2011–12 Mexican Primera División season

Primera División de México
Season	2011–12
Champions	Apertura:; Tigres (3rd title); Clausura:; Santos Laguna (4th title)
Relegated	Tecos
Champions League	Tigres; Santos Laguna; Guadalajara; Monterrey
Copa Libertadores	Guadalajara; Cruz Azul; UANL
Matches played	306
Goals scored	805 (2.63 per match)
Top goalscorer	Apertura:; Iván Alonso; (11 goals); Clausura:; Iván Alonso; Christian Benítez; (14 goals)
Biggest home win	Apertura:; Tigres 5–0 Pachuca; (September 10, 2011); Clausura:; Monterrey 4-0 Tecos; (March 24, 2012)
Biggest away win	Apertura:; Pachuca 1–4 Santos Laguna; (July 23, 2011); Chiapas 1–4 Monterrey; (July 24, 2011); Guadalajara 1-4 Puebla; (September 17, 2011); Monterrey 0-3 América; (October 15, 2011); UNAM 1-4 Atlas; (October 16, 2011); Clausura:; Atlante 0-4 América; (February 25, 2012)
Highest scoring	Apertura:; Chiapas 5-3 América; (September 17, 2011); Atlante 4-4 Morelia; (October 29, 2011); Clausura:; Toluca 3-4 Pachuca; (February 5, 2012); Cruz Azul 4-3 Monterrey; (March 3, 2012); Santos Laguna 5-2 San Luis; (March 3, 2012); Cruz Azul 5-2 Tecos; (April 21, 2012)
	← 2010–11 2012–13 →

The 2011–12 Primera División Profesional season was the 65th professional top-flight football league season in Mexico. The season was split into two tournaments: the Torneo Apertura and the Torneo Clausura; each of identical format and contested by the same eighteen teams.

Changes from 2010–11

On May 16, 2011, the General Assembly of the Primera División announced a format change to begin with the 2011 Apertura. The first change was the elimination of groups ^{[clarification needed]} in the First Stage. The top eight teams at the end of the First Stage would advance to the next round. The other change would affect the playoffs. Instead of a two-legged, ^{[clarification needed]} single elimination tournament culminating in the finals, the eight teams in the next round would be placed into two groups of four. The four teams in each group will play against other in a double round-robin format. The top team in each group will advance to the Finals.^[1] However, on June 6, 2011, the Primera División Profesional's Operations Committee announced that the format change would only affect the elimination of groups in the First Stage, and that the playoffs would remain as they were. Therefore, the top eight teams at the end of the First Stage would advance to a two-legged elimination bracket.^[2]

Clubs

América, Cruz Azul, UNAM

Atlas, Estudiantes Tecos, Guadalajara

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Locations of the 2011–12 Primera División teams

The following eighteen teams participated in the season. Necaxa was relegated to the Liga de Ascenso after accumulating the lowest coefficient during the immediate past three seasons, ending its one-year stay in the league. Tijuana was promoted, the winner of the 2010–11 Liga de Ascenso season. This is Tijuana's inaugural season in the Primera División.

Club	Home City	Stadium	Capacity
América	Mexico City	Azteca	105,000
Atlante	Cancún	Andrés Quintana Roo	20,000
Atlas	Guadalajara	Jalisco	56,700
Cruz Azul	Mexico City	Estadio Azul	35,000
Estudiantes Tecos	Zapopan	3 de Marzo	30,000
Guadalajara	Guadalajara	Omnilife	49,850
Chiapas	Tuxtla Gutiérrez	Víctor Manuel Reyna	31,500
Monterrey	Monterrey	Tecnológico	38,000
Morelia	Morelia	Morelos	41,500
Pachuca	Pachuca, Hidalgo	Hidalgo	30,000
Puebla	Puebla	Cuauhtémoc	48,650
Querétaro	Querétaro	La Corregidora	40,785
San Luis	San Luis Potosí	Alfonso Lastras Ramírez	24,000
Santos Laguna	Torreón	Corona	30,000
Tijuana	Tijuana	Caliente	33,333
Toluca	Toluca	Nemesio Díez	27,000
Tigres	San Nicolás	Universitario	45,000
UNAM	Mexico City	Olímpico Universitario	63,000

