Tigres vs. Chivas
Defending champions Cruz Azul enter the 80th Liga MX season with a new format.
Cruz Azul is a professional football club based in Mexico City, competing in Liga MX. The 2026–27 season is the 80th professional season of the top-flight football league in Mexico, divided into the Apertura 2026 and Clausura 2027 tournaments.
- Tigres affiliation
- Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León (UANL), Monterrey
- Chivas affiliation
- Club Deportivo Guadalajara, Jalisco
- Chivas league titles
- 12 Liga MX titles (most in the country alongside América)
- Chivas defining policy
- Fields only Mexican-born players since 1943
- Tigres identity
- University club of the industrial north; 'Los Felinos'
- Chivas identity
- 'El Rebaño' (The Flock); symbol of Mexican national identity in football
Lore & Background
Cruz Azul are the defending champions of the Apertura 2026 tournament. The club is one of 18 teams participating in the 2026–27 Liga MX season, which marks the return of Atlante after 12 years in the second tier.
In Their Own Story
The bus pulls into the Estadio Akron at half past seven, and the air already tastes of diesel and anticipation. Inside the tunnel, the Chivas players can hear it before they see it: a low, rolling roar from the stands, the kind of sound that vibrates in your sternum. A Tigres defender, still in his warm-up jog, glances down the tunnel and catches the red-and-white wave crashing over the upper tier. He spits on the turf, laces his boots tighter, and mutters something to his captain. Above, a flare streaks orange across the night sky over Guadalajara, and for a moment the floodlights look like they're fighting the smoke. The referee's whistle cuts through, and the match is no longer a match. It is a verdict.
Reader's Guide
The Apertura 2026 began on 16 July 2026. The play-in round has been permanently eliminated starting this tournament, so the eight highest-ranked teams advance directly to the quarterfinals. Clubs play every other once (home or away) for 17 rounds.
Did You Know?
- The first goal of the Apertura 2026 season was scored by Eugenio Pizzuto for Atlante against Necaxa.
- Querétaro had the most yellow cards (21) in the Apertura 2026 discipline table.
- Atlas and León each had the most red cards (3) in the Apertura 2026 discipline table.
More in Great Rivalries & Derbies
Elsewhere in the Cruz Azul universe
Spotted an error? Know more?
This is a living reference — every entry is fact-audited, and reader corrections feed straight into our audit queue. Suggest an edit · See this site's audit record