0–4 Monterrey (14 January 2022)
Highest scoring	Apertura: Atlético San Luis 2–6 Atlas (24 October 2021) Clausura: León 4–4 Toluca (1 May 2022)
Longest winning run	Apertura: 5 matches América Clausura: 6 matches América Pachuca
Longest unbeaten run	Apertura: 8 matches América Clausura: 9 matches Puebla UANL
Longest winless run	Apertura: 9 matches Toluca Clausura: 11 matches Juárez
Longest losing run	Apertura: 4 matches Monterrey Necaxa Clausura: 7 matches Juárez
Highest attendance	Apertura: 42,862 América vs Guadalajara (25 September 2021) Clausura: 52,360 América vs Cruz Azul (30 April 2022)
Lowest attendance	Apertura: 2,747 Pachuca vs Juárez (24 October 2021) Clausura: 5,397 Atlético San Luis vs Juárez (20 January 2022)
Total attendance	Apertura: 1,696,286 Clausura: 2,502,296
Average attendance	Apertura: 11,699 Clausura: 16,907
← 2020–21 2022–23 → Stats are from the regular season only Source: Liga MX

The 2021–22 Liga MX season (known as the Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons) was the 75th professional season of the top-flight football league in Mexico. The season was divided into two championships—the Apertura 2021 and the Clausura 2022—each in an identical format and each contested by the same eighteen teams.

On 5 March 2022, during a match between Queretaro and Atlas, a riot broke out in the stands at the Estadio Corregidora, resulting in 26 injuries.^[1]

Stadiums and locations

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity
América	Mexico City	Azteca	87,000
Atlas	Guadalajara, Jalisco	Jalisco	55,110
Atlético San Luis	San Luis Potosí, San Luis Potosí	Alfonso Lastras	25,709
Cruz Azul	Mexico City	Azteca	87,000
Guadalajara	Zapopan, Jalisco	Akron	45,364
Juárez	Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua	Olímpico Benito Juárez	19,703
León	León, Guanajuato	León	31,297
Mazatlán	Mazatlán, Sinaloa	Mazatlán	25,000
Monterrey	Guadalupe, Nuevo León	BBVA	53,500
Necaxa	Aguascalientes, Aguascalientes	Victoria	23,851
Pachuca	Pachuca, Hidalgo	Hidalgo	27,512
Puebla	Puebla, Puebla	Cuauhtémoc	51,726
Querétaro	Querétaro, Querétaro	Corregidora	33,162
Santos Laguna	Torreón, Coahuila	Corona	29,237
Tijuana	Tijuana, Baja California	Caliente	27,333
Toluca	Toluca, State of Mexico	Nemesio Díez	31,000
UANL	San Nicolás de los Garza, Nuevo León	Universitario	41,886
UNAM	Mexico City	Olímpico Universitario	48,297

Stadium Changes

Querétaro (Clausura 2022 Week 11)
Estadio Morelos
Capacity: 34,795

Atlas

Juárez

León

Mexico City

Monterrey
UANL

Mazatlán

Necaxa

Pachuca

Puebla

Querétaro

Santos Laguna

Tijuana

Toluca

Mexico City teams
América
Cruz Azul
UNAM

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Locations of the 2021–22 Liga MX teams

América
Cruz Azul

UNAM

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Greater Mexico City Liga MX football clubs

Personnel and kits

Team	Chairman	Head Coach	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor(s)
América	Santiago Baños	Fernando Ortiz (Interim)	Guillermo Ochoa	Nike	AT&T
Atlas	José Riestra	Diego Cocca	Aldo Rocha	Charly
Atlético San Luis	Alberto Marrero	André Jardine	Javier Güémez	Pirma	Canel's
Cruz Azul	Jaime Ordiales	Juan Reynoso	José de Jesús Corona	Joma	Cemento Cruz Azul
Guadalajara	Amaury Vergara	Ricardo Cadena	Jesús Molina	Puma	Caliente
Juárez	Miguel Ángel Garza	Ricardo Ferretti	Maximiliano Olivera	Sporelli	S-Mart
León	Jesús Martínez Murguia	Christian Martínez (Interim)	Luis Montes	Charly	Cementos Fortaleza
Mazatlán	Mauricio Lanz González	Gabriel Caballero	Nicolás Vikonis	Pirma	Caliente
Monterrey	Duilio Davino	Víctor Manuel Vucetich	Stefan Medina	Puma	Codere
Necaxa	Ernesto Tinajero Flores	Jaime Lozano	Fernando González	Pirma	Rolcar
Pachuca	Armando Martínez Patiño	Guillermo Almada	Oscar Ustari	Charly	Cementos Fortaleza
Puebla	Manuel Jiménez García	Nicolás Larcamón	Javier Salas	Umbro	Baz
Querétaro	José Antonio Núñez	Hernán Cristante	Maximiliano Perg	Charly	Pedigree Petfoods
Santos Laguna	Dante Elizalde	Eduardo Fentanes (Interim)	Carlos Acevedo	Charly	Soriana
Tijuana	Jorge Hank Inzunsa	Sebastián Méndez	Jonathan Orozco	Charly	Caliente
Toluca	Francisco Suinaga	Ignacio Ambríz	Alexis Canelo	Under Armour	Banamex
UANL	Mauricio Culebro	Miguel Herrera	Nahuel Guzmán	Adidas	Cemex
UNAM	Leopoldo Silva Gutiérrez	Andrés Lillini	Alfredo Talavera	Nike	DHL Express

