The 2024–25 Liga Guate, also known as Liga Guate Banrural for sponsorship reasons,[1] was the 72nd professional season of the top-flight football league in Guatemala. The season was divided into two championships—the 2024 Apertura and the 2025 Clausura—each in an identical format and each contested by the same 12 teams.
| Season | 2024–25 |
|---|---|
| Champions | Apertura: Xelajú (7th title) Clausura: Antigua (5th title) |
| Relegated | Zacapa (disaffiliated) |
| CONCACAF Central American Cup | Antigua Municipal Xelajú |
| Top goalscorer | Apertura: Erick Lemus (9 goals) Clausura: Nicolás Martínez (10 goals) |
← 2023–24 2025–26 →
Stats are from the regular season onlyAttendance does not include matches played behind closed doors. | |
Competition format
editSame as previous years, the season was divided into two short tournaments: Torneo Apertura (opening) and Torneo Clausura (closing), each of which crowning its own champion. Both Apertura and Clausura tournaments were played under the same format which consisted in a Classification phase and a Final phase.[2]
In the classification phase, teams played each other twice on a home-and-away round-robin basis. The top eight teams at the conclusion of the classification stage advanced to the quarter-finals of the final stage.
The final phase was played on a single-elimination format and consisted of the quarter-finals, semi-finals and the finals. All rounds were played on a home-and-away two-legged basis, with the higher-ranked team in the classification phase of each tie hosting the second leg. The quarter-final pairings were pre-determined based on the teams' final position in the classification phase. In the semi-finals the teams were re-seeded based also on their final position in the classification phase in order to determine the two pairings. The quarter-finals and semi-finals matchups were determined as follows:
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Both champions of the Apertura and Clausura tournaments plus the best placed team on the aggregate table (excluding the two champions) at the end of the season qualified for the 2025 CONCACAF Central American Cup.
Teams
editA total of 12 teams took part in this season: the top ten teams from the aggregate table of the 2023–24 season as well as two promoted teams from the 2023–24 Primera División season.
Stadiums and locations
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| Team | City | Stadium | Capacity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Achuapa | El Progreso | Winston Pineda | 6,000 |
| Antigua | Antigua Guatemala | Pensativo | 10,000 |
| Cobán Imperial | Cobán | Verapaz | 15,000 |
| Comunicaciones | Guatemala City | Doroteo Guamuch Flores | 26,000 |
| Deportivo Zacapa | Zacapa | Estadio David Ordoñez Bardales | 8,100 |
| Guastatoya | Guastatoya | David Cordón Hichos | 3,100 |
| Malacateco | Malacatán | Santa Lucía | 8,000 |
| Marquense | San Marcos | Estadio Marquesa de la Ensenada | 11,000 |
| Mixco | Mixco | Santo Domingo de Guzmán | 5,200 |
| Municipal | Guatemala City | El Trébol | 7,500 |
| Xelajú | Quetzaltenango | Mario Camposeco | 11,220 |
| Xinabajul-Huehue | Huehuetenango | Los Cuchumatanes | 5,340 |
Managerial changes
editBefore the start of the season
edit| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Replaced by | Date of appointment | Position in table |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TBD |  TBD |
Contract finished | 2024 | TBD |
2024 | th and Quarterfinalist (TBD) |
| Deportivo Malacateco |  Gabriel Pereyra |
Contract finished | June 2024 |  Roberto Hernandez |
June 7, 2024 | th and Quarterfinalist (TBD) |
During the Apertura season
edit| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Replaced by | Date of appointment | Position in table |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deportivo Zacapa | Adrián García Arias |
Sacked | September 2024 |  Rafael Díaz Aitkenhead |
September 2024 | th (2024 Apertura) |
| Deportivo Marquense | Erick González |
Mutual Consent | 2024 | Mauricio Tapia |
October 12, 2024 | th (2024 Apertura) |
| Comunicaciones | Willy Olivera |
Mutual Consent | October 14, 2024 |  Ronald Gonzalez |
October 15, 2024 | th (2024 Apertura) |
Between the Apertura and Clausura season
edit
Apertura
editThe Apertura 2024 tournament began on 3 August and scheduled to end on 23 November 2024. Comunicaciones were the defending champions, having won the Apertura 2023 tournament at the previous season.
