2020–21 Liga de Expansión MX season explained

Competition:	Liga de Expansión MX
Season:	2020-21
Winners:	Guardianes 2020: Tampico Madero (1st title) Guardianes 2021: Tepatitlán (1st title)
League Topscorer:	Guardianes 2020: Alberto Alvarado Morín Lizandro Echeverría Guillermo Martínez Gustavo Ramírez (7 goals) Guardianes 2021: Julio César Cruz (10 goals)
Biggest Home Win:	Guardianes 2020: Tepatitlán 4–0 Sinaloa Cancún 4–0 Pumas Tabasco Zacatecas 5–1 UAT Guardianes 2021: Atlante 5–0 Tepatitlán
Biggest Away Win:	Guardianes 2020: Pumas Tabasco 0–4 Atlante Guardianes 2021: U. de G. 0–3 Atlante
Highest Scoring:	Guardianes 2020: Tapatío 3–3 Atlético Morelia Pumas Tabasco 3–3 Zacatecas Zacatecas 5–1 UAT Oaxaca 2–4 Sonora Tapatío 4–2 Pumas Tabasco Guardianes 2021: Atlético Morelia 6–3 Oaxaca
Longest Wins:	Guardianes 2020: 4 matches Atlante Sonora Zacatecas Guardianes 2021: 4 matches Atlético Morelia Zacatecas
Longest Unbeaten:	Guardianes 2020: 12 matches Celaya Guardianes 2021: 12 matches Sonora
Longest Winless:	Guardianes 2020: 8 matches Sinaloa U. de G. Guardianes 2021: 9 matches UAT
Longest Losses:	Guardianes 2020: 5 matches UAT Guardianes 2021: 4 matches Pumas Tabasco
Highest Attendance:	Guardianes 2021: 2,655 Cancún 2–0 U. de G.
Attendance:	Guardianes 2021: 2,798
Nextseason:	2021–22
Extra Information:	Stats are from the regular season only

The 2020–21 Liga de Expansión MX season is the first professional season of the second-tier football division in Mexico. The season is divided into two championships—the Torneo Apertura and the Torneo Clausura—each in an identical format and each contested by the same sixteen teams. The Apertura tournament started on 18 August 2020 and concluded on 20 December 2020. The Clausura tournament started on 12 January 2021 and will conclude in May 2021.

Changes from the previous season

The Liga de Expansión MX is a Mexican football league founded in 2020 as part of the Mexican Football Federation's "Stabilization Project", which has the primary objective of rescuing the financially troubled teams from the Ascenso MX and prevent the disappearance of a second-tier league in Mexico, for which there will be no promotion and relegation during the following six years.^[1] The project also attempts for Liga MX and former Ascenso MX teams to consolidate stable projects with solid basis, sports-wise and administrative-wise, financially wise and in infrastructure.

• Atlante F.C. was relocated from Cancún to Mexico City.^[2]
• Club Atlético Zacatepec was moved to Morelia and was renamed as Atlético Morelia.^[3]
• Cafetaleros de Chiapas was moved to Cancún and renamed as Cancún F.C.^[4]
• Tapatío and Pumas Tabasco, entered to the league as Liga MX affiliate teams.^{[5] [6]}
• Tepatitlán F.C. and Tlaxcala F.C. were accepted as an expansion teams.^[7]

Stadiums and Locations

!Team!City!Stadium!Capacity

Atlante	Mexico City	Ciudad de los Deportes	33,000
Atlético Morelia	Morelia, Michoacán	Morelos	35,000
Cancún	Cancún, Quintana Roo	Andrés Quintana Roo	18,844
Celaya	Celaya, Guanajuato	Miguel Alemán Valdés	23,182
Pumas Tabasco	Villahermosa, Tabasco	Olímpico de Villahermosa	12,000
Oaxaca	Oaxaca City, Oaxaca	Tecnológico de Oaxaca	14,598
Sinaloa	Culiacán, Sinaloa	Dorados	20,108
Sonora	Hermosillo, Sonora	Héroe de Nacozari	18,747
Tampico Madero	Tampico/Ciudad Madero, Tamaulipas	Tamaulipas	19,667
Tapatío	Zapopan, Jalisco	Akron	49,850
Tepatitlán	Tepatitlán de Morelos, Jalisco	Gregorio "Tepa" Gómez	8,085
Tlaxcala	Tlaxcala City, Tlaxcala	Tlahuicole	9,462
UAT	Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas	Marte R. Gómez	10,520
U. de G.	Guadalajara, Jalisco	Jalisco	55,020
Venados	Mérida, Yucatán	Carlos Iturralde	15,087
Zacatecas	Zacatecas City, Zacatecas	Carlos Vega Villalba	20,068

