Professional Clubs
Football has been played professionally in Mexico since the early 1900s, with the first club being C.F. Pachuca. Since 1996, the country has played two split seasons instead of a traditional long season. There are two separate playoff and league divisions. This system is common throughout Latin America. After many years of calling the regular seasons as "Verano" (Summer) and "Invierno" (Winter); Liga MX (historically Primera División de México, Mexican First League Division) have changed the names of the competition, and has opted for a traditional name of "Apertura" (opening) and "Clausura" (closing) events. The Apertura division begins in the middle of Mexico's summer and ends before the official start of winter. The Clausura division begins during the New Year, and concludes in the spring season.
Mexican football has four divisions, beginning with Liga MX and followed by Ascenso MX, Segunda División de México, and Tercera División de México. The teams are promoted and relegated by the Mexican Football Federation (FMF). Relegation is a common practice in Mexican football. This means one club from the top league division moving down, and one side from the bottom league division moving up.
The relegation system does not punish clubs for having a bad season. Mexican clubs are assessed on their previous five campaigns. Points are accumulated for five seasons and divided by the number of matches played. The club with the lowest percentage after the Clausura season is relegated to the lower division.
Mexico's most successful clubs have been Guadalajara with 11 championships, América with 10, Toluca 10, and Cruz Azul 8. Mexico has hosted two FIFA World Cups, in 1970 and 1986. Stadiums include Estadio Jalisco in Guadalajara, Estadio Tecnológico in Monterrey and Estadio Azteca in Mexico City. Estadio Azteca is the only stadium in the world to have hosted two World Cup finals and is one of the largest stadiums in the world.
Read more about this topic: Football In Mexico
Famous quotes containing the words professional and/or clubs:
“I hate the whole race.... There is no believing a word they say—your professional poets, I mean—there never existed a more worthless set than Byron and his friends for example.”
—Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke Wellington (1769–1852)
“It is always a practical difficulty with clubs to regulate the laws of election so as to exclude peremptorily every social nuisance. Nobody wishes bad manners. We must have loyalty and character.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)