2019–20 Ascenso MX season

Ascenso MX
Season	2019–20
Champions	Apertura:; Oaxaca (2nd title); Clausura: None
Matches played	148
Goals scored	336 (2.27 per match)
Top goalscorer	Apertura: Víctor Mañón (8 goals); Clausura: Roberto Nurse (7 goals)
Biggest home win	Apertura: UAEM 4–0 UAT ; (2 August 2019); Celaya 4–0 U. de C. ; (20 October 2019) ; Clausura: Zacatecas 4–0 Venados; (31 January 2020) ; Zacatecas 4–0 UAT; (7 February 2020) ; UAT 6–2 U. de G.; (21 February 2020)
Biggest away win	Apertura: Zacatepec 0–4 U. de C.; (10 August 2019); Clausura: Sinaloa 0–3 UAT; (25 January 2020)
Highest scoring	Apertura: Venados 2–4 Tampico Madero ; (18 October 2019); Clausura: UAT 6–2 U. de G.; (21 February 2020)
Longest winning run	Apertura: 4 matches; Atlante; Clausura: 5 matches; Zacatecas
Longest unbeaten run	Apertura:10 matches ; Atlante; Clausura: 8 matches; Zacatecas
Longest winless run	Apertura:9 matches ; UAEM; Clausura: 8 matches; Sinaloa
Longest losing run	Apertura: 4 matches ; UAEM; Clausura: 6 matches; Chiapas
Highest attendance	Apertura: 14,693; U. de G. 2–1 U. de C.; (10 November 2019); Clausura: 15,245; Zacatecas 2–0 Atlante; (6 March 2020)
Lowest attendance	Apertura: 672; UAT 2–1 Venados; (8 November 2019); Clausura: 0; UAT 1–2 Zacatepec; (14 March 2020)
Total attendance	Apertura: 373,477; Clausura: 231,643
Average attendance	Apertura: 4,104; Clausura: 5,515
	← 2018–19 2020–21 → Stats are from the regular season only

The 2019–20 Ascenso MX season was a two-part competition: Apertura 2019 and Clausura 2020, which were the final two seasons of Ascenso MX, the second-tier football league of Mexico. Apertura began on 1 August 2019. On April 17, Liga MX President Enrique Bonilla announced the termination of the remainder of the Clausura 2020 tournament. Two reasons were the COVID-19 pandemic and the league's lack of financial resources.^[2]

On 22 May 2020 the Clausura season was cancelled and no champion will be crowned.^[3] With this announcement there would be no promotion or regulation for six seasons.

Changes from the previous season

All teams are able to be promoted to Liga MX 2020–2021 season.^[4]^[5]

The relegated team of the Clausura 2020 Liga MX season will remain in Liga MX if it pays MXN$120 million to remain the 20th team of the league. MXN$60 million will go to the Ascenso MX team that would naturally be promoted and MXN$60 million would go to new projects determined by the Liga MX assembly. If the arrangement is declined, the 19 teams of Liga MX are responsible for MXN$120 million, the right to be the 20th team of Liga MX will be acceded to the Liga MX assembly. The vacant position in Liga MX could then be occupied by a certified Ascenso MX team or an external sport project. If the position remains open, Liga MX reserves all rights to do as it sees appropriate for the 2020–21 Liga MX season.^[6]^[7]^[8]

The first ranked team will qualify for semi-finals and teams ranked second through sixth will qualify for the quarter-finals.^[5]

Away victories will be counted as four points. The maximum number of points obtainable via this method will be restricted to the first six away matches played by one team.^[5]

14 clubs will participate in this season:

