2021–22 Liga Nacional de Guatemala

Liga Nacional de Guatemala
Season	2021–22
Dates	30 July 2021 – 29 May 2022
Champions	Apertura:; Malacateco (1st title) ; Clausura:; Comunicaciones (31st title)
Relegated	Nueva Concepción; Sololá
CONCACAF League	Malacateco ; Comunicaciones ; Municipal
Top goalscorer	Apertura:; Matías Rotondi; (15 goals); Clausura:; Isaac Acuña ; (12 goals)
Biggest home win	Apertura:; Malacateco 7–1 Iztapa ; Clausura:; Santa Lucía 8–1 Nueva Concepción
Biggest away win	Apertura:; Sololá 0–4 Comunicaciones ; Clausura:; Nueva Concepción 1–5 Iztapa
Longest unbeaten run	Apertura:; (10 Games) Santa Lucía ; Clausura:; (8 Games) Guastatoya
Longest winless run	Apertura:; (7 Games) Achuapa ; Clausura:; (9 Games) Sololá
Highest attendance	Apertura: 9,000; Malacateco 2–0 Comunicaciones; (31 December 2021) ; Clausura: 18,000; Comunicaciones 1–0 Municipal; (29 May 2022)
Lowest attendance	Clausura:
Average attendance	Apertura: 1,875; Clausura: 15,000
	← 2020–21 2022–23 → Stats are from the regular season only

The 2021–22 Liga Nacional de Guatemala was the 69th professional season of the top-flight football league in Guatemala. The season was divided into two championships—the 2021 Apertura and the 2022 Clausura—each in an identical format and each contested by the same 12 teams.

Teams

Promotion and relegation (pre-season)

A total of 12 teams will contest the league, including 10 sides from the 2020–21 Guatemala Liga Nacional and 2 promoted from the 2020–21 Primera División.

Teams relegated to Primera División de Ascenso

Sacachispas and Sanarate were relegated to 2020–21 Primera División the previous season.

Teams promoted from Primera División de Ascenso

The relegated teams were replaced by the 2020–21 Primera División winners Nueva Concepción and Sololá.

Personnel and sponsoring

Team	Chairman	Head Coach	Captain	Kitmaker	Shirt Sponsors
Achuapa	Francisco Zepeda	Adrián García Arias (interim)	Juan Cardona	NS Sport	Claro, Banrural, Domino's, Tellioz, Gallo
Antigua	Víctor Hugo García	Dwight Pezzarossi (interim)	Cristian Jiménez	Joma	Tigo, Banrural, Betcris, Domino's, Glucosoral, Mercedes-Benz, Bridgestone
Cobán Imperial	Irasema Meléndez	Sebastián Bini	Janderson	NetSportswear	Tigo, Pepsi, Bantrab, Gatorade, Domino's, Mayafert
Comunicaciones	Juan Garcia	Willy Coito Olivera	José Contreras	Nino	Tigo, Banrural, Gatorade, Pepsi, Zeta Gas
Guastatoya	Léster Rodríguez	Mario Acevedo	Wilson Pineda	NetSportswear	Claro, Banrural, Sistecom, Cementos Progreso, Canal 3
Iztapa	Mario Mejía	Richard Parra	Carlos Kamiani Félix	TutoSport	Tigo, Banrural, Starbus
Malacateco	Carlos Gutiérrez	Roberto Hernández	Sixto Betancourt	Silver Sport	Claro, Betcris, Coca-Cola, Starbus, Z Gas
Municipal	Gerardo Villa	José Cardozo	Ricardo Jérez	Umbro	Claro, Banrural, Bremen, Pepsi, Herbalife
Nueva Concepción	Ezequiel Orellana	Adrián Barrios	Jonathan Muñoz	Jama	Claro, Corporación Smith, Bazar Popular
Sololá	Jahiro Otzoy	Silvio Rudman	Víctor Bolivar	NovaSport	Tigo, Shell, Colua
Santa Lucía	Rodolfo Puertas	Matías Tatangelo	Thales Moreira	NetSportswear	Claro, Banrural, Domino’s, Sistecom, Azúcar de Guatemala
Xelajú	Francisco Santos	Irving Rubirosa	Héctor Moreira	MR	Tigo, Banrural, Domino's, Pepsi, Shell, Gatorade, Zeta Gas