Personnel and kits

Team	Chairman	Head Coach	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor(s)
Atlante	Jorge Santillana	Mario García Covalles	Lizandro Echeverría	UIN Sports	Betcris
Atlético Morelia	Víctor Manuel Arana	Ricardo Valiño	Arturo Ledesma	Keuka	Akron, Avocados from Mexico
Cancún	José Luis Orantes Costanzo	Christian Giménez	Juan Basulto	Keuka	Cancún, Riviera Maya
Celaya	Alan Achar	Israel Hernández	Leobardo López	Keuka	Bachoco
Oaxaca	Juan Carlos Jones	Oscar Fernando Torres	Óscar Torres	Silver Sport	Patsa, Ópticas América, ADO
Pumas Tabasco	Ramón Neme	Alejandro Pérez	Julio Barragán	Nike	DHL
Sinaloa	José Antonio Núñez	Rafael García	José Lugo	Charly	Coppel, Caliente, Sukarne
Sonora	Juan Pablo Rojo	Gabriel Pereyra	Miguel Vallejo	Keuka	Yiuppi, El Imparcial
Tampico Madero	Carlos Gutiérrez Riera	Gerardo Espinoza	José Ávila	Charly	Nexum
Tapatío	Amaury Vergara	Alberto Coyote	Sergio Flores	Puma	Caliente
Tepatitlán	Víctor Flores Cosío	Paco Ramírez	Luis Robles	Carrara	Pacífica
Tlaxcala	Rafael Torre Mendoza	Irving Rubirosa	Francisco Uscanga	Keuka	Providencia, Tlaxcala
UAT	Miguel Mansur Pedraza	Hibert Ruíz	Abraham Riestra	Silver Sport
U. de G.		Jorge Dávalos	José Hernández	Umbro	Electrolit
Venados	Rodolfo Rosas Cantillo	Carlos Gutiérrez	Armando Navarrete	U-Sports	Yucatán
Zacatecas	Eduardo López Muñoz	Omar Alexis Moreno	Manuel Madrid	Spiro	Fresnillo plc, Mobil

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Replaced by	Date of appointment	Position in table	Ref.
Pre-Apertura changes
Celaya	Héctor Altamirano	Sacked	23 April 2020	Israel Hernández	1 July 2020	Preseason	^[8] ^[9]
Zacatecas	Oscar Torres	Sacked	11 June 2020	Omar Alexis Moreno	1 July 2020		^[10] ^[11]
Sonora	Isaac Morales	Sacked	12 May 2020	Gabriel Pereyra	3 July 2020		^[12] ^[13]
Atlante	Alex Diego	Signed by Querétaro	12 June 2020	Mario García Covalles	20 July 2020		^[14] ^[15]
Oaxaca	Alejandro Pérez	Mutual agreement	4 July 2020	Oscar Fernando Torres	10 July 2020		^[16] ^[17]
Pre-Clausura changes
Sinaloa	David Patiño	Sacked	30 November 2020	Rafael García	21 December 2020	Preseason	^[18] ^[19]
Pumas Tabasco	Carlos Humberto González	Moved to UNAM U–20	21 December 2020	Alejandro Pérez	21 December 2020		^[20]
Clausura changes
UAT	Roberto Hernández	Sacked	11 March 2021	Hibert Ruíz	11 March 2021	14th	^[21] ^[22]

Guardianes 2020

The Guardianes 2020 season was the 1st season of Liga de Expansión MX. The regular season began on 18 August 2020 and ended on 20 December 2020. The tournament was renamed Torneo Guardianes 2020 (stylized as Guard1anes) in honour of the job healthcare workers have done during the COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico

Regular season

Standings

Results

Each team plays once all other teams in 15 rounds regardless of it being a home or away match.