Tiburones Rojos de Veracruz were relegated from Liga MX, then paid the required MXN$120 million to remain in Liga MX.^[9]
Atlético San Luis won the Apertura 2018 and Clausura 2019 season and were automatically promoted to Liga MX.
Tampico Madero were relegated to the Liga Premier de México, then paid the required fee to remain in Ascenso MX.^[10]
Loros UdeC won the Serie A de México season and were promoted to Ascenso MX.
Cafetaleros de Tapachula were relocated to Tuxtla Gutiérrez and will play in Ascenso MX as Cafetaleros de Chiapas.^[11]
Grupo Tecamachalco was granted the hiatus of the Alebrijes de Oaxaca franchise for one season and the owners of the previously frozen Zacatepec Siglo XXI reinstated their club as Alebrijes de Oaxaca.^[12]
FC Juárez bought the Lobos BUAP franchise and will play in Liga MX.^[13]
Lobos BUAP received the FC Juárez franchise, but was placed in hiatus until the board presents a viable project for its administration.^[13]

Clausura 2020

On 7 December 2019, Potros UAEM announced they would no longer be able to compete in Ascenso MX citing their financial inability to operate in the division.^[14]^[15]

On 27 December 2019, Loros UdeC was dissolved after the death of its owner, because the new board had no interest in maintaining the franchise.^[16]

Stadiums and Locations

Club	City	Stadium	Capacity
Atlante	Cancún, Quintana Roo	Andrés Quintana Roo	17,289
Celaya	Celaya, Guanajuato	Miguel Alemán Valdés	23,182
Chiapas	Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas	Estadio Víctor Manuel Reyna	29,001
Oaxaca	Oaxaca City, Oaxaca	Tecnológico de Oaxaca	14,950
Sinaloa	Culiacán, Sinaloa	Banorte	20,108
Sonora	Hermosillo, Sonora	Héroe de Nacozari	18,747
Tampico Madero	Tampico / Ciudad Madero, Tamaulipas	Tamaulipas	19,667
UAT	Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas	Marte R. Gómez	10,520
U. de G.	Guadalajara, Jalisco	Jalisco	55,110
Venados	Mérida, Yucatán	Carlos Iturralde	15,087
Zacatecas	Zacatecas City, Zacatecas	Carlos Vega Villalba	20,737
Zacatepec	Zacatepec, Morelos	Agustín "Coruco" Díaz	24,313

Location of teams in the 2019–20 Ascenso MX

Personnel and kits

Team	Chairman	Head Coach	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor(s)
Atlante	Manuel Velarde	Alex Diego	Sebastián Sosa	Kappa	Riviera Maya
Celaya	Alan Achar	Héctor Altamirano	Ignacio Torres	Keuka	Bachoco
Chiapas	José Luis Orantes Costanzo	Leonardo Casanova	Christian Bermúdez	Silver Sport	Chiapas
Oaxaca	Juan Carlos Jones	Alejandro Pérez	Arturo Ledesma	Silver Sport	Ópticas América, Electrolit²
Sinaloa	José Antonio Núñez	David Patiño	Jesús Chávez	Charly	Coppel
Sonora	Juan Pablo Rojo	Isaac Morales	Gerardo Moreno	Keuka	Súper del Norte
Tampico Madero	Felipe del Ángel Malibrán	Gerardo Espinoza	Javier Orozco	Charly	Nexum
UAT	Miguel Mansur Pedraza	Roberto Hernández	Egidio Arévalo	Pirma	Aeromar
UdeG	José Alberto Castellanos Gutiérrez	Jorge Dávalos	Jesús Vázquez	Umbro	Electrolit
Venados	Rodolfo Rosas Cantillo	Carlos Gutiérrez	Aldo Polo	U-Sports	Tony Roma's
Zacatecas	Armando Martínez Patiño	Oscar Torres	Roberto Nurse	Pirma	Telcel
Zacatepec	Víctor Manuel Arana	Ricardo Valiño	Ezequiel Cirigliano	Bee Sports	Ultromep

1. ^ On the back of shirt.

2. ^ On the sleeves.

3. ^ On the shorts.

4. ^ On the socks.

