Liga Nacional is a men’s football league in Guatemala, presented here under its official competition name. Use this page to follow live scores, fixtures, results and standings, while exploring player and team statistics across the competition’s recorded seasons. It brings key match and season information together in one place for convenient reference.
Upcoming matches, Liga Nacional
Regular Season - 10
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- Regular Season - 10
Comunicaciones
Guastatoya
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- Regular Season - 10
Aurora
Marquense
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- Regular Season - 10Antigua GFC
Municipal
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- Regular Season - 10
Cobán Imperial
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- Regular Season - 10
Suchitepéquez
Xelajú
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- Regular Season - 10
Malacateco
Mixco
Regular Season - 4
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- Regular Season - 4
Xelajú
Antigua GFCEstadio Mario Camposeco
Regular Season - 11
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- Regular Season - 11
Municipal
Suchitepéquez
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- Regular Season - 11
Guastatoya
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- Regular Season - 11
Marquense
Malacateco
Estadio Marquesa de la Ensenada
Latest played matches, Liga Nacional
Regular Season - 9
Regular Season - 8
Liga Nacional Standings
Liga Nacional Statistics
Top scorers 2026
| # | Player | Goals |
|---|
Top assists 2026
| # | Player | Assists |
|---|
Top key passes
Top tackles
Top yellow cards
Top red cards
Liga Nacional teams participation since 2011
History
| Team | Nb participations |
|---|---|
| Malacateco | 15 |
| Municipal | 15 |
| Xelajú | 15 |
| Antigua GFC | 12 |
| Guastatoya | 12 |
| Cobán Imperial | 11 |
| Comunicaciones | 11 |
| Marquense | 9 |
| Suchitepéquez | 7 |
| Deportivo Petapa | 7 |
| Achuapa | 6 |
| Mictlán | 6 |
| Iztapa | 6 |
| Mixco | 5 |
| Universidad San Carlos | 4 |
| Deportivo Sanarate | 4 |
| Comunicaciones | 4 |
| Santa Lucía | 4 |
| Halcones | 4 |
| Siquinalá | 3 |
| Xinabajul | 3 |
| Heredia | 3 |
| Coatepeque | 2 |
| Zacapa Tellioz | 2 |
| Carchá | 1 |
| Nueva Concepción | 1 |
| Sololá | 1 |
| Sacachispas | 1 |
| Deportivo Chiantla | 1 |
| Coatepecano IB | 1 |
| Aurora | 1 |
| Juventud Escuintleca | 1 |
| Juventud Retalteca | 1 |
| Zacapa | 1 |
Liga Nacional top scorer teams
Liga Nacional About
Liga Nacional, also known as Guatemala Liga Nacional and formally the Liga Nacional de Fútbol de Guatemala, is Guatemala’s top-tier men’s professional football league. It sits at the summit of the country’s domestic league system and exists to determine national champions through two separate short tournaments each season: the Apertura and the Clausura. The competition is overseen by the Federación Nacional de Fútbol de Guatemala (FEDEFUT) and administered through the LigaGT structure.
Role and sporting importance
Rather than producing one champion from a single uninterrupted league table, Liga Nacional normally awards two championships within the same season. The Apertura is the opening tournament, generally played from the middle of the calendar year into the later months, while the Clausura follows during the winter and spring. Together, they form the principal competitive cycle of Guatemalan club football, usually running from July through May.
The winners compete for more than domestic recognition. Success in the Apertura or Clausura can provide access to regional CONCACAF competition, particularly the CONCACAF Central American Cup. Strong performances at that level can lead towards the CONCACAF Champions Cup and, ultimately, the route to the FIFA Club World Cup. The league therefore connects Guatemala’s domestic pyramid with the wider Central American and North American club game.
Origins and development
The competition’s roots reach back to 1919, when an amateur league known as the Liga Capitalina began organising football in the capital. The professional era started in 1942, establishing the foundations of the modern national championship. This long development explains why the league combines an established historical identity with a compact, tournament-based structure suited to the contemporary football calendar.
The recorded competition history covers 15 seasons from 2011 through 2025. Across that period, the league has remained strongly associated with the rivalry between Municipal and Comunicaciones. Their meetings, commonly recognised as Guatemala’s major football clásico, have shaped the competition’s public profile and the distribution of many of its most prominent honours. They are not the only important clubs in the division, but their sustained success gives the league one of its defining traditions.
How the competition works
The league typically features 12 professional clubs. Each Apertura and Clausura begins with a classification phase, in which teams compete for positions in the standings. The usual arrangement is a double round-robin: every club plays the other teams once at home and once away. This phase rewards consistency over a substantial schedule while also determining access to the championship playoffs.
The leading eight teams progress to the final phase. Quarter-final pairings are based on classification position, with the highest-ranked teams drawn against the lowest-ranked qualifiers; typical examples are first against eighth and second against seventh. The final phase then continues through semi-finals to the final. Ties are played over two legs, giving each club a home match, and the higher-seeded team generally hosts the second leg.
The standard points system applies throughout the classification phase: a win is worth three points, a draw one point and a defeat no points. When teams finish level on points, goal difference is the principal separation method, followed by goals scored. Other competition regulations may provide further criteria where the leading measures do not resolve the order, so the published regulations for the relevant tournament remain decisive.
Knockout rules and access
The away-goals rule has been abolished for the final phase. If the aggregate score is level after the second leg, the tie proceeds to extra time and, if necessary, a penalty shootout. This ensures that quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals are settled on the pitch without giving one team an advantage based solely on goals scored away from home.
The combined Apertura and Clausura season also has consequences beyond the individual tournament brackets. Aggregate standings are used to determine relegation and promotion-related outcomes, with clubs in the lower positions facing the possibility of leaving the top division or entering a playoff route under the applicable regulations. Replacements come from Guatemala’s second tier, the Primera División de Ascenso. This creates a separate long-term race alongside the short-term pursuit of each tournament title: clubs must compete for playoff qualification while protecting their aggregate position across the full season.
A national league with regional reach
Liga Nacional brings together Guatemala’s leading professional clubs in a format that balances a long classification schedule with high-pressure knockout football. The double round-robin phase tests depth and reliability; the two-legged playoffs amplify the importance of form, preparation and home advantage. Its Apertura–Clausura calendar provides two opportunities to become champion each season, while the aggregate table preserves sporting pressure from July through the closing tournament.
Governed within the FEDEFUT and CONCACAF framework, Guatemala Liga Nacional is both the centre of the country’s domestic game and a gateway to regional competition. Its professional history since 1942, origins in the 1919 amateur game and enduring Municipal–Comunicaciones rivalry give it a distinctive place in Central American football.