Usually in the Mexican's top-fligh football season, there are two football tourmants for the two stages of the season. It starts with the Torneo Apertura, and it ends with the Torneo Clausura. So, each football season in Mexico will have two Mexican championship winners.
It has been this way since the 1996 season, when it was decided two tournaments will be played in Mexico each year, Each tournament with feature the "Liguilla". In fact, the first two short tournaments were called Invierno and Verano (Winter and Summer), and since 2002, Apertura and Clausura.
Also, the format of the "Liguilla" has changed. At first, the tournament was played in a round-robin group stage with a reclassification playoffs, before the "Liguilla". However, nowadays each Liga MX tournament features the best four teams of the season, according to the standings, against four teams qualified from the reclassification after17 gamedays.
What is the difference between the Liguilla and the Liga MX?
The Liga MX football season usually comprehends two tournaments overall. First off, is the Torneo Apertura, which it translates as the openning tournament, and the Torneo Clausura, which closes out the football season.Usually both have 17 matchdays in the regular season to set the standings for the last phase of the tournament.
After the regular season has ended, the postseason or in Spanish is known as the "Liguilla" begins. Which it translates as the playoffs. But first there are the reclassification playoffs for the 8th place through the 12th place of the standings. After four teams have qualified, a total of eight teams will play against in a two-legged matchup.
This is "la Liguilla", the best eight teams of the Liga MX tournament facing each other in three stages. The Quartefinals, the semifinals, and the finals. After each stage, the eight teams will be eliminated until there's two sides to play for the Liga MX tournament trophy.
