Liga MX Power Ranking

Last Updated on Agosto 7, 2026 6:16 pm by Erwin Noguera

The Liga MX Apertura 2026 is three matchdays old and already looks nothing like anyone expected. Tigres sit 16th with one point. Tijuana are second. Atlante are back in the top flight after twelve years and already ahead of Chivas. And nine of the eighteen clubs started this tournament with a new manager.

There is also a structural change worth knowing about. The play-in round has been permanently scrapped from this tournament onward. The top eight go straight to the Liguilla quarterfinals, which means every point in a seventeen-round season now is heavier than last year.

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Here is where all 18 teams stand.

1. Club América

Top of the table with seven points from three matches and the best goal difference in the league at +4.

The remarkable part is that they are doing it through a managerial transition that should have been disruptive. André Jardine left after winning six titles in three years, one of the most successful spells any coach has had at this club, and Guillermo Almada arrived in June to replace him.

América have more league titles than any club in Mexican history and the resources to match. Three matches is a small sample, but a calm handover from a legendary manager to a new one is the hardest thing on this list to pull off, and so far they have managed it.

2. Club Tijuana

The surprise of the opening weeks. Seven points, +3 goal difference, and a 3-1 win over Tigres on matchday one that set the tempo for both clubs’ starts.

Xolos have a new Reebok kit deal and, more importantly, a team playing with genuine confidence. Beating Tigres at home is one thing. Backing it up across the following two matchdays is what has them second.

The question is whether this survives contact with the fixture list. Tijuana have historically been strong at Estadio Caliente and considerably less so away from it.

3. Toluca

The reigning Apertura champions, having claimed their twelfth title last year with a run that included seven straight wins.

Six points and a +3 goal difference is a solid, unspectacular start, and the 2-0 win at Guadalajara on the opening matchday was exactly the kind of professional away performance champions produce. Toluca were the highest-scoring side in the league last Apertura, including a 6-2 demolition of Monterrey.

They are third here rather than first only because América and Tijuana have been marginally better. Nothing about this start suggests a hangover.

4. CF Monterrey

Matías Almeyda arrived in May and immediately got a statement result, beating Santos 3-2 on the opening matchday.

The signing that matters most is Hugo Cuypers from Chicago Fire. Cuypers was leading the MLS Golden Boot race with 13 goals when Monterrey moved for him, and Chicago sold their best striker specifically to fund the signing of Robert Lewandowski. Monterrey got a proven goalscorer in his prime from a league that has been increasingly competitive.

Six points, +2 goal difference, and a coach with a track record of getting immediate buy-in. Rayados look like genuine contenders.

5. Pumas UNAM

Six points from three matches, which looks better than it felt.

Pumas opened by losing 3-0 at home to Pachuca, a heavy defeat that would normally define a start, and then recovered to take six points from the following two matchdays. That response says something about Esteban Solari, who replaced Efraín Juárez in June.

Solari’s own situation is one of the odder subplots of the summer. He was removed at Pachuca on June 8 and appointed at Pumas on June 21, less than two weeks later.

6. Cruz Azul

The defending Liga MX champions after winning the Clausura 2026, sitting sixth with six points and a 3-2 win at Atlético San Luis in their opener.

Joel Huiqui was ratified as manager in May, giving Cruz Azul something most of this league does not have right now: continuity. In a tournament where half the clubs are learning a new coach’s ideas, that is a real competitive advantage across seventeen rounds.

Cruz Azul share Estadio Azteca capacity with América at the top of the league. They also have the burden of being the team everyone measures themselves against this tournament.

7. Querétaro

Six points from three matches for a club that is usually fighting in the opposite half of the table.

There is no obvious structural reason for this beyond a good start, which is exactly why Querétaro sit seventh here rather than higher. Enjoy it while it lasts, and watch whether they can hold a top-eight place now that the play-in safety net has been removed.

8. Club Necaxa

Six points, level goal difference, and a 2-1 win over newly promoted Atlante on the opening night.

Necaxa are the definition of a mid-table Liga MX side that can make the Liguilla with a decent run. With the top eight now advancing directly to the quarterfinals, that is a realistic target rather than an outside hope.

