Which teams will have to pay fine after Clausura 2023 regular season?

Following the conclusion of the Clausura 2023 regular season, three clubs will have to pay a fine for finishing at the bottom of a Liga MX table that ranks teams’ performances over the last four short tournaments.

The trio of clubs that will be fined are Querétaro, Tijuana and Mazatlán. Between them, they will have to foot a total bill of 160 million pesos (nearly $9 million).

Gallos Blancos pay the biggest Liga MX fine

Having come last in the latest ‘tabla de cocientes’, Querétaro will have to fork out the largest sum - 80 million pesos (around $4.5 million). Los Gallos Blancos’ lowly position is largely down to their disastrous Apertura 2022 tournament, in which they came 17th in the regular-season standings after winning just nine points.

Querétaro improved significantly in the Clausura 2023, taking 10th place in the league phase. Normally, this would have earned them a spot in the preliminary round of the playoffs, but Liga MX rules bar the division’s worst team over a four-tournament period from taking part in the postseason.

Mazatlán in bottom three after catastrophic Clausura

Tijuana finished second bottom in the ‘tabla de cocientes’. Los Xolos, who came 15th in the Clausura 2023 regular season, will be fined 47 million pesos ($2.6 million). And Mazatlán, who were the bottom team in the current tournament with a mere seven points, will have to pay 33 million pesos ($1.8 million) after placing third-bottom in the Liga MX’s longer-term standings.

Payments trickle down to Liga de Expansión

Previously, the worst three teams in the ‘tabla de cocientes’ were charged a total of 270 million pesos ($15 million), but this amount was reduced ahead of the Clausura 2023.

The money raised from these performance-related fines goes to supporting the clubs in the Liga de Expansión, the second tier of Mexican men’s league soccer.