Regular Season statistics

Top goalscorers

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

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
align=center rowspan=4	1	Alberto Alvarado Morín	UAT	align=center rowspan=4	7
Lizandro Echeverría	Atlante
Guillermo Martínez	Celaya
Gustavo Ramírez	Atlético Morelia
align=center rowspan=3	5	Juan José Calero	Zacatecas	align=center rowspan=3	6
Eduardo Pérez	Atlético Morelia
	Sinaloa
align=center rowspan=8	8	Juan David Angulo	Tepatitlán	align=center rowspan=8	5
Franco Arizala	Oaxaca
Luis García	Atlante
Luis Hernández	Zacatecas
Ángel Adán López	Sonora
Óscar Macías	Tapatío
Miguel Ángel Vallejo	Sonora
Óscar Villa	Sonora

Source:Liga de Expansión MX

Hat-tricks

(H) – Home ; (A) – Away

Final phase

Reclassification

|}

Quarter-finals

First leg

Second leg

Semi-finals

First leg

Second leg

Final

First leg

Second leg

Guardianes 2021

The Clausura tournament will be named Guardianes 2021, in honor of the doctors and health professionals in the country who fight against COVID-19.^[23]

The Clausura 2021 began on 12 January 2021.^[24] Tampico Madero are the defending champions.

Regular season

Standings

Results

Each team plays once all other teams in 15 rounds regardless of it being a home or away match.

Regular Season statistics

Top goalscorers

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

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
align=center rowspan=1	1	Julio César Cruz	Oaxaca	align=center rowspan=1	10
align=center rowspan=1	2	Diego Jiménez	Atlético Morelia	align=center rowspan=1	8
align=center rowspan=1	3	Sergio Vergara	Celaya	align=center rowspan=1	7
align=center rowspan=2	4	Vladimir Moragrega	Atlante	align=center rowspan=2	6
Raúl Zúñiga	Sinaloa
align=center rowspan=4	6	Juan José Calero	Zacatecas	align=center rowspan=4	5
Ronaldo Cisneros	Tapatío
Héctor Mascorro	Zacatecas
Eduardo Pérez	Atlético Morelia
align=center rowspan=4	10	Jonathan Betancourt	Sonora	align=center rowspan=4	4
Eleuterio Jiménez	Celaya
Daniel Lajud	Tampico Madero
Ricardo Saúl Monreal	Oaxaca

Source: Liga de Expansión MX

Hat-tricks

Attendance

Highest and lowest

Highest attended					Lowest attended
Week	Home	Score	Away	Attendance	Home	Score	Away	Attendance
1	No matches with fans in attendance
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12	Tapatío	1–2	Sinaloa	58	N/A
13	No matches with fans in attendance
14	Cancún	2–0	U de G	2,656	Tapatío	1–1	Venados	85
15	No matches with fans in attendance

Source: Liga Expansión MX

Final phase

Reclassification

|}

Quarter-finals

First leg

Second leg

Semi-finals

First leg

Second leg

Final

First leg

Second leg

Campeón de Campeones Final

The Campeón de Campeones Final is a two-legged playoff between the winners of the Apertura and Clausura tournaments and the Liga de Expansión MX Super cup. The final would not be played if the same team wins both the Apertura and Clausura tournaments. The higher ranked team on the aggregate table for the 2020–21 season will play the second leg at home.The winner of the final will receive a prize of $MXN 5 million.

First leg

width=25	!	width=25
GK	33	Kefrén Avilés
DF	2	César Bernal
DF	3	Óscar Manzanarez
DF	8
DF	13	Carlos Robles
MF	17	José Lozano
MF	19	Edson García
MF	6	Aldo López
MF	7	Daniel Lajud
FW	9	Nahum Gómez
FW	11	Antonio López (c)
Substitutions:
GK	25	Estuardo Azahar
DF	4
DF	15	Gabriel Vera
MF	16	José Hernández
MF	5	Germán Eguade
MF	14	Joel Pérez
MF	23	Jared Simental
FW	26	Manuel López
FW	10	Giovani Hernández
FW	31	Fabián Salas
Manager:
Gerardo Espinoza

width=25	!	width=25
GK	1	Andrés Sánchez
DF	5	Sergio Ceballos
DF	14	Javier Medina
DF	19	Said Castañeda
DF	6	Pável Pérez
MF	7
MF	8	Luis Morales
MF	18	Luis Robles (c)
MF	25	Alexis Juárez
FW	9	Víctor Mañón
FW	27	David Angulo
Substitutions:
GK	35	Bernardo Aguilar
DF	2	Fernando Ponce
DF	4	Daniel Aguiñaga
MF	16	Cristian González
MF	26	Luis Márquez
MF	33	Jorge Lumbreras
FW	13	Alonso Valadéz
FW	20	Javier Hernández
FW	23	Diego Medina
Manager:
Paco Ramírez

Assistant referees Manuel Alfonso Martinez Sanchez Jaime Daniel González Ramírez Fourth official Ismael Rosario Lopez Peñuelas

