Changes for Apertura 09

The FMF rolled out some changes for the Apertura 09, these changes affect the calendar, the teams involved in the Apertura 09, and the development of youth football in Mexico. Here’s a quick recap:

1. Queretaro has returned to the first division of Mexican football after winning the promotion tournament last winter. There will be a post spotlighting them soon.
2. There will no longer be a “Primera A”. The teams who used to make up that league are now in a league called “The Ascencion League”. The number of teams in the league dropped from 27 to 17 , and the group system of the league has been removed. Instead teams will compete in an overall table where the top 7 teams will enter playoffs, the team who finishes first overall in the table will automatically enter the semifinals. Also, all teams will get a bye week in the tournament.
3. In an effort to develop the youth soccer talent in Mexico, there will be a U-17 and U-20 version of the Primera Division tournament. Clubs will play their opponents with their first division team, as well as with the U-17 and U-20 counterparts. The U-17 league is for Mexican born player only, while teams are allowed 2 foreign players in the U-20 tournament.
4. Atlante will be representing the CONCACAF in the Club World Cup in Abu Dhabi.
5. The Apetura 09 tournament will run from July 24th to December 6th.
6. There will be a FIFA date between weeks 11 and 12

Update:The Clausura tournament for 2010 has been renamed to the Bicentennial 2010 tournament.Relegation and Promotion will work as follows:

1. Each team will have a ratio that will be obtained by dividing the number of points by the number of games played. This ration will be obtained for the following tournaments: Apertura 2007 and Clausura 2008, Apertura 2008 and Clausura 2009, Apertura 2009 and Bicentenario 2010
2. The team with the lowest ratio (calculated up to four decimal points) will be relegated to the Ascension League
3. If the team with the lowest ratio qualifies for the liguilla for the Bicentennial 2010 tournament, that team will be unable to participate and a replacement team will be picked following normal rules
4. There will be two champions during the 2009-2010 season for the Ascension League. These champions will be named following the usual liguilla playoff system
5. The two champions will play each other and the winner will be promoted to the Primera Division. If the same team wins both the Apertura and Bicentennial 2010 tournaments, that team will be automatically promoted.