The 2025 Liga MX Apertura season began on July 11 with USMNT players part of the two biggest teams in Mexico. That would be Alex Zendejas at Club America and Cade Cowell and new signing Richy Ledezma at Chivas. We’ll start with the most successful team in MLS over the last few seasons.
It’s not that simple for Club America, of course. They finished 2nd in the regular season to Toluca and lost 2-0 to them in the playoff final. Then Club America lost the FIFA Club World Cup play-in game to LAFC. That has triggered the obvious response for a team like Club America, reworking their lineup in advance fo the Apertura.
Club America has brought in midfielders Alexis Gutierrez from Cruz Azul and Isaias Violante from Toluca. There are rumors of more moves, specifically to fortify their attack. It’s worth pointing out that Club America finished at +24 in the Clausura regular season, the highest goal difference in Liga MX, but on 34 goals scored. 5th-place Necaxa scored 36 and 1st-place Toluca had 41 goals. Alex Zendejas scored five of those goals, playing in 15 games.
For Cade Cowell’s Chivas, the issue is an overall return to form. Chivas hired Gabriel Milito as coach following the 2025 Clausura, where they finished in 11th-place, tied on points with 10th-place UNAM Pumas. The difference was advancing to the playoffs, with Chivas missing out on the postseason. Cowell played in 11 games for Chivas in the Clausura.
Chivas has made moves in the offseason, bringing in forward Efrain Alvarez from Club Tijuana, Ledezma from PSV, and midfielder Brian Gonzalez from Pachuca. It’s not just the USMNT connection that should draw attention to Ledezma. He left as a regular with the Dutch champions who are playing in the league stage of the Champions League.
Joe Corona’s Club Tijuana missed the playoffs, finishing 13th in the Clausura. Corona played in 11 games. Tijuana also has a new coach, with Sebastian Abreu taking over following the 2025 Clausura season. It’s worth noticing that both Club America and Chivas signed players from Tijuana and reportedly spent heavily by Liga MX standards to do so.
What that means for Tijuana is an open question. they finished 7th in the 2024 Apertura, losing their play-in round to eventual champions Club America but advancing to the playoffs where they lost in the quarterfinals on regular season standing after drawing 3-3 with Cruz Azul over two legs. Those expectations set in the Apertura weren’t met in the Clausura, but that doesn’t change the scope for Tijuana. They’re a team that should be making the playoffs, especially in a league where ten of the 18 clubs advance.
Ventura Alvarado missed the 2025 Clausura for Mazatlan, who finished 16th and are now last in the Liga MX coefficient table. Liga MX no longer has active relegation, but they do have a system of fines for teams that are low in the coefficient tale. That fine is $80m pesos, roughly $4.29m dollars. Here’s a further explanation of the Liga MX season and their version of promotion, relegation, and the coefficient table.
