Liga MX Clausura 2025 Playoffs: All you need to know

This past weekend, Mexican sides played their final matches in this season's Liga MX Clausura regular season, which can only mean one thing: it's time for the playoffs!

At the bottom end of the table; and ultimately drawing their campign's to an end, eight teams waved goodbye to their hopes of silverware.

Clubs like Puebla, Querétaro, Mazatlán, and Santos Laguna faced a familiar fate, all of which ended the 2024/25 season this week. However, more surprising exits came as both Guadalajara sides failed to qualify inside the top 10, with Atlas and Chivas contesting a 1-1 draw to prevent either side from making a last-ditch attempt.

The other two sides to miss out on playoff action are Apertura surprise packages Tijuana and San Luis, who even reached the semi finals of the first half of the season competition.

Clausura 2025 Play-In

Six teams await in the quarter finals of the Clausura, whilst four sides will battle it out in the Play-In to complete the set. The teams fighting for one of the two available spots are:

7th - Monterrey
8th - Pachuca
9th - FC Juárez
10th - Pumas

These teams finished between 7th - 10th in the regular season, and will be competing for a chance to face either top seeded Toluca or second placed Club América.

How it will work is that Monterrey and Pachuca will meet at the Estadio BBVA (Match One), with the winner automatically qualifying for the quarter finals, earning a doubleheader clash against Las Águilas. The loser between these two will have one last shot at making the final eight, but will need to play against the winner of Juárez or Pumas (Match Two).

One certainity from the first round of Play-In games is that one team will seal a spot in the quarter finals, but it's worth noting that the loser between Juárez and Pumas will be out of the Clausura completely.

After the two games, the loser of match one will meet the winner of match two for a chance to meet Los Rojos Diablos in the final fixture of the Clausura quarter finals.

Clausura quarter finals

Unlike Toluca and Club América, who must wait to learn of their next opponents, there are four other sides already aware of who they will be facing in the next round. Those are:

(3rd) Cruz Azul - León (6th)
(4th Tigres - Necaxa (5th)

La Máquina finished with the highest overall points across the Apertura and Clausura, but it will all have been for nothing if they fail to lift the title this time around. They will meet a León side who went unbeaten across the first nine league games before recording just one win from the final seven matches. The horrid run to end the regular season included a 2-1 loss to Cruz Azul, who scored two goals in the last ten minutes to turn the game on its head before James Rodríguez saw red in a 2-0 loss to Monterrey to end the campaign. His dismissal means that the Colombian captain will be suspended for the first leg in Guanajuato.

Tigres firstly battle in the CONCACAF Champions Cup semi final, where they will meet Cruz Azul. Learning their continental fate, attention will turn to Necaxa, who marked their best regular season record since the 2019 Apertura. Inspired by Diber Cambindo's 11 goals in 14 games, Los Rayos scored the second highest number of goals in the Clausura, only behind Toluca. Their impressive run in the second half of the season can be credited to manager Nicolas Larcamon, who only came into the job in January but has had a dream start to the role as he will be hoping to avenge the stoppage time loss to Tigres when the sides meet in March.

Clausura route to the final

This how the bracket looks for all ten teams still fighting in the Liga MX Clausura 2025:

Which team will go all the way and claim the Liga MX Clausura title for 2025? Let us know!

Read More

• CONCACAF Champions Cup: Heartbreak for Pumas; Cruz Azul win the Clásico Joven to reach the semifinal
• Club America send Chivas Packing in the CONCACAF Champions Cup
• Liga MX Clausura: Toluca join Club América at the top of the table