Mexican football suspends promotion and relegation for 5 years

On Friday, Liga MX president Enrique Bonilla confirmed that promotion and relegation in Mexican football have been suspended for the next five years.

The 18 Liga MX owners voted in favour of the matter after the Ascenso MX owners had approved the vote earlier in the week.

Currently, due to financial and structural guidelines, none of the 12 teams in Mexico’s second-division were even eligible for promotion. The league has dropped from 18 teams to 12 teams in the last three years, according to football livescore data provider iSports API.

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Ascenso MX clubs will receive an annual total of 240 million pesos ($10m) for five years or 20 million pesos ($845,000) per club per year.

The goal is to make Mexico’s second division a breeding ground for young talent, though the specifics have yet to be decided on.

One measure that will reportedly be in place will be the limit of players on each club over the age of 23.

As a result, the infamous 20/11 rule will be eliminated as confirmed by Bonilla today.

The rule currently requires all Liga MX sides to field players under the age of 20 years, 11 months for at least 1,000 minutes per season, otherwise, they will face a three-point deduction at the end of the regular season, as per iSports football API.

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