Standings
edit| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Xelajú | 16 | 8 | 6 | 2 | 26 | 9 | +17 | 30 | Advance to Quarter-finals |
| 2 | Municipal | 16 | 8 | 6 | 2 | 25 | 15 | +10 | 30 | |
| 3 | Cobán Imperial | 16 | 7 | 4 | 5 | 25 | 16 | +9 | 25 | |
| 4 | Malacateco | 16 | 7 | 4 | 5 | 19 | 13 | +6 | 25 | |
| 5 | Xinabajul | 16 | 7 | 4 | 5 | 26 | 24 | +2 | 25 | |
| 6 | Comunicaciones | 16 | 7 | 3 | 6 | 24 | 23 | +1 | 24 | |
| 7 | Antigua | 16 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 27 | 24 | +3 | 23 | |
| 8 | Mixco | 16 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 15 | 19 | −4 | 22 | |
| 9 | Achuapa | 16 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 15 | 17 | −2 | 21 | |
| 10 | Guastatoya | 16 | 2 | 8 | 6 | 15 | 19 | −4 | 14 | |
| 11 | Marquense | 16 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 11 | 26 | −15 | 12 | |
| 12 | Zacapa | 16 | 0 | 6 | 10 | 5 | 28 | −23 | 6 |
Results
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Top goalscorers
editPlayers sorted first by goals scored, then by last name. Goals scored during the final phase are not included as the tournament top scorer award only takes into account goals scored in the classification phase.[2]
| No. | Player | Club | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Erick Lemus |
Comunicaciones | 9 |
| 2 | Óscar Villa |
Xelajú | 9 |
| 3 | José Martínez |
Municipal | 7 |
| 4 | Nicolas Martinez |
Mixco | 7 |
| 5 | Santiago Gómez |
Antigua | 6 |
| 6 | Matías Rotondi |
Municipal | 6 |
| 7 | Ángel López |
Malacateco | 5 |
| 8 | Rudy Munoz |
Municipal | 5 |
| 9 | Kevin Ramirez |
Malacateco | 5 |
| 10 |  Julio Cesar Rodriguez |
Xinabajul | 5 |
| 10 | Yeltsin Álvarez |
Cobán Imperial | 4 |
Final phase – Apertura 2024
editThe final phase of the Apertura tournament ran from 28 November to 22 December 2024.
Clausura
editThe Clausura 2025 tournament is scheduled to begin in January and end in May 2025. The defending champions are Municipal, who had won the previous Clausura 2024 tournament.
Standings
edit| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Municipal | 18 | 10 | 4 | 4 | 25 | 16 | +9 | 34 | Advance to Quarter-finals |
| 2 | Antigua | 18 | 8 | 5 | 5 | 27 | 22 | +5 | 29 | |
| 3 | Cobán Imperial | 18 | 9 | 2 | 7 | 24 | 22 | +2 | 29 | |
| 4 | Comunicaciones | 18 | 8 | 5 | 5 | 23 | 21 | +2 | 29 | |
| 5 | Malacateco | 18 | 8 | 4 | 6 | 28 | 22 | +6 | 28 | |
| 6 | Guastatoya | 18 | 7 | 4 | 7 | 19 | 21 | −2 | 25 | |
| 7 | Marquense | 18 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 16 | 19 | −3 | 23 | |
| 8 | Mixco | 18 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 19 | 21 | −2 | 22 | |
| 9 | Xelajú | 19 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 26 | 25 | +1 | 21 | |
| 10 | Achuapa | 19 | 5 | 4 | 10 | 18 | 21 | −3 | 19 | |
| 11 | Xinabajul-Huehue | 18 | 4 | 4 | 10 | 19 | 34 | −15 | 16 |
Results
editAggregate table
editThe aggregate table is used to determine the third qualified team for the 2025 CONCACAF Central American Cup, besides the Apertura and Clausura champions, and the two relegated teams to the 2025–26 Primera División.[2]
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Municipal | 34 | 18 | 10 | 6 | 50 | 31 | +19 | 64 | Qualification for the CONCACAF Central American Cup |
| 2 | Cobán Imperial | 34 | 16 | 6 | 12 | 49 | 38 | +11 | 54 | |
| 3 | Malacateco | 34 | 15 | 8 | 11 | 47 | 35 | +12 | 53 | |
| 4 | Comunicaciones | 34 | 15 | 8 | 11 | 47 | 44 | +3 | 53 | |
| 5 | Antigua | 34 | 14 | 10 | 10 | 54 | 46 | +8 | 52 | |
| 6 | Xelajú | 35 | 13 | 12 | 10 | 52 | 34 | +18 | 51 | |
| 7 | Mixco | 34 | 11 | 11 | 12 | 41 | 40 | +1 | 44 | |
| 8 | Xinabajul | 34 | 11 | 8 | 15 | 45 | 58 | −13 | 41 | |
| 9 | Achuapa | 35 | 10 | 10 | 15 | 33 | 38 | −5 | 40 | |
| 10 | Guastatoya | 34 | 9 | 12 | 13 | 34 | 40 | −6 | 39 | |
| 11 | Marquense | 34 | 8 | 11 | 15 | 27 | 45 | −18 | 35 | Relegation to Primera División |
| 12 | Zacapa | 16 | 0 | 6 | 10 | 5 | 28 | −23 | 6 |
References
edit- ↑ "Banrural se convierte en el orgulloso patrocinador de "La Liga Guate Banrural"" (in Spanish). CRN Noticias. 17 January 2023.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 "2022 REGLAMENTO DE COMPETENCIA LNFG" (PDF). ligagt.org/ (in Spanish). Liga Nacional de Fútbol de Guatemala. 7 July 2022 [Approved on 27 June 2022]. Retrieved 5 March 2023.