2008 Primera División de México Apertura

Primera División de México

Season	2008−09
Champions	Toluca (9th title)
Champions League	Toluca (Group stage) Cruz Azul (Preliminary Round)
Copa Libertadores	San Luis (Group Stage)
SuperLiga	San Luis Santos Laguna U.A.N.L. Atlas
Matches played	183
Goals scored	431 (2.36 per match)
Top goalscorer	Héctor Mancilla (13)
Biggest home win	Atlas 5–0 Jaguares (July 26, 2008)
Biggest away win	Monterrey 0–4 Morelia (September 20, 2008)
Highest scoring	Guadalajara 3–5 Santos Laguna (8 goals; August 23, 2008)
← Clausura 2008 Clausura 2009 →

The 2008 Primera División Apertura is the first football tournament of the Mexican Primera División 2008−2009 season. The tournament began in August 2008 and was contested by the league's 18 teams.

Reigning champion Santos Laguna failed to advance to the final losing 2-1 on a two-leg aggregate (0-0 in the first leg) to eventual champions Toluca, and thus could not repeat. Toluca would beat Cruz Azul 7-6 in penalties after tying 2-2 on a two-leg aggregate (2-0 in the first leg). This was Toluca's 9th championship, placing them as the third most successful club behind América and Guadalajara.

Club information

Club	Home city	Stadium	Capacity
América	Mexico City	Azteca	115,000
Atlante	Cancún	Andrés Quintana Roo	20,000
Atlas	Guadalajara	Jalisco	72,600
Chiapas	Tuxtla Gutiérrez	Víctor Manuel Reyna	23,208
Ciudad Juárez	Ciudad Juárez	Olímpico Benito Juárez	22,300
Cruz Azul	Mexico City	Azul	35,000
Guadalajara	Guadalajara	Jalisco	72,600
Monterrey	Monterrey	Tecnológico	38,000
Morelia	Morelia	Morelos	41,500
Necaxa	Aguascalientes	Victoria	25,000
Pachuca	Pachuca	Hidalgo	30,000
Puebla	Puebla	Cuauhtémoc	42,649
San Luis	San Luis Potosí	Alfonso Lastras	24,000
Santos Laguna	Torreón	Corona	18,050
Toluca	Toluca	Nemesio Díez	27,000
Tecos UAG	Guadalajara	3 de Marzo	30,015
Tigres de la UANL	Monterrey	Universitario	41,000
UNAM	México	Olímpico Universitario	83,700

Managerial changes

This is a list of managerial changes made during the tournament.

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of departure	Incoming manager	Date hired	Position in table
Ciudad Juárez	Sergio Orduña	Sacked	Aug. 18, 2008	Héctor Eugui	Aug. 19, 2008	18th
UAG	José Trejo	Sacked	Sep. 1, 2008	Miguel Herrera	Sep. 2, 2008	8th
Atlas	Miguel Brindisi	Resigned	Sep. 4, 2008	Darío Franco	Sep. 5, 2008	17th
Puebla	José Sánchez	Sacked	Sep. 17, 2008	Mario Carrillo	Sep. 17, 2008	16th
Chiapas	Sergio Almaguer	Sacked	Oct. 1, 2008	Francisco Avilán	Oct. 1, 2008	18th
Necaxa	Salvador Reyes	Sacked	Oct. 13, 2008	Octavio Becerril	Oct. 14, 2008	18th

Classification Phase

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	San Luis	17	8	5	4	24	20	+4	29	2009 Copa Libertadores Second Stage
2	Toluca	17	7	6	4	25	16	+9	27	2009 InterLiga
3	Atlante	17	7	6	4	22	16	+6	27
4	UNAM	17	7	5	5	22	13	+9	26
5	Cruz Azul	17	7	5	5	29	23	+6	26
6	UANL	17	7	5	5	22	16	+6	26	2009 InterLiga
7	UAG	17	7	4	6	30	28	+2	25
8	Guadalajara	17	6	7	4	23	23	0	25
9	Morelia	17	6	6	5	27	20	+7	24
10	Santos Laguna	17	5	7	5	22	20	+2	22
11	Atlas	17	6	4	7	23	27	−4	22	2009 InterLiga
12	Pachuca	17	5	6	6	25	25	0	21
13	América	17	5	6	6	22	23	−1	21
14	Ciudad Juárez	17	5	4	8	18	26	−8	19
15	Monterrey	17	5	4	8	18	26	−8	19
16	Chiapas	17	5	3	9	20	34	−14	18
17	Necaxa	17	3	6	8	17	24	−7	15
18	Puebla	17	2	9	6	12	21	−9	15

Updated to games played on November 16, 2009.
Source: FeMexFut
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
Atlante, UNAM, Cruz Azul, and Santos Laguna do not qualify to the InterLiga due to existing commitment in the 2008–09 CONCACAF Champions League.
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Group standings

