Liga MX 2021 Standings: Clausura and Apertura Tables, Results and Champions

Guard1anes Clausura 2021 final standings

Cruz Azul finished the Guard1anes Clausura 2021 regular season first with 41 points from 17 matches, three clear of América and 13 ahead of third-place Puebla. The complete table below is the final ranking after Jornada 17, before Reclasificación and the Liguilla changed the championship picture.

Complete 18-team regular-season table

Direct quarterfinal and Reclasificacion cut lines

Cruz Azul, América, Puebla and Monterrey skipped the preliminary round. The 10-point gap between second and third showed how decisively the top pair had separated from the field, while Puebla ranked above Monterrey on the league's tiebreak order after both reached 28 points.

The pressure was sharper at the other cut. Querétaro claimed 12th place and the last Reclasificación berth on 21 points; Mazatlán also had 21 but finished 13th, one goal worse on goal difference. That thin line meant one club still had a one-match route into the quarterfinals and the other was done. For a guide to the knockout phase beyond this archive, visit our Liga MX Liguilla hub.

Cruz Azul turned first place into the Clausura championship

Cruz Azul did what a Liga MX superlíder cannot take for granted: La Máquina followed the best regular-season record by winning the Liguilla. The 41-point total supplied home-field and seeding advantages, but Juan Reynoso's side still had to survive three two-leg ties before its table position became a ninth league championship.

The 41-point campaign and what separated La Maquina

The run looked anything but inevitable after defeats in the first two rounds. Cruz Azul then won 12 straight league matches, matching the Liga MX short-tournament record, and closed the regular season with a 13-2-2 record. Its 41 points represented 80.3 percent of the 51 available. América pushed hard enough to finish on 38, yet nobody else came within 13 points of the leader.

The clearest separation was defensive. Cruz Azul allowed only 11 goals, two fewer than América, Monterrey and Santos Laguna, the next-best defenses. Its 26 goals also matched the highest total in the division. That balance mattered more than a flashy scoring margin: a side built to protect narrow advantages was better equipped for the aggregate-score pressure waiting in May.

From Toluca scare to the final against Santos Laguna

The quarterfinal immediately tested that control. Toluca won the first leg 2-1, so Cruz Azul returned to the Azteca needing a response. A 3-1 second-leg win produced a 4-3 aggregate escape. The semifinal was tighter: a 0-0 draw at Pachuca followed by a 1-0 home victory, Santiago Giménez scoring the tie's only goal.

Against Santos in the final, Luis Romo delivered a 1-0 away win in Torreón. Santos scored first in the return, leveling the aggregate score, before Jonathan Rodríguez equalized on the night. The 1-1 draw secured a 2-1 aggregate victory. Cruz Azul's first league crown since Invierno 1997 ended a wait of roughly 23 and a half years—an emotional payoff backed by the strongest table line of 2021.

That distinction is why the season belongs in both a standings archive and club-history conversations. Regular-season dominance was not merely decorative; Cruz Azul carried it through the postseason. Our broader best Liga MX teams guide places titles and sustained performance in a wider historical frame.

Grita Mexico Apertura 2021 final standings

América topped the Grita México Apertura 2021 regular season with 35 points, six ahead of Atlas and León. Atlas took second on the tiebreak order and, crucially, joined América, León and Tigres in avoiding the volatile one-match Reclasificación round.

Complete 18-team regular-season table

Why America led but Atlas had the stronger platform

América was unquestionably the regular-season standard: 10 wins, only two losses and a six-point cushion. Atlas's “stronger platform” applies to the chasing pack, not to a claim that the Zorros outperformed the leader. Atlas matched América's league-low 10 goals conceded and earned the second seed, giving Diego Cocca's side a direct quarterfinal place and home advantage in each return leg before the final.

Atlas and León had identical 8-5-4 records and 29 points, but Atlas scored one more goal and conceded four fewer, producing +11 goal difference against León's +6. That was a meaningful margin in a competition where seed could settle a tied quarterfinal or semifinal. For present-day match dates rather than this historical table, use the Liga MX calendar.

Atlas won the Apertura title from second place

Atlas converted second place into the Apertura 2021 championship, and its high seed was not cosmetic. It broke two level aggregate ties in the Zorros' favor before the final. Only then, with table position no longer available as a championship tiebreaker, did Atlas beat León in a penalty shootout to end a 70-year title wait.

