Ascenso MX

Ascenso MX

Organising body	Federación Mexicana de Fútbol (FMF)
Founded	1994 (1994) (as Primera División "A" de México)
Folded	2020 (2020)
Country	Mexico
Confederation	CONCACAF
Number of clubs	12
Level on pyramid	2
Promotion to	Liga MX
Relegation to	Liga Premier
Domestic cup(s)	Copa MX (2012–2020) Campeón de Ascenso (1997–2019)
Last champions	Oaxaca (2nd title)
Most championships	Sinaloa León Irapuato Necaxa (4 titles each)
Website	ascensomx.net
Current: Apertura 2019 Ascenso MX season

Ascenso MX, officially named Ascenso BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, was a professional association football league in Mexico and the second level of the Mexican football league system.^[1] Formerly named Primera División "A" de México (1994–2009) and Liga de Ascenso de México (2009–2012). The season was divided into two short tournaments, according to FIFA world football calendar: Apertura (from July to December) and Clausura (from January to May). The champions of each tournament were decided by a final knockout phase, commonly known as liguilla. The clubs promoted to Liga MX were the winners of the Campeón de Ascenso between the two league champions of the season. The bottom club was relegated to Liga Premier.

The inaugural edition was the 1994–95 season, with Celaya as the first champions in history. The final edition was the Apertura 2019 tournament, with Oaxaca as the last champions. In all, forty-nine editions of the league were held.

Sinaloa, León, Irapuato and Necaxa were the most successful clubs with four titles each, followed by Querétaro with three titles. In all, twenty-seven clubs won the league at least once.

In 1994, the FMF created the Primera División "A" as an intermediate league between the Primera División and Segunda División, to try to reduce the gap between the clubs in the top division and the lower divisions. The project was under the direction of José Antonio García Rodríguez, then president of the Primera División. He envisioned the new division to be joined by the best clubs of the Segunda División and include clubs from the United States, Los Angeles Salsa and San Jose Black Hawks expressed a desire to join. FIFA declined the integration but established a new league with the best Segunda División sides. The inaugural season had fifteen founding clubs: Atlético San Francisco, Atlético Yucatán, Caimanes de Tabasco, Celaya, Gallos Blancos UAQ, Gallos de Aguascalientes, Guerreros de Acapulco, Irapuato, La Piedad, Marte, Pachuca, San Luis, Tepic, Tijuana Stars and Zacatepec. In 2006, the number of clubs increased from 20 to 24, and geographically separated into two groups (A and B).

In 2009, the division was renamed as Liga de Ascenso de México. The league was reduced to 17 clubs and the groups were eliminated in the regular phase. The Apertura 2010 had 18 participating clubs, the league was rebranded in 2012.^[2] In 2013, Alebrijes de Oaxaca was the 16th club to join Ascenso MX, Alebrijes was partly formed by consolidating Segunda División side Tecamachalco which had won promotion to Ascenso MX in 2012, but did not fulfill infrastructural requirements set by the Mexican Football Federation. In August 2013, Zacatepec was promoted to Ascenso MX in place of relegated Pumas Morelos. ^[3] From 2011 to 2016, there was no relegation to Segunda División. On June 6, 2016, returned the relegation for the 2016–17 season. Loros UdeC and Murciélagos were relegated in the next two seasons. In 2018–19 season, Tampico Madero finished last in the relegation table, but remained in Ascenso MX after paying a bail.^[4]

In 2012, the league rebranded its name, logo and competition format as Ascenso MX, the clubs do not need the FMF certification to be promoted and the division no longer used format with groups in regular phase. On 13 April 2020, Liga MX and Ascenso MX President Enrique Bonilla announced the termination of the remainder of the Clausura 2020 season. Two reasons were the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic and the league's lack of financial resources.^[5] The Ascenso MX was replaced by the Liga de Expansión MX on 17 April 2020.

Atlante

Celaya

Oaxaca

Sinaloa

Sonora

Tampico Madero

Cafetaleros

UdeG

UAT

Venados

Zacatecas

Zacatepec

Locations of Ascenso MX clubs in the 2019–20 season.

Notes

1. Clubs currently in Liga MX.
2. Clubs currently in Liga de Expansión MX.
3. Clubs currently in Liga Premier.
4. Defunct clubs.

Campeón de Ascenso was the domestic Super cup of the division between the champions of the Apertura and Clausura tournaments, the two champions of each season.

