Mexican women‘s top-flight side Liga MX Femenil announced a rebrand to Liga Femenil BBVA, along with a change in the competition’s regular season format.
The name change is in line with a revamped structure that will pivot from an 18-team regular season, to two groups of nine teams.
Elo rankings and geographical locations will be used to divide up the league, each Liga Femenil side will play eight matches per season against teams within their own group, as well as six from the opposite group.
Like the affiliated men’s top flight in Mexico, there will continue to be two seasons per year — the Apertura and Clausura — which will each continue to close out with the playoffs as well.
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As for the playoffs, that structure will also change, due to the two separate groups. For the quarterfinals, the top four from each group will move onto the knockout round, with opposite group match-ups between No. 1 vs. No. 4 and No. 2 vs. No. 3 seeds.
The semifinals will see teams being re-ranked No. 1- No. 4 based off the overall league table, with match-ups between the re-ranked No. 1 vs. No. 4 and No. 2 vs. No. 3 teams.
With the aim of removing mid-week matchdays, the changes have reduced the number of regular season games from 17 to 14. With the new schedule matches will be primarily played from Fridays to Sundays.
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Club América, who defeated Monterrey 3-1 on aggregate in last season’s Clausura final, are the current champions.
On July 26 at San Antonio’s Toyota Field, they’ll face the Apertura champions Tigres in the league’s annual “Campeon de Campeonas” exhibition.
Following the Campeón de Campeonas, the revamped Liga Femenil officially kicks off the 2026 Apertura on July 31 with Cruz Azul vs. Atlas.