Managerial changes

Beginning of the season

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Replaced by	Date of appointment	Position in table
Achuapa	Sergio Pardo	Resigned	May 2021	Gustavo Machaín	May 2021	th (Apertura 2021)
Comunicaciones	Mauricio Tapia	Resigned	June 2021	Willy Coito Olivera	June 2021	th (Apertura 2021)
Municipal	Sebastián Bini	Sacked	May 2021	José Cardozo	May 2021	th (Apertura 2021)
Malacateco	Rónald Gómez	Resigned	May 2021	Matías Tatangelo	May 2021	th (Apertura 2021)

During the Apertura season

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Replaced by	Date of appointment	Position in table
Achuapa	Gustavo Machaín	Sacked	August 21	Raúl Arias	August 22	10th (Apertura 2021)
Malacateco	Matías Tatangelo	Sacked	August 22	Roberto Hernández	August 26	12th (Apertura 2021)
Guastatoya	Rafael Díaz	Sacked	August 29	Daniel Guzmán	August 29	9th (Apertura 2021)
Cobán Imperial	Fabricio Benítez	Sacked	September 22	Sebastián Bini	September 22	12th (Apertura 2021)
Xelajú	Marcó Antonio Morales	Mutual agreement termination	October 18	Irving Rubirosa	October 20	6th (Apertura 2021)
Nueva Concepción	Manuel Castañeda	Resigned	October 25	Gustavo Bobadilla	October 28	12th (Apertura 2021)
Sololá	Marvin Hernández	Sacked	November 2	Rafael Díaz	November 2	9th (Apertura 2021)
Guastatoya	Daniel Guzmán	Resigned	December 1	Josué Omar Morales (interim)	December 2	9th (Apertura 2021)

Pre-Clausura changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Replaced by	Date of appointment	Position in table
Nueva Concepción	Gustavo Bobadilla	Mutual agreement termination	December 8	Irving Olivares	December 8	12th
Santa Lucía	Mario Acevedo	Resigned	December 24	Juan Manuel Funes	December 29	Preseason
Guastatoya	Josué Omar Morales (interim)	End of interim spell	December 27	Mario Acevedo	December 27	Preseason

During the Clausura season

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Replaced by	Date of appointment	Position in table
Nueva Concepción	Irving Olivares	Sacked	February 5	Adrián Barrios	February 8	12th (Clausura 2022)
Santa Lucía	Juan Manuel Funes	Sacked	February 12	Matías Tatangelo	February 15	8th (Clausura 2022)
Sololá	Rafael Díaz	Mutual agreement termination	February 15	Silvio Rudman	February 17	12th (Clausura 2022)
Achuapa	Raúl Arias	Mutual agreement termination	February 20	Adrian Arias (interim)	February 23	11th (Clausura 2022)
Antigua	Roberto Montoya	Sacked	March 3	Dwight Pezzarossi (interim)	March 4	5th (Clausura 2022)
Iztapa	Ramiro Cepeda	Resigned	March 20	Richard Parra	March 21	10th (Clausura 2022)
Xelajú	Irving Rubirosa	Mutual agreement termination	May 13	Amarini Villatoro	May 24	10th (Clausura 2022)

Apertura

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Antigua	22	14	4	4	36	13	+23	46	Qualification for the Championship Playoffs
2	Comunicaciones	22	13	5	4	37	19	+18	44
3	Municipal	22	11	6	5	30	15	+15	39
4	Malacateco	22	10	6	6	36	23	+13	36
5	Santa Lucía	22	8	12	2	28	25	+3	36
6	Xelajú	22	8	6	8	18	32	−14	30
7	Iztapa	22	8	4	10	21	32	−11	28
8	Sololá	22	6	7	9	21	32	−11	25
9	Guastatoya	22	5	8	9	18	23	−5	23
10	Cobán Imperial	22	5	5	12	22	31	−9	20
11	Achuapa	22	3	7	12	12	24	−12	16
12	Nueva Concepción	22	4	4	14	12	36	−24	16

Source:
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head record; 3) Goal difference; 4) Goals scored; 5) Matches won; 6) Away matches won; 7) Away goals scored.

