After Pueblo punishment, who was last Liga MX team that lost due to improper line-up?

In an official statement, the Mexican Football Federation announced on Monday 4 September, that Puebla had committed an “administrative error” by fielding an improper line-up during Matchday 7 of the Apertura 2023 against Xolos de Tijuana. This mistake ultimately resulted in them losing the victory and, consequently, the three points that would have allowed them to climb out of the bottom positions in the overall standings.

The report does not specifically mention the error regarding the team that Puebla presented last Friday. However, it does refer to the fact that the lineup submitted to the match officials did not match the players on the field. Although an unusual event, we recall the last time a team in the Liga MX was affected by the regulations and the reasons behind the punishment.

When América were sanctioned against Atlas in 2021

With goals from Herny Martín and Richard Sánchez, the Coapa team defeated Rojinegros 2-0 in the seventh round of the Clausura 2021. This result was officially recorded after the 90 minutes, but it was later overturned following certain investigations due to irregularities found in the Azulcrema squad.

Through an official statement, the Disciplinary Commission has revealed the final verdict of the investigation against the Águilas. The commission states that, after conducting a study and analysis of the evidence provided and collected during the investigation procedure, as well as the statements made by representatives of the América and Atlas clubs and the match officials, it was concluded that player Federico Viñas:

a) participated as he performed warm-up exercises and was on the bench as a substitute along with his teammates, a situation that was reported in the match report

b) was not registered on the lineup sheet.

As a result, by allowing newcomer Viñas to warm up before the match took place, the Azulcrema team violated Article 27, Section A) of the Sanctions Regulations (improper line-up). Consequently, the sanction for the Azulcrema team was determined to be a loss of three points, and the official result of the match was recorded as 3-0 in favor of Atlas. Atlas, for obvious reasons, received the three points at that time.

It is worth noting that following this victory, the Zorros began a positive streak that eventually led them to the championship. Before the match against América, they had only recorded two draws and four losses.