Copa MX: The Essential Guide For The Uninformed

Countries all across the world have their own cup competition, Copa Del Rey (Spain), FA Cup (England), US Open Cup (USA), and this week Mexico kicks off theirs. While the ultimate goal is to be named Copa MX champion, the road to get there is a bit different than some other domestic cups you might be familiar to. Just like Liga MX, Copa MX is played twice a year, an Apertura and a Clausura. Just last year the higher ups at the FMF tried giving added value to the Copa MX by giving the winners of each season a half ticket to the Copa Libertadoes. If there are two different winners, they play in a one-off playoff match and the winner gets a spot in the Copa Libertadores play in round (Puebla will be playing in the Copa Libertadores play in game in a few weeks).

Initial format

The tournament itself starts off with six groups of four. Because of this structure, teams playing in other cup competitions cannot play in this tournament. For this edition, Pumas, Toluca, and Puebla will all miss out because of the Copa Libertadores, while America, Queretaro, Santos, and Tigres will also pass for their place in the CONCACAF Champions League knockout stage. The remaining spots are filled by the top 13 teams from Mexico’s second division, Liga de Asenso to go along with the 11 Liga MX teams not playing in any continental cup.

The low down on the groups

Each group has two teams from each of the two leagues (Liga MX and Liga Asenso) expect for Group 6, which has just one Liga MX team because of the numbers. This is where things get a little tricky; while we’re familiar with the format of each group being a round robin where each team plays each other twice and after six games the teams with the highest points moves on, Copa MX spits it up by making it mini two team aggregate series.

In match day one a Liga de Asenso team will host a Liga MX team, while match day two that same Liga MX team will host that Liga de Asenso team. The team with the highest aggregate score after the two matches not only get the points earned from the matches (as does the losing team)  but also gets an added point for winning the two legged matchup (why? Your guess is as good as mine). In the final two matches of group play, the teams from the same league match up against each other.

After all six group games are played, the team with the most points wins the group and advances to the quarterfinals. Additionally, the top two best runner-up teams also earn a spot in the quarterfinals.

The knockout stage

In the knockout round the process is a bit more familiar, as the teams are ranked 1 through 8 based on their overall records in the group stage with the higher ranked team hosting the knockout match. If the game is tied after the 90 minutes, the teams go straight into a PK shootout. The semifinals and final are played the same way with the highest remaining teams hosting the semifinals and final; if tied, the match will go to PKS.

*Note, unlike in the Liga MX Liguilla or playoffs, if a lower seeded team wins a knockout match here, there is no reseeding of the remaining teams the following round.

Copa MX gives the lower level teams a chance at playing with the big boys, while giving the Liga MX clubs a chance to use youngsters and players they haven’t had a chance to get game time yet, and maybe work their way in to the first team.

GROUPS * Liga MX teams are the first two listed except for Group 6, where Cruz Azul is the only Liga MX team in the group