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Replaced by	Date of appointment	Position in table
Pre-Apertura changes
Zacatecas	Andrés Carevic	Resigned	May 3, 2019^[17]	Oscar Torres	May 15, 2019^[18]	Preseason
Atlante	Gabriel Pereyra	Sacked	May 7, 2019^[19]	Alex Diego	May 15, 2019^[20]
UdeG	Jorge Dávalos	Sacked	May 25, 2019^[21]	Ricardo Rayas	May 27, 2019^[22]
Chiapas	Luis Fernando Soto	Sacked	May 30, 2019	Gabriel Pereyra	May 30, 2019^[23]
Oaxaca	Juan Manuel Rivera (Interim)	End of tenure as caretaker	June 10, 2019	Alejandro Pérez	June 10, 2019^[24]
Sinaloa	Diego Armando Maradona	Resigned	June 13, 2019^[25]	José Guadalupe Cruz	June 17, 2019^[26]
Apertura changes
Celaya	José Islas	Sacked	September 19, 2019^[27]	Héctor Altamirano	September 19, 2019^[28]	13th
Chiapas	Gabriel Pereyra	Sacked	October 5, 2019^[29]	Diego de la Torre (Interim)	October 6, 2019^[30]	12th
UAEM	David Rangel	Sacked	October 22, 2019^[31]	Raúl Gutiérrez	October 22, 2019^[32]	14th
UdeG	Ricardo Rayas	Resigned	October 29, 2019^[33]	Jorge Dávalos	October 29, 2019	7th
Pre-Clausura changes
UAT	Carlos Reinoso	Sacked	November 8, 2019^[34]	Roberto Hernández	November 28, 2019^[35]	Preseason
Sinaloa	José Guadalupe Cruz	Resigned	November 11, 2019^[36]	David Patiño	December 4, 2019^[37]
Venados	Sergio Orduña	Sacked	November 13, 2019^[38]	Carlos Gutiérrez	December 10, 2019^[39]
Tampico Madero	Mario García Covalles	Sacked	November 19, 2019^[40]	Gerardo Espinoza	November 27, 2019^[41]
Chiapas	Diego de la Torre (Interim)	Confirmed as official manager	December 2, 2019	Diego de la Torre	December 2, 2019^[42]
Clausura changes
Chiapas	Diego de la Torre	Sacked	February 22, 2020^[43]	Leonardo Casanova	February 25, 2020 ^[44]	12th

Apertura 2019

The Apertura 2019 season is the 49th season of Ascenso MX. The regular season began on 1 August 2019 and end on 6 December 2019.

Regular season

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Oaxaca (C)	13	7	4	2	18	15	+3	27	Advance to semi-finals^[a]
2	Atlante	13	6	6	1	15	9	+6	26	Advance to quarter-finals^[b]
3	Tampico Madero	13	5	5	3	18	13	+5	23
4	U. de G.	13	7	0	6	17	17	0	22
5	Zacatepec	13	5	4	4	18	18	0	21
6	Celaya	13	5	2	6	14	11	+3	19
7	Zacatecas	13	4	6	3	13	11	+2	19
8	Chiapas	13	4	5	4	17	16	+1	18
9	Sinaloa	13	3	7	3	13	12	+1	17
10	Sonora	13	4	4	5	10	11	−1	17
11	U. de C.	13	3	5	5	16	18	−2	16
12	UAEM	13	3	4	6	18	21	−3	15	Team is last in the relegation table
13	Venados	13	3	3	7	12	20	−8	14
14	UAT	13	2	5	6	12	19	−7	11

Updated to match(es) played on 10 November 2019. Source: Ascenso MX
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Number of goals scored; 4) Number of goals scored away; 5) Head-to-head results between tied teams; 6) Highest relegation coefficient; 7) Fair Play points
(C) Champions
Notes:

^ The 1st ranked team qualifies for the Liguilla semi-finals.
^ Teams ranked 2nd through 7th ranked teams qualify for the Liguilla quarter-finals.