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Replaced by	Date of appointment	Position in table
Pre-Apertura changes
Puebla	Héctor Hugo Eugui	Resigned	May 6, 2011	Sergio Bueno	May 13, 2011	14th
Toluca	Sergio Lugo	Sacked	May 12, 2011	Héctor Hugo Eugui	May 17, 2011	12th
Atlas	Benjamín Galindo	End of contract	May 23, 2011	Ruben Omar Romano	June 2, 2011	10th
Apertura changes
Estudiantes Tecos	José Luis Sánchez Solá	Sacked	August 8, 2011	José Luis Salgado	August 8, 2011	16th
Estudiantes Tecos	José Luis Salgado	End of tenure as caretaker	August 14, 2011	Raul Arias	August 15, 2011	9th
Querétaro	Gustavo Matosas	Sacked	August 16, 2011	José Saturnino Cardozo	August 16, 2011	8th
Santos Laguna	Diego Cocca	Sacked	September 4, 2011	Eduardo Rergis	September 4, 2011	14th
Santos Laguna	Eduardo Rergis	End of tenure as caretaker	September 14, 2011	Benjamín Galindo	September 14, 2011	15th
Atlas	Ruben Omar Romano	Resigned	September 17, 2011	Juan Carlos Chávez	September 18, 2011	18th
América	Carlos Reinoso	Resigned	September 18, 2011	Alfredo Tena	September 19, 2011	16th
Tijuana	Joaquin del Olmo	Sacked	September 19, 2011	Antonio Mohamed	September 19, 2011	17th
Guadalajara	Jose Luis Real	Sacked	October 3, 2011	Fernando Quirarte	October 3, 2011	5th
Estudiantes Tecos	Raul Arias	Sacked	November 2, 2011	José Luis Salgado	November 2, 2011	13th
Pre-Clausura changes
Puebla	Sergio Bueno	Sacked	November 7, 2011	Juan Carlos Osorio	November 14, 2011	12th
América	Alfredo Tena	Sacked	November 10, 2011	Miguel Herrera	November 15, 2011	17th
San Luis	Ignacio Ambríz	Sacked	November 10, 2011	René Isidoro García	November 10, 2011	10th
Toluca	Héctor Hugo Eugui	Sacked	November 10, 2011	Wilson Graniolatti	November 14, 2011	13th
Atlante	Miguel Herrera	Contract Termination	November 15, 2011	Mario García	November 29, 2011	15th
Clausura changes
Estudiantes Tecos	José Luis Salgado	Resigned	January 14, 2012	Gilberto Adame	January 14, 2012	18th
Guadalajara	Fernando Quirarte	Resigned	January 21, 2012	Ignacio Ambríz	January 26, 2012	18th
Estudiantes Tecos	Gilberto Adame	End of tenure as caretaker	January 30, 2012	Héctor Hugo Eugui	January 30, 2012	17th
San Luis	René Isidoro García	Resigned	February 25, 2012	Sergio Bueno	February 28, 2012	15th
Querétaro	José Saturnino Cardozo	Resigned	March 3, 2012	Ángel Comizzo	March 5, 2012	18th
Puebla	Juan Carlos Osorio	Resigned	March 21, 2012	Daniel Bartolotta	March 21, 2012	16th
Atlante	Mario García	Sacked	April 15, 2012	José Luis González China	April 15, 2012	15th
Guadalajara	Ignacio Ambriz	Resigned	April 18, 2012	Alberto Coyote	April 18, 2012	14th

Torneo Apertura

The 2011 Apertura was the first competition of the season. The Regular Season began on July 22, 2011 and ended on November 6, 2011. The playoffs began on November 19, 2011 and ended on December 11, 2011. The team known as Pumas UNAM were the defending champion.

Regular season

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Guadalajara	17	8	6	3	24	18	+6	30^[a]	2012 Copa Libertadores Second Stage^[b]
2	Cruz Azul	17	8	5	4	21	14	+7	29^[a]	2012 Copa Libertadores Second Stage^[b]
3	UANL	17	7	7	3	22	13	+9	28^[a]	2012 Copa Libertadores First Stage^[b]
4	Santos Laguna	17	8	3	6	29	25	+4	27^[a]	Cannot qualify for South American competitions^[c]
5	Chiapas	17	7	5	5	28	23	+5	26^[a]	Advance to the Final Phase
6	Pachuca	17	7	5	5	28	25	+3	26^[a]	Advance to the Final Phase
7	Morelia	17	7	5	5	25	22	+3	26^[a]	Cannot qualify for South American competitions^[c]
8	Querétaro	17	8	2	7	24	21	+3	26^[a]	Advance to the Final Phase
9	UNAM	17	7	4	6	19	25	−6	25	Cannot qualify for South American competitions^[c]
10	San Luis	17	6	6	5	23	20	+3	24
11	Monterrey	17	7	3	7	27	26	+1	24	Cannot qualify for South American competitions^[c]
12	Puebla	17	6	4	7	26	29	−3	22
13	Toluca	17	4	8	5	19	27	−8	20
14	Atlante	17	5	4	8	24	28	−4	19
15	Tijuana	17	3	9	5	21	23	−2	18
16	Estudiantes Tecos	17	6	0	11	24	30	−6	18
17	América	17	3	6	8	26	31	−5	15
18	Atlas	17	2	6	9	20	30	−10	12

Source: FeMexFut
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
Notes:

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h The top 8 score results qualify for the Playoffs.
^ ^a ^b All 3 teams who qualify for Copa Libertadores will also participate in the Playoffs of this competition.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Monterrey, Morelia, Santos Laguna and UNAM cannot qualify for the 2012 Copa Libertadores because they are participating in the 2011-12 CONCACAF Champions League competition.