The inaugural edition was held in 1997, with Tigres UANL as the first champions in history. The final edition was held in 2019, with Atlético San Luis as the last champions. In all, twenty-three editions of the trophy were held.

Sinaloa, Irapuato, Querétaro, Necaxa, La Piedad and San Luis were the most successful clubs with two titles each. In all, seventeen clubs won the trophy at least once.

Notes

1. Automatic winners of the trophy and promotion for winning both league tournaments of the season.

BBVA México was the official main sponsor of the league, from its rebranding in 2012 until its abolition in 2019, hence it was officially known as Ascenso BBVA MX. The official ball of the league was manufactured by Voit.

Notes

1. Defunct clubs.
2. La Piedad was bought by Veracruz, taking its spot in top division.
3. Unión de Curtidores was bought by Puebla, taking its spot in top division.
4. Veracruz gained automatic promotion due to expansion in the Primera División.
5. Cafetaleros de Tapachula did not obtain certification for promotion.
6. Cruz Azul Hidalgo was bought by Zacatepec, taking its spot in Ascenso MX.

Season	Player	Club	Goals
1994–95	Marco de Almeida	Marte	15
1995–96	Lorenzo Sáez	Pachuca	30
Invierno 1996	Nílson Esidio Mora	UANL	11
Verano 1997	Ángel Lemus Carlos Pavón	Irapuato UAT	12
Invierno 1997	Niver Arboleda	Zacatepec	17
Verano 1998	Daniel Fasciolli Carlos Morales Valtencir Gomes	UAT Pachuca Tigrillos UANL	12
Invierno 1998	Cristián Ariel Morales	Irapuato	19
Verano 1999	Ángel Lemus	San Luis	16
Invierno 1999	Cristián Ariel Morales	Irapuato	17
Verano 2000	Carlos Muñoz Emmanuel Sacramento	BUAP	15
Invierno 2000	Christian Patiño	La Piedad	16
Verano 2001	Héctor Giménez	Gallos de Aguascalientes	16
Invierno 2001	Héctor Álvarez	Tampico Madero	16
Verano 2002	Ariel González	Querétaro	15
Apertura 2002	Héctor Álvarez	Zacatepec	23
Clausura 2003	Héctor Álvarez	Zacatepec	16
Apertura 2003	Héctor Álvarez	León	17
Clausura 2004	Mauro Gerk Francisco Bravo	Celaya Zacatepec	18
Apertura 2004	Ariel González	San Luis	16
Clausura 2005	Rubén Darío Gigena	Cruz Azul Hidalgo	17
Apertura 2005	Mauricio Romero	Coyotes de Sonora	16
Clausura 2006	Diego Olsina	Delfines de Coatzacoalcos	15
Apertura 2006	Álvaro González	Puebla	14
Clausura 2007	Álvaro González	Puebla	16
Apertura 2007	Mauricio Romero	León	14
Clausura 2008	Freddy Bareiro	León	17
Apertura 2008	Mauro Gerk Raúl Enríquez	Querétaro Tijuana	14
Clausura 2009	Sebastián Maz	Sinaloa	15
Apertura 2009	Ariel González	Irapuato	11
Bicentenario 2010	Ariel González Carlos Casartelli	Irapuato León	11
Apertura 2010	Eder Pacheco	Durango	13
Clausura 2011	Blas Pérez	León	14
Apertura 2011	Nicolás Saucedo	UAT	11
Clausura 2012	Sebastián Maz	León	13
Apertura 2012	Víctor Lojero Rodrigo Prieto	Necaxa Toros Neza	11
Clausura 2013	Víctor Lojero	Necaxa	12
Apertura 2013	Gustavo Ramírez	Oaxaca	11
Clausura 2014	Roberto Nurse	UAT	12
Apertura 2014	Diego Jiménez Giancarlo Maldonado	BUAP Atlante	10
Clausura 2015	Roberto Nurse Leandro Carrijó	Sinaloa Atlético San Luis	10
Apertura 2015	Carlos Garcés	Atlante	10
Clausura 2016	Ismael Valadéz	Tapachula	10
Apertura 2016	Roberto Nurse	Zacatecas	16
Clausura 2017	Diego Jiménez	BUAP	10
Apertura 2017	Luis Madrigal	Oaxaca	12
Clausura 2018	Guillermo Martínez	Zacatecas	11
Apertura 2018	Nicolás Ibáñez Roberto Nurse	Atlético San Luis Zacatecas	8
Clausura 2019	Nicolás Ibáñez	Atlético San Luis	11
Apertura 2019	Víctor Mañón	UdeC	8

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