The Liguilla route through Monterrey, Pumas and Leon

Atlas opened its quarterfinal with a 0-0 draw at Monterrey, then drew 1-1 at the Jalisco. The aggregate score—the combined result across both legs—was 1-1. Apertura 2021 had removed the away-goals tiebreaker for quarterfinals and semifinals, so the higher regular-season seed advanced when the aggregate remained level. Atlas's second place therefore eliminated ninth-seeded Rayados.

The semifinal followed an even sharper version of the same script. Julio Furch scored in a 1-0 first-leg win away to Pumas. Universidad Nacional won the return 1-0, leaving another 1-1 aggregate draw. Atlas advanced again because it had finished second while Pumas entered the postseason from 11th and came through Reclasificación. The table had bought the Zorros a safety net twice, although neither tie was comfortable.

León, the third seed, waited in the final and won a swinging first leg 3-2. Luis Reyes and Furch scored Atlas's away goals, but those goals carried no special tiebreak value. Aldo Rocha's header delivered a 1-0 Atlas win in the return at Estadio Jalisco. The combined score was 3-3, sending the championship match through extra time and into penalties.

A 70-year wait ended on penalties

Atlas won the shootout 4-3, with goalkeeper Camilo Vargas part of the decisive defensive effort and Furch converting the final kick. This time the second seed could not simply advance a tied series: a final had to produce a champion on the field. The Zorros earned their second league title and their first since 1951.

That distinction completes the lesson of the Apertura table. América's 35 points made it the regular-season leader, but Atlas's 29 points still created a real postseason advantage—and the team then did the final work from the spot. For the champions who followed from 2022 onward, see our Liga MX champions-by-year guide.

What the two 2021 tables reveal

The two final tables reveal sharp movement in only a few months: Atlas and Tigres climbed into the direct-quarterfinal places, while Cruz Azul and Monterrey dropped into Reclasificación. They also show why a Liga MX table must be read as a tournament snapshot. Rank shapes a club's path, but the knockout phase can reward either sustained dominance or a side that peaks at the right moment.

The biggest shifts from Clausura to Apertura

Because every club played 17 matches in each tournament, points and ranks can be compared directly. They should not be added together and presented as an official 2021 championship table, however. The schedule reversed some home and away assignments, squads and coaches changed during the summer, and each tournament awarded its own title. The comparison is a form guide across two separate competitions, not a third competition invented after the fact.

The risers tell different stories. Tigres added five points and jumped six places, enough to exchange the preliminary round for a direct quarterfinal. Atlas improved by only four points, yet its tighter ranking and defensive profile became the launchpad for a championship. Atlético de San Luis added eight points and moved from 17th to the final Reclasificación berth. Necaxa made the largest points gain, nine, but rose only to 14th and remained outside the postseason.

Apertura was also more compressed from top to bottom. Clausura's first-to-last spread was 30 points—Cruz Azul's 41 against Necaxa's 11. Apertura narrowed that range to 20, from América's 35 to the 15 collected by Querétaro and Tijuana. Yet the direct-quarterfinal standard barely moved: fourth place required 28 points in both tournaments. The congestion instead appeared around the lower cut. Twelfth-place Atlético de San Luis, 13th-place Mazatlán and 14th-place Necaxa all finished the Apertura on 20 points. Tiebreak details, not a broad performance gap, separated one remaining title chance from elimination.

Cruz Azul's 18-point fall was the largest swing, but eighth place still kept the Clausura champion alive. That playoff spot did not guarantee momentum: ninth-place Monterrey routed Cruz Azul 4-1 in the one-match Reclasificación. Pumas supplies the opposite lesson. It moved only from 15th to 11th, then won at Toluca and eliminated first-place América before Atlas stopped it on the higher-seed tiebreak. A modest regular season could still open a deep Liguilla run.

Where to find later seasons and current standings

Keep the archive labels straight when moving forward. Apertura 2021 belongs to the official 2021/22 season, followed by Clausura 2022. The later 2022/23 season pairs Apertura 2022 with Clausura 2023. If the goal is every match date and result played in calendar year 2023, our separate Liga MX 2023 schedule and results archive serves that different intent without mixing it into these 2021 standings.

For the current competition, do not treat either historical table as live. Use the current Liga MX standings for today's positions, the Liguilla hub for the active postseason picture, and the Liga MX calendar for upcoming match dates. This page remains the fixed record of the year in which Cruz Azul led and finished the job in spring, while Atlas used second place to build an unforgettable winter title run.