Campeón de Campeones (English: Champion of Champions) is an annual Mexican super cup match, between the Liga MX champions of the Apertura and Clausura tournaments. It was initially a super cup match between the league and cup champions. Since 2018, the winners of the Campeón de Campeones have competed in the Campeones Cup, facing the MLS champions.[1]
History
The beginning of the professional era of the Campeón de Campeones was established for the 1942-43 season, the first professional edition was held in 1943. Previously, an edition was played corresponding to the 1941-42 season, still in the considered Amateur era of Mexican Football.
The trophy was presented by the president of Mexico at the time, Manuel Ávila Camacho. From 1942 to 1995 the tournament was contested between the Liga MX champions and the Copa MX champions. Traditionally the single match (with an exception in 1968 and 1988 when two matches were played) to determine the "super cup" winner was held at the end of the season at a stadium in Mexico City.
If a team won the league and cup titles of the same year, they were awarded the title Campeonísimo with an automatic awarding of the Campeón de Campeones trophy. To date this has only occurred on five occasions (León in 1949, Cruz Azul in 1969, Guadalajara in 1970, Puebla in 1990, and Necaxa in 1995).
After 1995 the league championship was split into two shorter seasons Apertura and Clausura. Then in 1997, the FMF canceled the cup tournament. Due to these changes, the Campeón de Campeones was postponed. The competition resumed in the 2002-03 season; however, this time it was contested between the champions of Apertura and Clausura. The competition was held four times and was placed on hiatus again from 2007 to 2014.
In 2012, an unofficial match was played between the Liga MX champions and the Ascenso MX champions, Leon beat Santos Laguna 2-0.[2][3] In the 2013-14 season, the Liga MX stipulated that a Campeón de Campeones match should be contested between the champions of the Apertura 2013 and Copa MX Apertura 2013,[4] but it was not officially disputed.
The format was changed to a single match at a neutral site, which has been in the United States and shared with the Supercopa MX match.[5][6]
In 2015, the Liga MX restarted the Campeón de Campeones with the match between Santos Laguna and América, the match was played at a neutral venue (Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas), that was the first edition of the competition that was played in the United States.
Similarly to the traditional tournament, if a team wins both the Apertura and Clausura seasons, the team is automatically awarded the Campeón de Campeones trophy. This has occurred twice, Atlas in 2022 for winning the 2021 Apertura and the 2022 Clausura. Club América in 2024 for winning the 2023 Apertura and the 2024 Clausura.
Campeón de Campeones Femenil
On May 24, 2021, the Liga MX owners assembly made official the creation of the Campeón de Campeones for Liga MX Femenil.[7]Tigres UANL won the first edition automatically by winning the league title of both Guardianes 2020 and Guardianes 2021 tournaments.[8] Unlike the men's Campeón de Campeones, the women's version is played as a two-legged series, with the team having the most aggregate points host the second leg.[8]
Starting in 2022, if the club winning both Apertura and Clausura tournaments in the same Liga MX season, the Campeón de Campeones will be awarded automatically.[9] However, due to the league commercial commitments, the club will be featured against previous holder of Campeón de Campeones in a competition called Supercopa de la Liga MX.[10]
