Liga MX: O cenário da Liguilla está se delineando.

Last Updated on Outubro 16, 2026 4:08 pm by Erwin Noguera

There is no Play-In in this Liga MX tournament. Eight teams reach the Liguilla, and ninth place goes home.

The league’s ownership assembly removed the Play-In for good ahead of the Apertura 2026, and the consequence is sitting in the middle of the table right now: six clubs are within four points of eighth place, and there is no longer anything behind it.

Under the old structure, ninth and tenth played their way in. This season they are eliminated.

Querétaro are third with the best defense in Mexico. Atlas is sixth with a negative goal difference. Tigres and Pumas are thirteenth and twelfth. Here is where the Liguilla picture stands.

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The Format, Because It Has Changed

Eighteen clubs, seventeen matchdays, and only the top eight advance.

The quarterfinals are 1 v 8, 2 v 7, 3 v 6 and 4 v 5, over two legs.

And one rule is worth knowing before you bet any of it: in the quarterfinals and semifinals, if the aggregate score is level, the better-placed team in the general table advances. No extra time. No penalties. Finishing position is a tiebreaker that can decide a tie without a single extra kick being taken, which makes every point in the regular season worth more than it looks.

Matchday 13 is the only double matchday of the season, on 20 and 21 October. The regular season ends on the weekend of 20-22 November.

The Table

América, Querétaro, Tijuana, and Monterrey each played a match fewer than the rest.

Querétaro Are the Story

Third, with twenty points, with eight goals conceded in ten matches, and the best defensive record in Liga MX.

Nobody else is close. Toluca leads the league with 25 goals scored and conceded 15. Querétaro has shipped eight.

They also have a game in hand on both clubs above them, which means a win on the doubles matchday would put them top of the table. For a club that spends most seasons in the bottom half, that is a genuinely startling position with five matchdays to play.

The caution is the attack. Fifteen goals scored is the lowest of anyone in the top seven and lower than Pachuca in eleventh. A side built on 0.8 goals conceded per game is one injury in defense from a very different table.

América Lead and Have a Match in Hand

Twenty-one points from ten games, +11, and the best goal difference in the league.

Six wins, three draws, one defeat. They are the only club in the division with a single-figure losses column and a double-figure goal difference, and the fixture they have yet to play could stretch the lead rather than merely preserve it.

Toluca are second on twenty with the league’s best attack at 25 goals, and Guadalajara fourth on nineteen having lost only twice. The top four are separated by two points, and the order will change on the double matchday.

Atlas Are Sixth and Being Outscored

Eighteen points, a Liguilla place, and a goal difference of minus one.

Seventeen scored, eighteen conceded. Atlas are the only club in the top eight with a negative differential, and they are there on the back of five wins and three draws in eleven.

This matters more than it usually would because of the tiebreaker. A team that finishes sixth plays the third seed, and if that tie is level on aggregate, the third seed go through automatically.Atlas winning close games to reach sixth is an achievement that the format then punishes.

León in fifth at +3 and Cruz Azul in seventh at +1 are the same profile in milder form. Cruz Azul scored 22 and conceded 21, the most entertaining and least stable record in the top half.

The Giants Are Outside

Tigres are thirteen. Pumas are twelfth. Both are on thirteen points.

Tigres have won three of eleven, scored 13 and conceded 15. Pumas have won three of eleven, scored 17 and conceded 19. Both have drawn four, which is the specific problem: in a league with few regular season games, four draws from eleven is how a squad with this much talent ends up outside the eight.

Monterrey are tenth on fourteen with a game in hand, which is the healthier position of the three. Their +2 differential is better than four of the clubs currently in Liguilla places.

And Pachuca is eleventh with a goal difference of +4: better than León, Atlas, Cruz Azul and Tijuana, all of whom are above them. Pachuca are the clearest case in the table of a team whose position understates them, and they also have four draws.

The Race for Eighth

Tijuana holds last place on fifteen points from ten matches. Puebla are ninth on fifteen from eleven. Monterrey are tenth on fourteen from ten.

Then four clubs on thirteen: Pachuca, Pumas, Tigres, and Santos. San Luis are on twelve.

That is seven clubs covering three points for one place, and under the new format the loser of that fight does not get a Play-In. They get the off-season.

Tijuana’s game in hand is the most valuable asset in the bottom half of the Liguilla race. Monterrey’s is the second.

Santos are the outlier worth watching. Four wins from eleven is more than Pachuca, Pumas or Tigres have managed, but one draw and six defeats put them fourteenth. They either win or lose, and with five matchdays left, that volatility cuts both ways.

Already Gone, or Close to It

FC Juárez have four points from eleven matches with a goal difference of minus eighteen. One win, one draw, nine defeats, eight goals scored. They are mathematically alive and practically finished.

Necaxa are seventeenth on nine points at -8.Atlante, back in the top flight, are sixteenth on eleven with five draws: a respectable first act that is not going to reach the eight.

What the Last Five Matchdays Decide

Whether Querétaro holds third. They have the best defense in Mexico, a game in hand, and the thinnest attack of any contender. Two of those three things are sustainable.

Whether América pull clear. Twenty-one points from ten with the best differential in the league, and a fixture still owed.

Whether Atlas survives their own numbers. Sixth place on a negative goal difference is not a stable position, and the clubs immediately below them have better underlying records.

And whether Tigres or Pumas rescue a season from thirteenth and twelfth. Both are on thirteen points, both have drawn four of eleven, and both are now playing for a single qualifying place rather than a play-in route that no longer exists.

Matchday 13 is the double, on 20 and 21 October. Two rounds of fixtures inside forty-eight hours, with seven clubs fighting for one Liguilla place and no safety net behind it.