Group 1

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Atlante	17	7	6	4	22	16	+6	27
2	Santos Laguna	17	5	7	5	22	20	+2	22
3	Pachuca	17	5	6	6	25	25	0	21
4	Monterrey	17	5	4	8	18	26	−8	19
5	Ciudad Juárez	17	5	4	8	18	26	−8	19
6	Puebla	17	2	9	6	12	21	−9	15

Group 2

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	UNAM	17	7	5	5	22	13	+9	26
2	Cruz Azul	17	7	5	5	29	23	+6	26
3	UAG	17	7	4	6	30	28	+2	25
4	Guadalajara	17	6	7	4	23	23	0	25
5	Morelia	17	6	6	5	27	20	+7	24
6	América	17	5	6	6	22	23	−1	21

Group 3

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	San Luis	17	8	5	4	24	20	+4	29
2	Toluca	17	7	6	4	25	16	+9	27
3	UANL	17	7	5	5	22	16	+6	26
4	Atlas	17	6	4	7	23	27	−4	22
5	Chiapas	17	5	3	9	20	34	−14	18
6	Necaxa	17	3	6	8	17	24	−7	15

Source: FeMexFut
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

	Advances to the Final Phase as the two-best teams in their group.
	Advances to the Final Phase as the two-highest teams in the general table not already advanced by the above method.

Results

Home ╲ Away

AMÉ

ATE

ATL

CHI

CIU

CRU

GUA

MON

MOR

NEC

PAC

PUE

SLA

SLU

TOL

UAG

UNL

UNM

América

1–2

2–3

2–0

1–2

1–0

1–1

1–1

3–2

1–3

Atlante

2–2

3–3

1–1

0–1

2–1

1–0

2–1

3–1

2–0

Atlas

1–1

5–0

2–4

0–1

0–0

2–1

2–0

2–1

0–1

Chiapas

1–1

2–1

4–0

2–1

0–0

1–3

1–3

0–3

Ciudad Juárez

0–0

2–4

1–0

2–3

2–1

1–0

2–3

1–1

0–1

Cruz Azul

4–1

2–2

3–2

0–2

2–1

1–2

1–1

1–1

2–0

Guadalajara

1–0

1–0

2–0

1–1

1–1

3–5

2–2

1–1

Monterrey

2–1

1–2

2–0

0–4

2–0

2–4

1–4

1–0

Morelia

0–0

5–2

0–1

3–1

3–2

2–2

1–2

1–0

Necaxa

2–0

0–1

2–2

0–1

1–1

0–0

1–1

1–1

Pachuca

1–1

1–1

5–2

2–1

1–1

2–0

2–0

2–3

Puebla

0–2

1–1

2–2

2–1

2–2

2–0

0–0

0–0

0–0

Santos Laguna

0–0

1–0

3–0

1–0

1–1

2–0

1–1

1–1

San Luis

1–2

2–0

2–1

0–0

2–0

2–2

1–1

2–2

1–0

Toluca

2–1

4–0

0–1

0–0

3–0

3–1

2–1

1–0

UAG

1–3

3–1

1–0

2–2

2–2

3–0

5–2

2–2

UANL

1–0

3–0

0–1

1–3

1–1

0–0

0–1

1–0

0–2

UNAM

1–1

3–0

1–1

0–2

2–0

3–1

0–1

2–1

3–0

Updated to games played on November 16, 2009.
Source: RSSSF
1 ^{^} The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For coming matches, an a indicates there is an article about the match.

Final Phase

Main article: Primera División de México Apertura 2008 Liguilla

	Quarterfinals							Semifinals							Finals
	1	San Luis	1	1	2
	8	Santos Laguna	3	2	5
								8	Santos Laguna	0	1	1
								2	Toluca	0	2	2
	2	Toluca	0	2	2
	7	UAG	0	0	0
															2	Toluca (p)	2	0	2 (7)
														5	Cruz Azul	0	2	2 (6)
	4	UNAM	0	1	1
	5	Cruz Azul	0	3	3
								5	Cruz Azul	3	1	4
								3	Atlante	1	1	2
	3	Atlante	1	1	2
	6	UANL	1	1	2

• If the two teams are tied after both legs, the higher seeded team advances.
• Both finalist qualify to the 2009–10 CONCACAF Champions League. The champion qualifies directly to the Group Stage, while the runner-up qualifies to the Preliminary Round.

Top goalscorers

P	Player	Team	Goals
1	Hector Mancilla	Toluca	13
2	Andrés Mendoza	Morelia	10
3	Adolfo Bautista	Chiapas	9
	Hugo Rodallega	Necaxa	9
5	Lucas Lobos	UANL	8
	Víctor Piríz	San Luis	7
7	Christian Benítez	Santos Laguna	7
	Ariel Bogado	Atlas	7
	Christian Giménez	Pachuca	7
	Pablo Zeballos	Cruz Azul	7
Last updated on December 15, 2008

External links

• Official Website