Tuesday, November 5

Liga MX will increase to 20 teams in the 2026 Apertura tournament and Atlante has a guaranteed spot

Avatar of Edgardo Avelar

By Edgardo Avelar

12 Jul 2024, 01:41 AM EDT

Liga MX will carry out the increase to 20 teams in the 2026 Apertura tournament as part of its plan to approve the Investment Fund that was proposed to them by the company Apollo Global Management, a financial investment group that operates in the United States and is willing to invest 1.3 billion dollars, where one of the teams from the Expansion League that will participate will be the Iron Colts of Atlantis, which in two years will have been absent from the top circuit for 12 years.

According to data provided to The opinionthe high command of the Liga MX guaranteed the owner of Atlante, Emilio Escalante, that in the plan to increase to 20 teams, as included in the project presented to Apollo Global Management, one of the sites guaranteed in this expansion plan, includes its franchise currently managed by Daniel “Borita” Alcántara.

Among the details that this increase to 20 franchises will have, there also appears the possibility that the second franchise comes out between the Leones Negros of the UdeG or Atlético Morelia, but they will be the next three tournaments when it is decided which team meets the financial and structural requirements demanded by Liga MX to authorize the participation of the teams.

The source consulted by this publishing house also detailed that one of the demands of the investment group is that the teams León and Atlas must be negotiated by the Pachuca Group and the Orlegui Group, as a requirement to invest the amount of money that has been handled publicly.

Another of the conditions will be that promotion and relegation will disappear in the top circuit, so as of the moment that the return of Atlante is confirmed and any other of the two Liga Expansión MX franchises, there will be no risk of relegation, a factor that has haunted the blue-and-red organization throughout the history of soccer in Mexico.

In this way, the Blaugrana organization will have the opportunity to renew its laurels and meet the wishes of its noble fans who have only had the fortune of celebrating two titles in the top circuit, The first in the 1992-93 season under the command of Argentine Ricardo Antonio La Volpe and in the Apertura 2027 tournament with professor José Guadalupe Cruz at the helm.

Among the most notable players in its history we can include to Ricardo Antonio La Volpe himself, Hugo Sanchez, Jorge Campos, Miguel Herrera, Giancarlo MaldonadoGuillermo Cantú and Daniel Guzmán, among many others.

Guadalajara, Jalisco, May 12, 2024. Humberto Hernandez
Starting with the 2026 Apertura tournament, Atlante will seek to be one of the leading teams in Liga MX when the increase to 20 teams required by the investment fund that is willing to spend $1.3 billion dollars on the Aztec teams is achieved.
Credit: Daniela Granja Vergara | Imago7

Keep reading:
-Atlante was crowned in the 2022 Apertura tournament of the Expansion League
-Atlante very close to returning to Mexico City
-Atlante’s permanence in the Liga de Ascenso MX is in danger