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Replaced by	Date of appointment	Position in table	Ref.
Pre-Apertura changes
Atlético San Luis	Leonel Rocco	Sacked	30 April 2021	Marcelo Méndez	19 June 2021	Preseason	[2][3]
Mazatlán	Tomás Boy	Sacked	3 May 2021	Beñat San José	18 May 2021		[4][5]
UANL	Ricardo Ferretti	End of Contract	8 May 2021	Miguel Herrera	20 May 2021		[6][7]
León	Ignacio Ambriz	End of Contract	9 May 2021	Ariel Holan	11 May 2021		[8][9]
Juárez	Alfonso Sosa	Sacked	3 June 2021	Ricardo Ferretti	3 June 2021		[10][11]
Apertura changes
Querétaro	Héctor Altamirano	Sacked	22 August 2021	Leonardo Ramos	23 August 2021	16th	[12]
Guadalajara	Víctor Manuel Vucetich	Sacked	19 September 2021	Marcelo Michel Leaño (Interim)	20 September 2021	9th	[13][14]
Necaxa	Guillermo Vázquez	Sacked	24 September 2021	Pablo Guede	27 September 2021[note 1]	15th	[16][17]
Tijuana	Robert Siboldi	Sacked	29 September 2021	Ignacio Palou (Interim)	3 October 2021	18th	[18]
Tijuana	Ignacio Palou (Interim)	End of tenure as caretaker	8 October 2021	Sebastián Méndez	8 October 2021	18th	[19]
Guadalajara	Marcelo Michel Leaño (Interim)	Ratified as manager	3 November 2021	Marcelo Michel Leaño	3 November 2021	12th	[20]
Pre-Clausura changes
Pachuca	Paulo Pezzolano	Mutual agreement termination	8 November 2021	Guillermo Almada	2 December 2021	Preseason	[21][22]
Santos Laguna	Guillermo Almada	Mutual agreement termination	29 November 2021	Pedro Caixinha	1 December 2021		[23][24]
Toluca	Hernán Cristante	Sacked	29 November 2021	Ignacio Ambríz	1 December 2021		[25][26]
Clausura changes
Atlético San Luis	Marcelo Méndez	Sacked	26 January 2022	Rafael Fernández (Interim)	26 January 2022	18th	[27]
Atlético San Luis	Rafael Fernández (Interim)	End of tenure as caretaker	3 February 2022	André Jardine	3 February 2022	18th	[28]
Necaxa	Pablo Guede	Sacked	8 February 2022	Jaime Lozano	9 February 2022	14th	[29][30]
Querétaro	Leonardo Ramos	Sacked	8 February 2022	Hernán Cristante	9 February 2022	15th	[31][32]
Santos Laguna	Pedro Caixinha	Sacked	24 February 2022	Eduardo Fentanes (Interim)	24 February 2022	18th	[33]
Monterrey	Javier Aguirre	Sacked	27 February 2022	Hugo Norberto Castillo (Interim)	28 February 2022	16th	[34][35]
América	Santiago Solari	Sacked	2 March 2022	Fernando Ortiz (Interim)	3 March 2022	17th	[36]
Monterrey	Hugo Norberto Castillo (Interim)	End of tenure as caretaker	2 March 2022	Víctor Manuel Vucetich	2 March 2022	15th	[37]
Mazatlán	Beñat San José	Sacked	2 March 2022	Christian Ramírez (Interim)	3 March 2022	14th	[38]
Mazatlán	Christian Ramírez (Interim)	End of tenure as caretaker	3 March 2022	Gabriel Caballero	14 March 2022	18th	[39]
Guadalajara	Marcelo Michel Leaño	Sacked	14 April 2022	Ricardo Cadena (Interim)	14 April 2022	14th	[40][41]
León	Ariel Holan	Resigned	21 April 2022	Christian Martínez (Interim)	21 April 2022	12th	[42][43]

Torneo Apertura

The Grita México Apertura 2021 was the first tournament of the season. The tournament was renamed Torneo Grita México Apertura 2021 (stylized as Grita... México A21) with the intention of encouraging fans in the stands not to scream an offensive chant after a goal kick.^[44] The tournament began on 22 July. The defending champions were Cruz Azul.

Standings

Positions by Round

Results

Teams played every other team once (either at home or away), completing a total of 17 rounds.