Positions by Round

	Leader and qualification to semi-finals
	Qualification to quarter-finals
	Last place in table

Team ╲ Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13
Team ╲ Round
Oaxaca	5	9	4	2	2	1	1	1	4	2	3	1	1
Atlante^[a]	8	3	7	7	7	9	6	4	2	4	1	2	2
Tampico Madero	11	7	5	3	4	4	3	3	5	3	4	4	3
U. de G.	13	10	11	12	8	5	7	10	8	9	7	6	4
Zacatepec	3	8	3	1	1	3	2	2	1	1	2	3	5
Celaya	12	12	12	10	11	13	10	11	7	6	6	5	6
Zacatecas	6	13	13	14	13	8	9	9	11	8	10	7	7
Chiapas	9	11	10	11	12	12	13	12	12	11	8	11	8
Sinaloa^[b]	1	2	6	5	5	6	5	5	6	7	9	9	9
Sonora	7	6	1	4	3	2	4	6	3	5	5	8	10
U. de C.	10	5	9	9	10	10	11	8	10	12	11	10	11
UAEM^[c]	4	4	8	8	9	11	12	14	14	14	13	12	12
Venados	2	1	2	6	6	7	8	7	9	10	12	13	13
UAT	14	14	14	13	14	14	14	13	13	13	14	14	14

Updated to match(es) played on 10 November 2019. Source: Ascenso MX

^ A pending match between weeks 10 and 12
^ A pending match between weeks 3 and 12
^ A pending match between weeks 3 and 10

Results

Each team plays once all other teams in 13 rounds regardless of it being a home or away match.

Home \ Away	ATE	CEL	CHI	OAX	SIN	SON	TAM	UAM	UAT	UDC	UDG	VEN	ZAS	ZAC
Atlante	—	2–1	—	3–0	—	2–0	0–0	2–2	—	—	2–1	—	0–0	—
Celaya	—	—	3–0	—	—	0–1	—	2–0	0–0	4–0	—	0–1	—	0–1
Chiapas	3–0	—	—	—	—	0–0	—	—	0–0	1–1	—	4–1	—	2–1
Oaxaca	—	2–0	2–1	—	—	—	2–2	—	—	—	2–0	—	1–1	2–1
Sinaloa	0–0	0–0	2–0	0–1	—	—	—	—	—	—	2–3	1–0	—	2–2
Sonora	—	—	—	3–0	2–1	—	0–1	0–1	—	—	1–2	2–1	0–0	—
Tampico Madero	—	2–3	2–2	—	1–2	—	—	—	0–0	—	1–0	—	—	1–1
UAEM	—	—	2–3	1–1	1–1	—	0–2	—	4–0	1–2	—	—	—	—
UAT	1–2	—	—	2–3	1–1	2–0	—	—	—	2–2	—	2–1	1–3	—
U. de C.	0–1	—	—	1–2	1–1	1–1	1–0	—	—	—	—	1–2	1–1	—
U. de G.	—	2–0	1–0	—	—	—	—	3–2	1–0	2–1	—	—	—	1–3
Venados	0–0	—	—	0–0	—	—	2–4	1–1	—	—	1–0	—	1–2	—
Zacatecas	—	0–1	1–1	—	0–0	—	0–2	3–0	—	—	2–1	—	—	—
Zacatepec	1–1	—	—	—	—	0–0	—	1–3	2–1	0–4	—	3–1	2–0	—

Updated to match(es) played on 10 November 2019. Source: Ascenso MX
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Regular Season statistics

Top goalscorers

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

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Víctor Mañón	U. de C.	8
2	Matías Britos	UAT	6
	Diego Jiménez	Oaxaca
	Alberto Ocejo	Tampico Madero
	Gustavo Ramírez	Zacatepec
	José Zúñiga	UAEM
7	Ricardo Marín	Celaya	5
7	Sebastián Sosa	Atlante	5
9	Franco Arizala	Chiapas	4
	Éder Cruz	Tampico Madero
	Jesús Lara	Oaxaca
	Guillermo Martínez	Chiapas
	Manuel Pérez	Zacatecas
	Rodrigo Prieto	Zacatepec
	Ronaldo Prieto	Tampico Madero

Source:Ascenso MX

Hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date	Round	Reference
Víctor Mañón	U. de C.	Zacatepec	0–4 (A)	10 August 2019	2	[1] Archived 2019-08-11 at the Wayback Machine
Gustavo Ramírez	Zacatepec	Venados	3–1 (H)	4 October 2019	9	[2]
Sebastián Sosa	Atlante	Oaxaca	3–0 (H)	6 October 2019	9	[3]

