Central American Leagues: playoff format

[LMvCP]

I have noticed that in the past 10 years (and even as recent as 2 years ago), that many of the central american leagues have steered away from a league system and gone into a knock out system to determine the champion.

Was this done copy the Mexican league?

Although the Mexican league implemented this back in 1970 with the hopes to generate more interest, attendence, and revenue for smaller clubs, the league (competition) was still a level playing field.

Out of 54 clubs that have ever played in Mexico's 1st division, 23 of them have been crowned champion. 27 have been either champion or runner up. 15 out of those 23 have been crowned at least twice. The margin of total titles from the team thas has the most to the team that has the 5th most titles is only 5.

10 [9] Guadalajara
10 [6] América
08 [6] Cruz Azul
07 [4] Toluca
05 [5] León
05 [5] U.N.A.M.
03 [4] Necaxa
03 [1] Pachuca

2 clubs are tied with 2 titles

As you can see, the Mexican leagues is not like the Scottish league where out of 100 titles disputeds, Rangers and Celtic have 90 of them. The Mexican league is pretty much even. The clubs that do invest more are more successful (like America, Cruz Azul, etc)

I guess what I am trying to get at, If the Central American leagues (Hon, ES, CR, Gua) have gone to a knockout system to level the playing field and give the underdog a chance, why is it that the teams of the past (Municipal, Saprissa, Firpo, etc) are still winning? Have the smaller clubs been able to generate money? Is there really a difference (with respect to resources) from a top club to a middle club?

[MoRado]

CR'n tournament changes every 4-5 years, we dont have play offs, just semifinals nad final thats it.

[Popol Vuh]

in Guatemala, after the final standings , the top 2 teams qualify directly to semi-finals, while the other 4 have to play quarter-finals. then the nat. final. all games are 2 legs of course. ;). And the last placed team in the overall stadings goes directly to the lower division , while the 7th , 8th , and 9th placed teams have to play 2 legged play-offs with teams in the lower division in order to stay in the Major League (liga mayor). :D ;)

[LMvCP]

CR'n tournament changes every 4-5 years, we dont have play offs, just semifinals nad final thats it.

If your league has a semifinal and a final, then they are play offs.

If a league champion is based on points, the championship is considered a league system.

If the champion is based on playoffs, the championship is considered knockout system.

You could still have a regular season, have a second stage where the top 4-8 teams play a league system tournament where the champion is determined by points. That is still considered league system.

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was an error in my 1st post... I meant to write that 6 teams are tied with 2 league titles

[Goathemala]

The reason the format changed in Guatemala was to give teams more games during the year, the number of teams went down to 10 and the top 6 teams qualify to a playoff, the top 2 get to wait it out for. The reason the same teams have won is simple, many times the top 2 are Municipal and Comunicaciones, they get the free pass and even when they do play they get the advantage of not winning and passing to the next round just because of a better table position. We do get some upsets, like Coban Imperial making it to the final twice in the past years, winning one and getting robbed once. Suchitepequez made it to the final this for the clausura, for the first time the 2 big teams faced each other in the semifinals. I think the number of teams should go up again this time to 14, many teams in the first division have better stadiums,and money and can easily play in the liga Mayor. Some examples, Petapa made it to the top league, Aurora went down, Petapa does not have the stadium to be in the top division and Aurora does, they are own by the military and are a rich team. Zacapa is another club that can play in the top league, nice stadium and plenty of sponsors, Universidad de San Carlos should also be in the top league. I think there are at least 6 clubs in the first division that have good stadiums and money. Guatemala has more stadiums and teams but they dont use them.

[Goathemala]

Heres my list of how it should be.
1 Aurora FC
2 Xelaju MC
3 Suchitepequez
4 Comunicaciones
5 Municipal
6 Antigua GFC
7 Coban Imperial
8 Universidad SC
9 Zacapa
10 Jalapa
11 Municipal Jutiapa
12 Heredia FDN
13 Marquense
14 Juventud Retalteca

[Popol Vuh]

Heres my list of how it should be.
1 Aurora FC
2 Xelaju MC
3 Suchitepequez
4 Comunicaciones
5 Municipal
6 Antigua GFC
7 Coban Imperial
8 Universidad SC
9 Zacapa
10 Jalapa
11 Municipal Jutiapa
12 Heredia FDN
13 Marquense
14 Juventud Retalteca didnt we used to have 16 teams in the past? or 14?

[MoRado]

didnt we used to have 16 teams in the past? or 14?


wow 14 teams in a professional central american league seems like too much
The CR'n league has 12 teams, i think it could be better if it had only 10 teams
But Guatemala is much bigger than CR so maybe 14 teams will fit fine

[Goathemala]

didnt we used to have 16 teams in the past? or 14?

Yes, that was back in the early 80's and then the number went down to 12 and now its 10. They want to add 2 teams again in a year or 2, I think they should add 2 teams and then go up to 14 in 5 years.