Regular season statistics

• First goal of the season:
  Juan Otero for Santos Laguna against Necaxa (23 July 2021)
• Last goal of the season:
  
  Diogo de Olivera
  for UNAM against Cruz Azul (7 November 2021)

Top goalscorers

Players sorted first by goals scored, then by last name.

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Germán Berterame	Atlético San Luis	9
	Nicolás López	UANL
3	Camilo Sanvezzo	Mazatlán	8
4	Víctor Dávila	León	6
	Julio Furch	Atlas
	Alejandro Zendejas	Necaxa
7	Juan Ignacio Dinenno	UNAM	5
	Julián Quiñones	Atlas
	Christian Tabó	Puebla
	Diego Valdés	Santos Laguna

Source: Liga MX

Hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date
Germán Berterame	Atlético San Luis	Tijuana	4–1 (H)	16 September 2021
Víctor Dávila	León	Necaxa	3–0 (H)	6 November 2021
Roberto Alvarado	Cruz Azul	UNAM	3–4 (A)	7 November 2021

Notes

(H) – Home team
(A) – Away team

Attendance

Per team

Source: Liga MX

Highest and lowest

Source: Liga MX

Final phase – Apertura 2021

Reclassification

Bracket

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Finals

Torneo Clausura

The Grita México Clausura 2022 was the second tournament of the season. Like the Apertura 2021, the tournament was renamed Torneo Grita México Clausura 2022 (stylized as Grita... México C22) with the intention of encouraging fans in the stands not to scream an offensive chant after a goal kick.^[44] Atlas are the defending champions.

Standings

Positions by Round

Results

Teams played every other team once (either at home or away), completing a total of 17 rounds.

Regular season statistics

• First goal of the season:
  Nicolás Ibáñez for Pachuca against Atlético San Luis (6 January 2022)
• Last goal of the season:
  Jaine Barreiro for León against Toluca (1 May 2022)

Top goalscorers

Players sorted first by goals scored, then by last name.

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	André-Pierre Gignac	UANL	11
2	Rodrigo Aguirre	Necaxa	9
	Nicolás Ibáñez	Pachuca
4	Germán Berterame	Atlético San Luis	7
	Leonardo Fernández	Toluca
6	Fernando Aristeguieta	Puebla	6
	Rogério	UNAM
	Víctor Guzmán	Pachuca
	Harold Preciado	Santos Laguna
	Julián Quiñones	Atlas

Source: Liga MX

Hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date
Fernando Aristeguieta	Puebla	Cruz Azul	3–1 (A)	5 March 2022

Notes

(H) – Home team
(A) – Away team

Attendance

Per team

Highest and lowest

Source: Liga MX

Riot

On 5 March 2022, during a Round 9 match between Queretaro and Atlas, a riot broke out in the stands at Estadio Corregidora resulting in 26 injuries.^[1] As a result, Liga MX President Mikel Arriola announced that all remaining league matches scheduled for that week were postponed.^[47] One Liga de Expansión MX match and five Liga MX Femenil matches scheduled for that week were also postponed.^[48]

Final phase – Clausura 2022

Reclassification

Bracket

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Finals

Annual awards

Award	Winner	Club
Balón de Oro	Camilo Vargas[49][50]	Atlas
Best Goalkeeper	Camilo Vargas[49][50]	Atlas
Best center-back	Hugo Nervo[49][50]	Atlas
Best full-back	Kevin Álvarez[50]	Pachuca
Best defensive midfielder	Aldo Rocha[49][50]	Atlas
Best offensive midfielder	Julián Quiñones[49][50]	Atlas
Best Forward	André-Pierre Gignac[49][50]	UANL
Top Goalscorer of the Season	Germán Berterame (16 goals)[50]	Atlético San Luis
Rookie of the Year	Jordan Carrillo[49][50]	Santos Laguna
Manager of the Year	Diego Cocca[49][50]	Atlas
Best Goal	Juan Escobar[49][50]	Cruz Azul

Coefficient table

As of the 2020–21 season, the promotion and relegation between Liga MX and Liga de Expansión MX (formerly known as Ascenso MX) was suspended, however, the coefficient table will be used to establish the payment of fines that will be used for the development of the clubs of the silver circuit.^[51]

Per Article 24 of the competition regulations, the payment of $MXN160 million will be distributed among the last three positioned in the coefficient table as follows: 80 million in the last place; 47 million the penultimate; and 33 million will be paid by the sixteenth team in the table,^[52] as of the 2021–22 season the remaining $MXN80 million will be paid through the financial remnants generated by the Liga MX itself.^[53] The team that finishes last on the table will start the following season with a coefficient of zero. If the last ranked team, which was Atlético San Luis, repeats as the last ranked team in the 2021–22 season coefficient table, they will be fined an additional $MXN20 million.

Rules for fine payment: 1) Fine coefficient; 2) Goal difference; 3) Number of goals scored; 4) Head-to-head results between tied teams; 5) Number of goals scored away; 6) Fair Play points
F = Team will have to pay fine indicated
Source: Liga MX