There Were How Many Teams in 2019-2020?

The 2019 Apertura was the last season to feature nineteen teams including what would become one of its most controversial clubs.

America v Monterrey - Final Torneo Apertura 2019 Liga MX
America v Monterrey - Final Torneo Apertura 2019 Liga MX | Manuel Velasquez/GettyImages

The pandemic was tough on everybody and that includes former Liga MX soccer franchise Tiburones Rojos de Veracruz.

The Red Sharks had quite a history but not so much of a future according to accounts from Transfer Markt. They certainly did not end the season well. Club América and Monterrey are the teams that did. Those two clubs made it to the final. In the end it would all belong to Monterrey.

Santos Laguna would score the most goals in the campaign with forty. With that many points in the net it led to a league best in points on the overall standings.

Behind the mean green Santos Laguna squad sat León in second place. They had a league best plus fifteen goal differential that was also tied with Santos Laguna.

In third and fourth came Tigres UANL and Querétero. They both notched a goal differential of positive twelve.

There were a few more units rounding out the playoff bound teams. That list included since relegated Morelia, Necaxa, Club América and Monterrey. The last two of those teams would rally to both make the Apertura 2019 final.

In the end, the club that won was Monterrey. Club América would lose in the title game. And Veracruz was banished and vanished. The Red Sharks never paid their players en route to terrible finances and the permanent ban. Such bans can be lifted when things get straightened so you never know. But it is likely that no team named the Red Sharks will grace the Liga MX system again.