Second leg

width=25	!	width=25
GK	1	Andrés Sánchez
DF	4	Daniel Aguiñaga
DF	14	Javier Medina
DF	19	Said Castañeda
MF	6	Pável Pérez
MF	7	Ángel Tecpanécatl
MF	18	Luis Robles
FW	9	Víctor Mañón
FW	10	Édson Rivera (c)
FW	23	Diego Medina
FW	27	David Angulo
Substitutions:
GK	35	Bernardo Aguilar
DF	2	Fernando Ponce
DF	8	Luis Morales
MF	16	Cristian González
MF	25	Alexis Juárez
MF	26	Luis Márquez
MF	32	Luis Torres
MF	33	Jorge Lumbreras
FW	13	Alonso Valadéz
FW	20	Javier Hernández
Manager:
Paco Ramírez

width=25	!	width=25
GK	33	Kefrén Avilés
DF	2	César Bernal
DF	3	Óscar Manzanarez
DF	8	Marco Ruíz
DF	13	Carlos Robles
MF	17	José Lozano
MF	19	Edson García
MF	6	Aldo López
MF	7	Daniel Lajud
FW	9	Nahum Gómez
FW	11	Antonio López (c)
Substitutions:
GK	25	Estuardo Azahar
DF	4	Luis Flores
DF	15	Gabriel Vera
MF	16	José Hernández
MF	5	Germán Eguade
MF	14	Joel Pérez
MF	23	Jared Simental
FW	26	Manuel López
FW	10	Giovani Hernández
FW	31	Fabián Salas
Manager:
Gerardo Espinoza

Assistant referees Leonardo Javier Castillo Rodríguez Jéssica Fernanda Morales Morales Fourth official Martín Molina Astorga

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.^[25]

Per Article 24 of the competition regulations, the payment of $MXN3 million from Liga de Expansión clubs will be distributed among the last three positioned in the coefficient table as follows: Last place pays 1.5 million, the penultimate place pays 1 million, and the sixteenth place pays 500 thousand. If any affiliate club or new club from the Liga Premier is ranked in the bottom three at the end of the season, they are exempt from paying any fine and it will not be covered by any other club. Any club that does not pay their corresponding fine, for any reason, will be dissafiliated. The team that finishes last on the table will start the following season with a coefficient of zero. If the last ranked team repeats as the last ranked team in the 2021–22 season coefficient table, they will be fined an additional $MXN1 million.^[26]

width=28		width=150	Team	width=40		width=40		width=40		width=40		width=40		width=40		width=45		width=45		width=50		width=45		Fine
1	Zacatecas	32	25	14	20	23	24	138	77		+41	align=center rowspan=4	Safe from paying fine
2	Atlante	30	17	20	11	28	22	128	77		+35
3	Sonora	25	22	15	8	28	26	124	77		+10
4	Atlético Morelia	13	22	19	13	26	29	122	77		+13
5	Tepatitlán	Serie A de México				23	22	45	40	000	–1	align=center rowspan=2	Exempt from fine
6	Tapatío	Did not exist				21	22	43	30		+6
7		8	18	12	13	32	25	108	77		+6	align=center rowspan=3	Safe from paying fine
8	Tampico Madero	0	0	17	12	23	16	68	49		+7
9	Oaxaca	22	19	21	6	13	19	100	77		–8
10	Tlaxcala	Serie A de México				18	19	37	30		–11	align=center	Exempt from fine
11	Sinaloa	22	20	14	5	14	19	93	77		–9	align=center rowspan=3	Safe from paying fine
12	Cancún	12	15	13	3	24	21	88	77		–13
13		18	17	15	13	13	11	87	77		–9
14	UAT (F)	15	17	10	16	13	13	84	77		–22	$MXN500 thousand
15	Venados (F)	9	20	8	13	16	16	83	77		–31	$MXN1 million
16	Pumas Tabasco (Z)	Did not exist				14	15	29	30		–15	align=center	Exempt from fine

Last update: 15 April 2021
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 = Fined.
Z = Points reset.
Source: Liga de Expansión

Aggregate table

The Aggregate table is the general ranking for the 2020–21 season. This table is a sum of the Guardianes 2020 and Guardianes 2021 tournament standings. The aggregate table is used to determine seeding for the "Campeón de Campeones" Final.

