Liga Nacional de Fútbol de Guatemala

Liga Guate Banrural

Founded	1919; 105 years ago (1919) as amateur league 1942; 82 years ago (1942) as professional league
Country	Guatemala
Confederation	CONCACAF
Number of teams	12
Level on pyramid	1
Relegation to	Primera División de Ascenso
Domestic cup(s)	Copa de Guatemala
International cup(s)	CONCACAF Champions Cup CONCACAF Central American Cup
Current champions	Municipal (32nd title)
Most championships	Comunicaciones Municipal (32 titles)
Most appearances	Jairo Arreola (651)
Top goalscorer	Juan Carlos Plata (302)
TV partners	Albavision Claro Sports Tigo Sports Fox Deportes
Website	ligagt.org
Current: 2024–25 Liga Nacional de Guatemala

Liga Nacional de Fútbol de Guatemala (National Football League of Guatemala), officially known as the Liga Guate Banrural for sponsorship reasons, formerly known as Liga Mayor "A" (Major League "A") is a professional football division in Guatemala, the highest one in the country. It is sanctioned by the Federación Nacional de Fútbol de Guatemala. The champion and runner-up teams of the Liga Nacional's official tournaments qualify to participate in international competitions within their regional confederation. Twelve teams currently compete in the league. Comunicaciones and Municipal are the most successful club in the league to date, having won 32 tournaments each.^[1]

Its first official professional tournament took place in 1942, and succeeded what was known as the Liga Capitalina (League of the Capital), which was an amateur tournament that started in 1919. The 1942–43 tournament was played by seven teams in a double round-robin tournament. Three teams – Municipal, Tipografía Nacional, and Guatemala FC – finished tied for the first place after the two rounds. A playoff between the three teams was conducted to determine the winner, with Municipal earning their first national title.^[2]

The league has had several different formats throughout its history; currently, the league season is divided into two tournaments. The Apertura, which is played in the fall, and the Clausura, which is played in the spring. The first 6 clubs in the standings at the end of each competition participate in the playoffs to determine the champion, 1st and 2nd place teams qualify directly to semi-finals, while the others have to play in the quarter-finals. The winners of the Apertura and Clausura tournaments participate in the CONCACAF Champions League.

At the end of 2008-2009 Apertura and Clausura tournaments the league expanded to 12 teams to compete in a larger versions of the Apertura and Clausura tournaments. Now the 12th placed team (the team with the fewest points) in the aggregated table standings (combined standings of both the Apertura and Clausura tournaments) is relegated to the Primera División de Ascenso (2nd division) automatically at the end of the Clausura tournament in late May. The teams that finish 10th and 11th in the aggregated table standings enter into a two-legged playoff with the second- and third-placed clubs of the Primera División de Ascenso. The playoff winners play in the top division while the losers spend the next season in the second division.

Antigua

Cobán

Guastatoya

Malacateco

Xelajú

Achuapa

Xinabajul

Coatepeque

Zacapa

Guatemala Department

Teams in Guatemala Department:
Comunicaciones
Mixco
Municipal

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Location of the 2023-24 Liga Nacional de Fútbol de Guatemala teams

Comunicaciones

Mixco

Municipal

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Location of teams in Guatemala Department

Current Liga Nacional managers

Manager	Nationality	Club
Rónald Gómez	Costa Rica	Achuapa
Javier López	Spain	Antigua
Roberto Montoya	Mexico	Cobán Imperial
Ronald González	Costa Rica	Comunicaciones
Dwight Pezzarossi	Guatemala	Guastatoya
Roberto Hernández	Mexico	Malacateco
Mauricio Tapia	Argentina	Marquense
Fabricio Benítez	Guatemala	Mixco
Sebastián Bini	Argentina	Municipal
Amarini Villatoro	Guatemala	Xelajú
Pablo Centrone	Argentina	Xinabajul
Rafael Díaz	Guatemala	Zacapa

• Comunicaciones vs Municipal - "El Clásico Chapín"
• Comunicaciones vs Antigua - "El Clásico Provincial"
• Antigua vs Mixco - "El Clásico del Valle"
• Comunicaciones vs Xelajú - "El Clásico del Oeste"
• Marquense vs Xelajú - "El Clásico del Occidente"
• Marquense vs Malacateco - "Derbi de San Marcos"
• Cobán Imperial vs Zacapa - "Clásico del Norte"

Champions were:^[3] Amateur and Professional Champions.

Nr.	Player	Country	Goals
1	Juan Carlos Plata		302
2	Oscar Sánchez		259
3	Julio César Anderson		220
4	Carlos Kamiani Félix		211
5	Edwin Westphal		188
6	Israel Silva		186
7	René Morales		172
8	Mario Acevedo		170
9	Agustín Herrera		161
10	Selvin Pennant		156
11	León Ugarte		156
12	Edgar Araiza		150
13	Fredy García		144
14	Hugo Peña		136
15	Rolando Fonseca		135
16	Rudy Ramírez		130
17	Carlos Toledo		129
18	Jhonny Cubero		124
19	Julio Rodas		123
20	José Emilio Mitrovich		121

• Guatemala national football team

• Liga Nacional de Fútbol de Guatemala (in Spanish)
• League at FIFA
• Guatemala, 100 años de fútbol - prensalibre.com - Prensa Libre newspaper, Guatemala. (in Spanish)
• guatefutbol.com (in Spanish)
• League Summary at Soccerway (in English)
• Guatemala Liga Nacional, standings, results & fixtures at Live2Sport.com