Results

Home \ Away	AMÉ	ATE	ATL	CRU	EST	GUA	CHI	MON	MOR	PAC	PUE	QUE	SLU	SLA	TIJ	TOL	UNL	UNM
América		0–1	5–2		1–2	1–3			1–1		2–3	2–1	2–2		1–1
Atlante					2–1	0–2			4–4	0–1	5–1	1–3	1–1		1–1		1–0
Atlas		2–3			0–2	1–1			1–1		0–1	3–0	1–1		2–2		0–1
Cruz Azul	3–1	2–1	2–1			1–1			0–1		2–0				2–1	0–0
Estudiantes Tecos				0–2			0–2	2–3		2–1				5–2		1–2	0–1	1–2
Guadalajara					5–2		2–1	2–1		2–2	1–4	0–1					1–0	0–0
Chiapas	5–3	1–1	1–1	1–1				1–4					3–1	3–2		1–1		4–0
Monterrey	0–3	3–2	2–0	1–2					2–0					2–0	4–2	0–0
Morelia					0–2	1–2	1–0			2–2	0–0	4–2					2–0	0–1
Pachuca	2–0		4–2	1–0			1–0	4–0					1–1	1–4		3–0		0–0
Puebla					2–1		1–2	3–3		2–2		1–0		1–2			0–1	2–1
Querétaro				1–0	3–0		1–2	2–1		2–1				1–3			0–0	4–0
San Luis				1–1	2–1	2–0		1–0	2–3		2–1	2–1		0–1		5–1
Santos Laguna	1–1	3–0	3–0	1–0		1–1			0–2						1–3	3–2
Tijuana					0–2	0–1	2–0		1–2	3–2	1–1	1–1	0–0				1–1
Toluca	1–1	2–1	0–0			0–0			2–1		4–3	0–1			1–1
UANL	2–2			1–1			1–1	0–0		5–0			1–0	2–1		2–2		4–1
UNAM	1–0	1–0	1–4	1–2				2–1					2–0	1–1	1–1	4–1

Source: FeMexFut (in Spanish)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Liguilla

Quarterfinals					Semifinals					Finals

1	Guadalajara	1	0	1

8	Querétaro	2	0	2
					8	Querétaro	0	0	0

					3	UANL	0	1	1
3	UANL	1	3	4

6	Pachuca	0	0	0
										3	UANL	1	3	4

										4	Santos	0	1	1
2	Cruz Azul	1	1	2

7	Morelia	2	2	4
					7	Morelia	2	2	4

					4	Santos	1	3	4
4	Santos	2	2	4

5	Chiapas	2	1	3

Apertura 2011 winners
UANL 3rd title

If the two teams are tied after both legs, the higher seeded team advances.
Both finalists qualify to the 2012–13 CONCACAF Champions League Group Stage.

Top goalscorers

Players ranked by goals scored, then alphabetically by last name.

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Iván Alonso	Toluca	11
2	Carlos Bueno	Querétaro	10
2	Oribe Peralta	Santos Laguna	10
4	Christian Benítez	América	8
	Enrique Esqueda	Pachuca	8
	Marco Fabián	Guadalajara	8
	Jackson Martínez	Chiapas	8
8	Luis García	Puebla	7
	Herculez Gomez	Estudiantes Tecos	7
	Héctor Mancilla	Tigres	7
	Alfredo Moreno	San Luis	7
	Luis Gabriel Rey	Chiapas	7
	Miguel Sabah	Morelia	7

Hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date
Oribe Peralta	Santos Laguna	Pachuca	4–1	July 23, 2011
Christian Benítez	América	Atlas	5–2	August 21, 2011
Carlos Bueno	Querétaro	UNAM	4–0	September 10, 2011
Héctor Mancilla	Tigres	Pachuca	5–0	September 10, 2011
Miguel Sabah	Morelia	Querétaro	4–2	September 18, 2011
Marco Fabián	Guadalajara	Estudiantes Tecos	5–2	October 15, 2011
Iván Alonso	Toluca	Puebla	4–3	October 23, 2011

Torneo Clausura

The 2012 Clausura is the second and final competition of the season. The regular season began on January 6, 2012 and ended on April 29, 2012. Tigres UANL was the defending champion.