Both of Guadalajara’s Liga Mx soccer teams, Atlas and Chivas, will be involved in the playoffs of the Clausura 2022 tournament, which get underway this weekend.

Atlas, the current Liga Mx champions, finished third in the regular season rankings, meaning they are one of the four teams qualifying directly into the quarter finals, scheduled May 11 and 12 (first legs) and May 14 and 15 (second legs).

Chivas placed in 6th in the rankings and bagged a place in one of the four wild card games for teams placed 5th to 12th in the league table. Chivas have home field advantage for the one-off game against the Pumas of Mexico City, set for Sunday, May 8, 7:15 p.m. at the Akron Stadium in Zapopan.  The winners of the playoff games, all to be played on May 7 and 8, advance to the quarter finals.

In December 2021, Atlas fans ended 70 years of hurt after seeing their team lift Mexico’s premier soccer crown for only the second time in the club’s history (their only other title was in 1951).  Winning a second consecutive title (el bicampeonato) has become a real possibility, and expectant fans will certainly fill Guadalajara’s Jalisco Stadium for the home game of the quarter final on the weekend of May 14 and 15.

Women’s league

In the women’s division, the Liga MX Femenil, both Atlas and Chivas, have qualified for the quarter finals.

Atlas kicked off their participation in the playoffs in the worst possible way, loosing 0-7 to Tigres Thursday at the Jalisco Stadium. Their task second leg of the tie on Sunday, May 8 in Monterey now seems Herculean.

Meanwhile, Chivas play the Pumas women in Mexico City on Friday, May 6, 6 p.m., and at the Akron Stadium in Guadalajara on Monday, May 9, 7 p.m.

Chivas finished 2nd and Atlas 6th in the regular season league table comprising 18 teams.