Copa MX facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Copa MX

Founded	1907; 118 years ago (1907)
Abolished	2020
Region	Mexico
Number of teams	24
Domestic cup(s)	Supercopa MX
Last champions	Monterrey (3rd title)
Most successful club(s)	Amateur era: Asturias (8 titles) Professional era: América (6 titles) Total: Necaxa & Asturias (8 titles)
Television broadcasters	Claro ESPN Fox Sports Grupo Imagen Televisa TV Azteca TVC Deportes
Website	Copa MX

The Copa MX was a special football (soccer) competition in Mexico. It was like a cup tournament where teams played against each other to win a trophy. This tournament started way back in 1907.

After being paused for a long time, from 1997, it came back in 2012. In its early days, both professional and amateur teams could play. It was the first big tournament that included teams from all over Mexico. People thought it was a very important competition, especially when it first started.

The main goal of the Copa MX was to find a national champion. This was different from the local league games. The tournament had a special format where teams were knocked out if they lost. The final game was always a big event, much more exciting than regular league matches.

The Mexican Football Federation paused the cup twice before. First, it was stopped between 1976 and 1988. Then, it was paused again from 1992 to 1994. The 1997 tournament was the last one before it was stopped for a long time. In May 2012, the president of Liga MX announced that the tournament would return with a new name. However, after the 2019-20 season, the Copa MX was paused again because the football schedule was too busy.

History of the Cup

Copa Tower (1907–1919)

The Copa México began in 1907. The trophy was a gift from Reginald Tower, who was the British ambassador to Mexico at the time. That's why it was first called the Copa Tower. At first, only clubs from Mexico City and nearby areas could join.

Pachuca won the very first tournament in 1908. They beat Reforma AC in the final game. In 1919, Real España won the cup three years in a row. Because of this, they were allowed to keep the trophy forever. The Copa Tower was played 11 times in total. Real España won it four times, which was the best record during that period.

Copa Eliminatoria (1919–1932)

In 1920, the tournament started again with a new trophy. It was called the Copa Eliminatoria. This cup was played six times between 1920 and 1926. Asturias F.C. won it three times in a row from 1922 to 1924. They were the most successful team during this time.

Copa México (1932–1997)

Amateur Period (1932–1943)

After the Mexican Football Federation was created in 1927, a new trophy was given in 1932. It was named the Copa México. After a six-year break, the cup was played again in the 1932–33 season. The President Lázaro Cárdenas also supported the competition.

Necaxa won the first Copa México of this period. This tournament was important because new rules were used. This started an 11-year period known as the Amateur Period. Again, Asturias F.C. was very strong, winning the championship a record 5 times during these years.

Professional Period (1943–1997)

In 1943, the Professional Period of the Copa México began. This period lasted until the competition ended in 1997. At first, only teams from the top league, then called Liga Mayor, played. From 1950, teams from the Second Division also joined. There were a few seasons where they didn't play, like 1956–57, 1963–64, 1994–95, and 1995–96.

Copa MX (2012–2020)

Semi-annual format (2012–2016)

When the Copa MX returned in 2012, it had a new name. It was played twice a year, at the same time as the two league tournaments. In the Fall tournament, 14 teams from Liga MX (who weren't in the CONCACAF Champions League) played. They were joined by 14 teams from Ascenso MX, which was the second division.

The Ascenso MX teams were the top 13 teams from the year before, plus any team that had been moved down from the top league. The teams were put into 7 groups of 4. The 7 winners of these groups, plus the best second-place team, moved on to the quarterfinals.

Teams played 6 games in the group stage. The groups and who played at home were decided by a random draw. First division teams were in one group for the draw, and second division teams in another. No team could play more than 2 home games in the group stage. The knockout rounds also had a random draw for home games.

In the Spring tournament, 11 Liga MX teams (not in international tournaments) played. They were joined by the 13 Ascenso MX teams with the most points from the previous short tournament. Both tournaments had the same draw rules and number of group games. The knockout rounds for both were single-elimination, meaning one loss and you were out.

Revised semi-annual format (2016–2019)

The new format also had two tournaments per year. In the Fall tournament, all Liga MX clubs played. They were joined by 12 teams from Ascenso MX. These 12 teams were the top 11 from the previous season, plus any team that had been moved down. Teams were placed into 8 groups of 3. The 8 group winners and the 8 group runners-up moved on to the Round of 16.

Teams played 4 games in the group stage. Groups and home field advantage were decided by a public draw at their yearly meeting. For the group draw, the top 4 teams from both divisions were in one group. The middle 4 teams from both divisions were in another. The last 4 teams from both divisions were in a third group. Teams could have 2 home games in the group stage. A random draw decided home field advantage in the knockout rounds.

Annual format (2019–2020)

From the 2019–20 season, the Copa MX was played as one single tournament throughout the year. It included 27 teams: 15 from Liga MX and 12 from Ascenso MX. They were placed into 9 groups of 3. The way the tournament worked was mostly like the 2016 format, but it wasn't split into two tournaments per year. The group stage was played between July and December. The final games were played between January and April.

However, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 final was moved to November. Before that, the competition was stopped because the football schedule was too busy. The Mexican Football Federation decided to focus on games for the Mexico national football team to get ready for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. This led to the 2020–21 season being canceled, and the competition was paused again for an unknown time.