See also

• 2020–21 Liga MX season
• 2020–21 Liga MX Femenil season
• 2020–21 Liga Premier de México season

External links

• Official website of Liga de Expansión MX

Notes and References

1. Web site: ¡Se confirma! No habrá ascenso ni descenso en 6 años; aprueban Liga de Desarrollo . 25 April 2020 . Enrique Martínez Villar . 24 April 2020 . Mediotiempo.
2. Web site: Oficial: el Atlante vuelve a la CDMX y jugará en el estadio Azul . Forbes México . 26 June 2020 . Spanish . 26 June 2020.
3. Web site: Zacatepec se va a Morelia y ocupará el lugar de Monarcas . ESPN México . 26 June 2020 . Spanish . 26 June 2020.
4. Web site: Moreno . Marcos . Cafetaleros se muda a Quintana Roo y nace Cancún FC . Radio Fórmula . 26 June 2020 . Spanish . 26 June 2020.
5. Web site: Hernández . Jesús . Tapatío, un trabuco rojiblanco para ganar la Liga de Expansión . Milenio Diario . 26 June 2020 . Spanish . 19 June 2020.
6. Web site: Jiménez . Edgar . Pumas tendrá equipo de la liga de expansión en Tabasco . Marca Claro . 26 June 2020 . Spanish . 24 June 2020.
7. Web site: Comunicado de la LIGA MX sobre la LIGA de Expansión . Liga BBVA MX . 17 July 2020 . Spanish . 17 July 2020.
8. Web site: Héctor Altamirano deja Celaya tras cancelación del Ascenso MX . ESPN México . 1 July 2020 . Spanish . 23 April 2020.
9. Web site: Campos . Carlos . Presentan a nuevo técnico de Celaya . Periódico AM . 2 July 2020 . Spanish . 1 July 2020.
10. Web site: El Rambo Torres dejó la dirección técnica de Mineros de Zacatecas . El Sol de Zacatecas . 1 July 2020 . Spanish . 13 June 2020.
11. Web site: Román . Héctor . Alexis Moreno es el nuevo director técnico de Mineros de Zacatecas . El Sol de Zacatecas . 2 July 2020 . Spanish . 1 July 2020.
12. Web site: Gómez . Saúl . Cimarrones busca nuevo DT para volver a la actividad . El Imparcial . 1 July 2020 . Spanish . 13 May 2020.
13. Web site: El rebaño Carnero de la montaña ya tiene nuevo D.T, uno muy Místico. . Cimarrones de Sonora Official Twitter . 3 July 2020 . Spanish . 3 July 2020.
14. Web site: OFICIAL: Alex Diego, nuevo DT de los Gallos del Querétaro . Fútbol Total . 1 July 2020 . Spanish . 12 June 2020.
15. Web site: Atlante confirma su regreso a la CDMX . ESTO . 22 July 2020 . Spanish . 20 July 2020.
16. Web site: Deja Alejandro Pérez dirección técnica del club Alebrijes de Oaxaca . Quadratín Oaxaca . 6 July 2020 . Spanish . 4 July 2020.
17. Web site: Rambo Torres, nuevo DT de Alebrijes . NVI Noticias . 12 July 2020 . Spanish . 11 July 2020.
18. Web site: Liga de Expansión: Dorados cesó a David Patiño como DT . Récord . 1 December 2020 . es . 30 November 2020.
19. Web site: Sainz Gaxiola . Humberto . Rafael 'Chiquis' García es el nuevo técnico de los Dorados . ESTO . Organización Editorial Mexicana . 22 December 2020 . es . 21 December 2020.
20. Web site: CAMBIO EN LA ESTRUCTURA DE FUERZAS BÁSICAS . Club Universidad Nacional . 21 December 2020 . es . 21 December 2020.
21. Web site: COMUNICADO OFICIAL CF Correcaminos . Correcaminos UAT at Twitter . 11 March 2021 . es.
22. Web site: Durán . Víctor Hugo . Sánchez . Sergio . Correcaminos de la UAT nombra a Hibert Ruiz como nuevo DT; releva a Roberto Hernández . Milenio . 12 March 2021 . es . 11 March 2021.
23. Web site: El Guard1anes 2021 comenzará el 7 de enero; sólo habrá una fecha doble. 7 December 2020.
24. Web site: Liga de Expansión MX da a conocer su calendario Guard1anes 2021 . Mediotiempo.com . 23 December 2020 . es . 20 December 2020.
25. Web site: Liga MX. Éste será el castigo para últimos lugares del descenso. La. Afición. Grupo Milenio. 18 March 2023.
26. https://s3.amazonaws.com/lmxwebsite/docs/Reglamentos/Competencia/12_LIGA_EXPANSION_MX/1_LIGA_EXPANSION_MX_100820.pdf Reglamento de Competencia 2021–2022