9. Atlas

Six points and a 3-2 win at León in the opener, which was one of the better away performances of matchday one.

Atlas have the same profile as Necaxa; capable of a top-eight finish, unlikely to threaten the title. In a tournament this compressed, that is a perfectly respectable position.

10. Atlante

The story of the tournament so far.

Atlante are back in Liga MX after twelve years in the second tier, having acquired Mazatlán’s registration. Miguel Herrera was appointed in April to lead the return, and four points from three matches (ahead of Chivas, León and Pachuca) is a considerably better start than anyone projected.

Herrera knows exactly what this league demands. Whether a promoted side can sustain it across seventeen rounds is a different question, but the early evidence is encouraging, and the atmosphere around the club has been excellent.

11. Club Puebla

Four points, level goal difference, and a 1-0 win at Juárez on matchday one. Gerardo Espinoza took over in May after Albert Espigares lasted a single season.

Solid, unremarkable, and safely away from the bottom. That is roughly what Puebla needed from the opening stretch.

12. CD Guadalajara

Four points and a negative goal difference for a club that cannot afford either.

Chivas opened by losing 2-0 at home to Toluca, which is a difficult result to spin, and have recovered only partially since. They switched from Puma to Nike this summer. The shirts are new, the problems are familiar.

For the biggest club in Mexican football by support, twelfth is not a position that survives long without consequences.

13. CF Pachuca

The most misleading position in the table.

Pachuca have three points but a positive goal difference, which is unusual and almost entirely explained by their opening result: a 3-0 win at Pumas that was the most emphatic performance of matchday one. They have taken nothing since.

Benjamín Mora arrived in June after Esteban Solari’s exit. The talent is clearly there. The consistency is not, yet.

14. Club León

Three points and a negative goal difference after losing 3-2 at home to Atlas in the opener.

León have the squad to be considerably higher than this. A slow start in a seventeen-round tournament is recoverable, but with no play-in round to fall back on, the margin is thinner than it used to be.

15. Atlético San Luis

Two points from three matches after losing 3-2 at home to Cruz Azul on the opening weekend.

Diego Mejía was appointed at the end of May. San Luis are not a club with the resources to climb quickly, and the removal of the play-in makes their route to the Liguilla considerably harder.

16. Tigres UANL

The biggest underachievement in the league right now.

One point from three matches and a -3 goal difference for a club that went on an eleven-match unbeaten run in last year’s Apertura. It started with a 3-1 defeat at Tijuana on the opening night and has not improved.

Tigres have too much quality to stay here. Sixteenth in early August is not a crisis in a seventeen-round tournament. Sixteenth in September would be.

17. Santos Laguna

Zero points, -5 goal difference, and a 3-2 defeat at Monterrey to open the tournament.

Renato Paiva was presented in May with the explicit brief of returning Santos to prominence. That project has not started well, and this is a club that has been drifting for several seasons now.

18. FC Juárez

Zero points, -6 goal difference, and a 1-0 home defeat to Puebla on matchday one.

The worst start in the league by any measure. Juárez have the smallest margin for error of any club here and have used up a chunk of it already.

What to Watch From Here

The managerial turnover is the defining feature of this tournament. Nine clubs changed coach ahead of the Apertura, including América losing a manager who won six titles in three years. Continuity is a genuine advantage right now, which is a large part of why Cruz Azul and Toluca look settled while others are still finding shape.

The play-in is gone, and it changes everything. Teams that previously scraped into ninth or tenth and fought their way through an extra round now have nothing. Eighth place is the cliff edge. Expect clubs in the 9-12 range to be considerably more aggressive in the final third of the tournament than they have been in recent years.

The Leagues Cup complicates the calendar. The group stage ran August 4-13 with only one weekend break, and the rest of the competition is being played midweek. The third-place match and final are on September 6, with the league running that same weekend. Squad depth is going to matter more than usual.

Tigres will not stay 16th. Some regression is coming, and it is worth watching which club drops out of the top eight to make room.

Fourteen rounds remain. In a tournament this tight (nine teams separated by three points), almost none of this is settled.