List of Finals

Amateur era (1907–1943)

Copa Tower

Copa Eliminatoria

Copa Mexico

Professional era (1943–1997)

Year	Champion	Score	Runner-up	Manager
1942–43	Moctezuma	5–3 (aet)	Atlante	Eduardo Morilla
1943–44	Club España	6–2	Atlante	Rodolfo Muñoz
1944–45	Puebla	6–4	América	Eduardo Morilla
1945-46	Atlas	5–4 (aet)	Atlante	Eduardo Valdatti
1946–47	Moctezuma	4–3	Oro	Julio Kaiser
1947–48	Veracruz	3–1	Guadalajara	Joaquin Urquiaga
1948–49	León	3–0	Atlante	Jose Maria Casullo
1949–50	Atlas	3–1	Veracruz	Eduardo Valdatti
1950–51	Atlante	1–0	Guadalajara	Octavio Vial
1951–52	Atlante	Final Stage	Guadalajara	Gregorio Blasco
1952–53	Puebla	4–1	León	Isidro Langara
1953–54	América	1 (3) – 1 (2) Penalties	Guadalajara	Octavio Vial
1954-55	América	1–0	Guadalajara	Octavio Vial
1955–56	Toluca	2–1	Irapuato	Fernando Marcos
1956–57	Zacatepec	2–1	León	Ignacio Trellez
1957–58	León	5–2 (aet)	Zacatepec	Antonio López Herranz
1958–59	Zacatepec	2–1	León	Ignacio Trellez
1959–60	Necaxa	4–1	Tampico Madero	Donald Ross
1960–61	Tampico Madero	1–0	Toluca	Nicolas Palma
1961–62	Atlas	3–3 Replay 1–0	Tampico Madero	Jose Carlos Bauer
1962–63	Guadalajara	2–1	Atlante	Javier De la Torre
1963–64	América	1 (5)–1 (4) Penalties	Monterrey	Alejandro Scopelli
1964–65	América	4–0	Morelia	Alejandro Scopelli
1965–66	Necaxa	3–3 Replay 1–0	León	Miguel Marin
1966–67	León	2–1	Guadalajara	Luis Grill
1967–68	Atlas	2–1	Veracruz	Javier Novello
1968–69	Cruz Azul	2–1 (aet)	Monterrey	Raúl Cardenas
1969–70	Guadalajara	3–2 2–1	Torreón	Javier de la Torre
1970–71	León	0 (10) – 0 (9) Penalties	Zacatepec	Antonio Carbajal
1971–72	León	Final Stage	Puebla	Antonio Carbajal
1972–73		Not held
1973–74	América	2–1 1–1	Cruz Azul	José Antonio Roca
1974–75	UNAM	Final Stage	UdeG	Árpád Fekete
1975–76	UANL	2–0 1–2	América	Claudio Lostanau
1976–87		Not held
1987–88	Puebla	0–0 1–11	Cruz Azul	Hugo Fernández
1988–89	Toluca	2–1 (aet) 1–1	UdeG	Héctor Sanabria
1989–90	Puebla	4–1 0–2	UANL	Manuel Lapuente
1990–91	UdeG	1–0 0–0	América	Alberto Guerra
1991–92	Monterrey	4–2	Cobras	Miguel Mejía Barón
1992–94		Not held
1994–95	Necaxa	2–0	Veracruz	Manuel Lapuente
1995–96	UANL	1–1 1–0	Atlas	Victor Manuel Vucetich
1996–97	Cruz Azul	2–0	Toros Neza	Victor Manuel Vucetich
1996–2012		Not held

1: On away goals

Copa MX

Year	Champion	Score	Runner-up	Manager
Apertura 2012	Sinaloa	2 (5) – 2 (4) Penalties	UAT	Francisco Javier Ramírez
Clausura 2013	Cruz Azul	0(4) – 0 (2) Penalties	Atlante	Guillermo Vázquez
Apertura 2013	Morelia	3 (3) – 3 (1) Penalties	Atlas	Carlos Bustos
Clausura 2014	UANL	3–0	Oaxaca	Ricardo Ferretti
Apertura 2014	Santos Laguna	2 (4) – 2(2) Penalties	Puebla	Pedro Caixinha
Clausura 2015	Puebla	4–2	Guadalajara	José Guadalupe Cruz
Apertura 2015	Guadalajara	1–0	León	Matías Almeyda
Clausura 2016	Veracruz	4–1	Necaxa	Carlos Reinoso
Apertura 2016	Querétaro	0 (3)–0 (2) Penalties	Guadalajara	Víctor Manuel Vucetich
Clausura 2017	Guadalajara	0 (3)–0 (1) Penalties	Morelia	Matías Almeyda
Apertura 2017	Monterrey	1–0	Pachuca	Antonio Mohamed
Clausura 2018	Necaxa	1–0	Toluca	Ignacio Ambríz
Apertura 2018	Cruz Azul	2–0	Monterrey	Pedro Caixinha
Clausura 2019	América	1–0	Juárez	Miguel Herrera
2019–20	Monterrey	2–1	Tijuana	Antonio Mohamed

Teams with the Most Wins

See also

In Spanish: Copa México para niños

• SuperCopa MX