Ranking the Five Favorites to Win Liga MX Apertura 2025 | OneFootball

The Liga MX Apertura 2025 season is upon us, with all 18 teams making their season debut this weekend.

Every team in Mexico's top-flight were busy over the summer looking for reinforcements ahead of the start of the season. With the transfer window still far from over, expect teams across Mexico to continue adding pieces to help them in the hunt to dethrone Toluca as Liga MX champions.

There are high expectations for what the Apertura 2025 can deliver, with a number of teams having some of the strongest rosters in North and South America on paper. With the World Cup only a year away, players both national and international will be keen on impressing to get the call to represent their countries next summer.

Despite all teams loading up ahead of the Apertura 2025, it's clear there are sides who are above the rest and enter the season as the main contenders for the title.

Here's Sports Illustrated's ranking of the top five favorites to win the Apertura 2025 title come December.

5. Tigres

Tigres legend André-Pierre Gignac is nearing the end of his playing days. / IMAGO/Agencia-MexSport

Tigres have made the Liga MX quarterfinals in each of the last 21 seasons. A historic stretch that's seen the Monterrey based club win lift five Liga MX trophies over the last decade. Simply put, Tigres are always contenders to win the title.

Legendary midfielder Guido Pizarro hung up his boots a month into the Clausura 2025 season to become the club's new manager. Tigres made the semifinals, but looked significantly inferior to eventual champions Toluca.

Pizarro's second season as a manager will be aided by the signing of 2022 World Cup champions Ángel Correa from Atlético Madrid. All-time leading goalscorer André-Pierre Gignac should see more playing time this season after battling with injuries during the first semester of the year. Nearing 40 years of age, this could be Gignac's last dance and he'll want to go out with his sixth Liga MX title.

Tigres have a powerful roster with talented players in every position; however, the team's golden generation is all but gone. Pizarro is still a raw, unproven manager who'll have to get the best out of his crop of players if Tigres want to fight against the top teams come playoff time.

4. Toluca

Toluca ended a 15-year Liga MX title drought a season ago. / IMAGO/aal.photo

Toluca were far-and-away the best team in Liga MX during the first semester of 2025, culminating the Clausura season with the team's first league title since 2010.

The core pieces of the title-winning team are returning for the Apertura 2025 and the expectation is for Toluca to repeat as champions. Antonio Mohamed did a perfect job in his debut season with Los Diablos Rojos, winning his fourth Liga MX title with four different teams.

However, Toluca didn't add any significant reinforcements for their title-defense, it's pretty much the same exact team minus the departure of some important role players such as Isaías Violante. Alexis Vega and Paulinho remain some of the top players in the country, but it's not crazy to say Toluca might be a little less strong than a season ago.

Despite the four league titles on his resumé, Mohamed has never managed to win a second title with any team he's been with in Liga MX. Toluca will hope that trend is broken, but they're dominance from the first half of the year might be difficult to replicate.

3. Club America

USMNT's Alejandro Zendejas is the new owner of Club América's iconic No. 10 shirt. / IMAGO/Agencia-MexSport

Club América have been the best team in Liga MX over the past two years, winning three straight titles and making the final each of the last four seasons.

André Jardine built a dynasty, one of the greatest teams Mexico's top-flight has ever seen. Now, Las Águilas are hungry to return to the summit of Mexican soccer after falling in the final to Toluca last May.

América are similar to Toluca in that they also haven't landed a massive signing ahead of the new season. The departure of Diego Valdés is the highlight of the transfer window so far for Las Águilas. With the futures of Álvaro Fidalgo and Brian Rodríguez still uncertain, América must look for reinforcements during what's left of the transfer window.

Still, it's unfathomable to imagine a scenario where Las Águilas miss the playoffs. Once there, Jardine's side usually peak and become absolutely formidable. América will remain a top candidate for the title until proven otherwise.

2. Monterrey

Monterrey are coming off a very solid performance in the 2025 Club World Cup. / Mike Blake-Reuters via Imagn Images

Monterrey have a formidable roster, one of the best in the continent—perhaps even the best. Still, success domestically has evaded them during the 2020s.

Many point to the lack of a suitable manager, capable of handling a dressing room full of high-profile players. Martín Demichelis was the last to try and eventually join the long list of managers who failed to deliver Monterrey's first Liga MX title since 2019.

Enter, Domènec Torrent. The former Atlético San Luis manager and Pep Guardiola assistant impressed in his previous endeavor and began his tenure with Monterrey with a very strong performance in the Club World Cup, drawing against Champions League finalists Inter Milan and pushing Borussia Dortmund until the end in the last 16.

The quality of the roster is undeniable. If the players buy in to what Torrent will look to implement, then Rayados could become a major problem for the rest of Liga MX. Torrent reached the semifinals of the Apertura 2024 with a much weaker side, now, he's got a team full of stars more than capable of winning it all this season.

1. Cruz Azul

Cruz Azul lifted the 2025 Concacaf Champions Cup less than two months ago. / IMAGO/ImagenShop

You could make an argument that no team in Mexico has played better than Cruz Azul since the start of 2024—yes, including Club América. Setting the Liga MX single season points record, three regular season defeats over the past year and a Concacaf Champions Cup trophy are great feats, but despite the peripheral success, La Máquina are yet to win a Liga MX title with this brilliant core.

Cruz Azul enter the Apertura 2025 excited about the dawn of the Nicolás Larcamón. The Argentine shined with Necaxa and has done well in Liga MX since he first arrived in 2020. Now, he gets his first chance to manage a true contender.

Sporting Director Ivan Alonso's tenure began a year and a half ago with the appointment of Martín Anselmi as manager. Anselmi's Cruz Azul were magnificent, so much so that the manager made the jump to Europe with Porto. Alonso appointing Larcamón, who plays a very similar style, looks to be the continuation of the project.

The signing of José Paradela, one of the best players in the league a season ago, reinforces what was an already stacked roster. Still, Cruz Azul are not done, with reports signaling that former Real Madrid striker Luka Jović is days away from joining the club.

Cruz Azul have a deep and powerful roster and a manager that's shown to be more than capable of winning with much weaker sides. There's no question, it's a 10th Liga MX title or bust for La Máquina in the Apertura 2025.