Championship Playoffs

Qualified teams
- Antigua
- Comunicaciones
- Municipal
- Malacateco
- Santa Lucía
- Xelajú
- Iztapa
- Sololá

Final

First leg

31 December 2021

16:00 (UTC-6)

Malacateco	2-0	Comunicaciones
Eduardo Rotondi 39' Wilson Godoy 71'	[]	Nil

Estadio Municipal Santa Lucía, Malacatán

Attendance: 9,000

Referee: Mario Escobar

Second leg

2 January 2022

13:00 (UTC-6)

Comunicaciones	0-0	Malacateco
Nil		Nil

Estadio Doroteo Guamuch Flores, Guatemala City

Attendance: 4,900

Referee: Julio Cesar Luna

Apertura 2021 champions
1st title

Clausura

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Comunicaciones	22	12	5	5	39	24	+15	41	Qualification for the Championship Playoffs
2	Municipal	22	12	4	6	34	18	+16	40
3	Guastatoya	22	10	7	5	32	18	+14	37
4	Malacateco	22	9	8	5	29	22	+7	35
5	Cobán Imperial	22	9	7	6	29	25	+4	34
6	Antigua	22	9	6	7	33	22	+11	33
7	Achuapa	22	9	6	7	29	25	+4	33
8	Santa Lucía	22	8	4	10	36	27	+9	28
9	Iztapa	22	7	7	8	30	31	−1	28
10	Xelajú	22	6	5	11	17	31	−14	23
11	Sololá	22	3	6	13	19	46	−27	15
12	Nueva Concepción	22	4	3	15	21	57	−36	15

Source:
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head record; 3) Goal difference; 4) Goals scored; 5) Matches won; 6) Away matches won; 7) Away goals scored.

Championship Playoffs

Qualified teams

Final

First leg

26 May 2022

16:00 (UTC-6)

Municipal	0–1	Comunicaciones

Estadio El Trébol, Guatemala City

Attendance: 8,000

Second leg

29 May 2022

13:00 (UTC-6)

Comunicaciones	1–0	Municipal

Estadio Doroteo Guamuch Flores, Guatemala City

Attendance: 18,000

Clausura 2022 champions
31st title

Aggregate table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Comunicaciones	44	25	10	9	76	43	+33	85	CONCACAF League round of 16^[a]
2	Antigua	44	23	10	11	69	37	+32	79
3	Municipal	44	23	10	11	64	33	+31	79	CONCACAF League preliminary round^[b]
4	Malacateco	44	19	14	11	65	45	+20	71	CONCACAF League preliminary round^[c]
5	Santa Lucía	44	16	16	12	64	52	+12	64
6	Guastatoya	44	15	15	14	50	41	+9	60
7	Iztapa	44	15	11	18	51	63	−12	56
8	Cobán Imperial	44	14	12	18	51	56	−5	54
9	Xelajú	44	14	11	19	29	63	−34	53
10	Deportivo Achuapa	44	12	13	19	41	49	−8	49
11	Sololá	44	9	13	22	40	78	−38	40	Relegated to Primera División de Ascenso
12	Nueva Concepción	44	8	7	29	33	93	−60	31	Relegated to Primera División de Ascenso

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

↑ As Clausura champions (GUA1)
↑ As runners-up with better aggregate record (GUA3)
↑ As Apertura champions (GUA2)

List of Foreign Players

This is a list of foreign players in 2021-2022 season. The following players:

have played at least one apertura game for the respective club.
have not been capped for the Guatemala national football team on any level, independently from the birthplace. Archived 2018-07-29 at the Wayback Machine

A new rule was introduced a few season ago, that clubs can only have five foreign players per club and can only add a new player if there is an injury or player/s is released.

Achuapa