(H) – Home ; (A) – Away

Attendance

Per team

Pos	Team	Total	High	Low	Average	Change
1	Tampico Madero	47,178	14,646	4,823	7,863	+50.9%^†
2	U. de G.	39,533	14,693	3,902	6,589	+18.8%^†
3	Chiapas	37,481	7,350	5,025	6,247	+86.5%¹
4	Oaxaca	35,630	7,952	3,940	5,938	+170.6%^†
5	Zacatepec	29,957	7,394	3,403	4,280	+32.4%^†
6	Sinaloa	28,261	5,263	1,223	4,037	−25.7%^†
7	Venados	23,623	4,934	3,183	3,937	−27.9%^†
8	Zacatecas	21,672	6,618	2,341	3,612	+10.9%^†
9	UAT	24,239	6,351	672	3,463	−36.1%^†
10	Celaya	20,571	6,171	1,884	2,939	+10.0%^†
11	Atlante	18,994	3,209	1,728	2,713	−29.8%^†
12	U. de C.	18,377	4,268	1,546	2,625	+150.2%²
13	UAEM	15,328	3,522	1,216	2,555	−17.1%^†
14	Sonora	12,633	2,683	1,257	1,805	−16.8%^†
	League total	373,477	14,693	672	4,104	−13.0%^†

Updated to games played on 10 November 2019
Source: Ascenso MX
Notes:
Only regular season listed
1: Team played as Cafetaleros de Tapachula last season.
2: Team played in Serie A de México last season.

Highest and lowest

Highest attendance					Lowest attendance
Week	Home	Score	Away	Attendance	Home	Score	Away	Attendance
1	Oaxaca	2–0	U. de G.	7,952	UAEM	4–0	UAT	1,216
2	UAT	1–2	Atlante	6,351	Sonora	3–0	Oaxaca	1,322
3	Tampico Madero	0–0	UAT	14,646	Celaya	0–1	Sonora	2,904
4	Oaxaca	2–1	Chiapas	5,980	Sonora	0–1	Tampico Madero	2,318
5	Zacatepec	1–1	Atlante	7,394	Celaya	0–0	UAT	2,899
6	Chiapas	1–1	U. de C.	5,789	Sonora	2–1	Venados	1,257
7	Tampico Madero	1–0	U. de G.	4,823	Sinaloa	2–0	Chiapas	1,223
8	Oaxaca	2–2	Tampico Madero	3,940	Celaya	0–1	Venados	1,884
9	Tampico Madero	2–3	Celaya	5,139	Atlante	3–0	Oaxaca	1,728
10	Sinaloa	0–0	Atlante	4,543	Celaya	4–0	U. de C.	2,243
11	Tampico Madero	1–1	Zacatepec	8,095	Sonora	0–1	UAEM	1,743
12	Zacatepec	1–3	UAEM	4,340	UAT	1–3	Zacatecas	1,012
13	U. de G.	2–1	U. de C.	14,693	UAT	2–1	Venados	672

Source: Ascenso MX

Liguilla (Playoffs)

The seven best teams play two games against each other on a home-and-away basis. The best team will be classified directly to semi-finals. The higher seeded teams play on their home field during the second leg. The winner of each match up is determined by aggregate score. In the quarterfinals and semifinals, if the two teams are tied on aggregate the higher seeded team advances. In the final, if the two teams are tied after both legs, the match goes to extra time and, if necessary, a penalty shoot-out.

Quarter-finals					Semi-finals					Final

					1	Oaxaca (s)	1	0	1

					6	Celaya	0	1	1
3	Tampico Madero	0	0	0

6	Celaya	1	0	1
										1	Oaxaca	3	2	5

										5	Zacatepec	1	2	3
2	Atlante	1	2	3

7	Zacatecas	2	0	2
					2	Atlante	0	0	0

					5	Zacatepec	0	1	1
4	U. de G.	0	0	0

5	Zacatepec	1	1	2

Quarter-finals

The first legs were played on 13 and 14 November, and the second legs were played on 16 and 17 November 2019.

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Atlante	3–2	Zacatecas	1–2	2–0
Tampico Madero	0–1	Celaya	0–1	0–0
U. de G.	0–2	Zacatepec	0–1	0–1

All times are UTC−6 except for matches in Cancún.

First leg

13 November 2019	Celaya	1–0	Tampico Madero	Celaya
19:00	Aguirre 90+1'	Report		Stadium: Estadio Miguel Alemán Valdés Attendance: 4,633 Referee: Alan Enrique Martínez Vega

13 November 2019	Zacatecas	2–1	Atlante	Zacatecas City
21:00	Nurse 20' Morales 64'	Report	Fassi 87' (own)	Stadium: Estadio Carlos Vega Villalba Attendance: 2,617 Referee: Brian Omar González Veles

14 November 2019	Zacatepec	1–0	U. de G.	Zacatepec
19:00	Prieto 12'	Report		Stadium: Estadio Agustín Coruco Díaz Attendance: 6,387 Referee: Edgar Allan Morales Olvera

Second leg

16 November 2019	Atlante	2-0 (3–2 agg.)	Zacatecas	Cancún
18:00	Paiva 24' Islas 58'	Report		Stadium: Estadio Andrés Quintana Roo Attendance: 5,237 Referee: Juan Andrés Esquivel González

16 November 2019	Tampico Madero	0–0 (0–1 agg.)	Celaya	Tampico and Ciudad Madero
20:00		Report		Stadium: Estadio Tamaulipas Attendance: 8,562 Referee: Guillermo Pacheco Larios

17 November 2019	U. de G.	0–1 (0–2 agg.)	Zacatepec	Guadalajara
12:00			Magaña 90'	Stadium: Estadio Jalisco Attendance: 13,636 Referee: Adalid Maganda Villalva

Semi-finals

The first legs will be played on 20 November, and the second legs will be played on 23 November 2019.

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Oaxaca	1–1 (s)	Celaya	1–0	0–1
Atlante	0–1	Zacatepec	0–0	0–1

All times are UTC−6 except for matches in Cancún.

First leg

20 November 2019	Celaya	0–1	Oaxaca	Celaya
18:00		Report	Jiménez 32'	Stadium: Estadio Miguel Alemán Valdés Attendance: 10,061 Referee: Alan Enrique Martínez Vega

20 November 2019	Zacatepec	0–0	Atlante	Zacatepec
20:00		Report		Stadium: Estadio Agustín Coruco Díaz Attendance: 11,474 Referee: Víctor Alfonso Cáceres Hernández

Second leg

23 November 2019	Atlante	0–1 (0–1 agg.)	Zacatepec	Cancún
18:00		Report	Ramírez 22'	Stadium: Estadio Andrés Quintana Roo Attendance: 8,725 Referee: Edgar Allan Morales Olvera

23 November 2019	Oaxaca	0–1 (1–1 agg.)	Celaya	Oaxaca City
19:00		Report	Cervantes 34'	Stadium: Estadio Tecnológico de Oaxaca Attendance: 13,115 Referee: Juan Andres Esquivel Gonzalez

Final

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Oaxaca	5–3	Zacatepec	3–1	2–2

First leg

29 November 2019	Zacatepec	1–3	Oaxaca	Zacatepec
19:00	Colula 76'	Report Referee Report	Cisneros 2' Ledesma 4' Faría 82'	Stadium: Estadio Agustín Coruco Díaz Attendance: 21,434 Referee: Juan Andrés Esquivel González

Second leg

6 December 2019	Oaxaca	2–2 (5–3 agg.)	Zacatepec	Oaxaca City
20:30	Rodríguez 11' Ledesma 75'	Report	Prieto 23' Basulto 66'	Stadium: Estadio Tecnológico de Oaxaca Attendance: 14,800 Referee: Víctor Alfonso Cáceres Hernández

Apertura 2019 winners:
Alebrijes de Oaxaca 2nd Title

Clausura 2020

The Clausura 2020 season is the 50th season of Ascenso MX. The season began on 23 January 2020. On 14 April 2020, it was announced that the Clausura 2020 season would not finish and a champion won't be crowned.^[45]