The 2016–17 Liga Nacional de Guatemala was the 64th professional season of the top-flight football league in Guatemala. The season was divided into two championships—the 2016 Apertura and the 2017 Clausura—each in an identical format and each contested by the same 12 teams.
Format The format for both championships are identical. Each championship will have two stages: a first stage and a playoff stage. The first stage of each championship is a double round-robin format. The teams that finish first and second in the standings will advance to the playoffs semifinals, while the teams that finish 3–6 will enter in the quarterfinals. The winner of each quarterfinal will advance to the semifinals. The winners of the semifinals will advance to the finals, which will determine the tournament champion.
Apertura The 2016 Torneo Apertura began in July 2016 and will end in December 2016.
Personnel and sponsoring Team Chairman Head coach Kitmaker Shirt sponsor Antigua Rafael Arreaga Mauricio Tapia TBD Pegamex Carchá Douglas Delgado Javier Martínez TBD TBD Cobán Imperial Ariel Sena Puma TBD Comunicaciones Pedro Portilla Iván Franco Sopegno Puma Bantrab, Gatorade, Zeta Gas Guastatoya Amarini Villatoro TBD TBD Malacateco TBD Ronald Gómez TBD TBD Marquense TBD Néstor Emilio Soria TBD TBDMictlán TBD Sergio Guevara TBD TBD Municipal TBD Gustavo Machaín TBD TBD Petapa Mynor Morales Ramiro Cepeda TBD TBD Suchitepéquez TBD Enrique Maximiliano Meza TBD TBD Xelajú TBD Rafael Loredo RetoSports TBD
Table
Standings
Positions by round
Results
Final phase
Quarterfinals
First leg
Second leg
Comunicaciones won 2–0 on aggregate.
Malacateco won 1–0 on aggregate.
Semifinals
First leg
Second leg
Municipal won 2–1 on aggregate.
1-1 on aggregate. Antigua progresses as the higher seed.
Finals
First leg
Second leg
2-2 on aggregate. Antigua wins 5-4 on penalties.
Managerial changes
Beginning of the season Team Outgoing manager Manner of departure Date of vacancy Replaced by Date of appointment Position in tableDeportivo Petapa Pablo Centrone Sacked May 2016 Ramiro Cepeda May 2016 th (Clausura 2016) Xelajú Carlos Jurado Contract not extended May 2016 Rafael Loredo May 2016 th (Clausura 2016)Deportivo Carcha Daniel Orlando Berta Contract not extended May 2016 Javier Martínez June 2016 th (Clausura 2016)C.D. Suchitepéquez Douglas Zamora Sacked June 2016 Enrique Maximiliano Meza June 2016 th (Clausura 2016)Cobán Imperial Héctor Julián Trujillo Sacked June 2016 Ariel Sena June 2016 th (Clausura 2016)
During the season Team Outgoing manager Manner of departure Date of vacancy Replaced by Date of appointment Position in tableTBD TBD Resigned 2016 TBD 2016 th (2016)Deportivo Carcha Javier Martínez Resigned 2016 Héctor Julián Trujillo 2016 th (Apertura 2015)Deportivo Marquense Néstor Emilio Soria Sacked 2016 Sergio Pardo 2016 th (Apertura 2015)Deportivo Guastatoya Roque Raúl Alfaro Sacked 2016 Amarini Villatoro 2016 th (Apertura 2015)TBD TBD Sacked 2016 TBD 2016 th (Apertura 2015)
List of foreign players in the league This is a list of foreign players in 2016-2017 season. The following players: have played at least one apertura game for the respective club. have not been capped for the Guatemala national football team on any level, independently from the birthplace
A new rule was introduced a few season ago, that clubs can only have five foreign players per club and can only add a new player if there is an injury or player/s is released.
Antigua GFC Víctor Bolivar Jorge Zaldívar Manfred Russell
Coban Imperial Francisco Ladogana Orlando Moreira Víctor Solalinde Álvaro García
CSD Comunicaciones Juan Barrera Diego Estrada Joel Benítez Emiliano Lopez
Guastatoya
' Deportivo Mictlan Juan Aguirre Marlon Negrete William Negrete Ricardo Romero
Deportivo Malacateco Juan Carlos Meza Jhon Jairo Palacios Carlos Díaz Ricardo Rocha
(player released during the season)
Deportivo Marquense Matías Triofini
CSD Municipal Darío Flores Carlos Kamiani Janderson Pereira Jaime Alas Gastón Puerari
Deportivo Petapa Juan Lovato Adrian Apellaniz Matías Quinteros
CD Suchitepéquez Francisco Ladogana Mauricio Gerni Omar Salazar David Monsalve
Carchá Pablo Pereira Cesar Ivan Garcia Luis Rene Rodas Kamar Kayode Oshioke
Club Xelajú MC Cristhian Lagos Juliano Rangel de Andrade Juan Baena José Mendoza
Clausura The 2017 Torneo Clausura is expected to begin in January 2017 and end in May 2017.
Personnel and sponsoring Team Chairman Head coach Kitmaker Shirt sponsor Antigua Rafael Arreaga Mauricio Tapia TBD Pegamex Carchá TBD Daniel Orlando Berta TBD TBD Cobán Imperial Fabricio Chapa Benitez Puma TBD Comunicaciones Pedro Portilla Iván Franco Sopegno TBD TBD Guastatoya Ariel Sena TBD TBD Malacateco TBD Nelson Mauricio Ancheta TBD TBD Marquense TBD Juan Melgar TBD TBDMictlán TBD Sergio Guevara TBD TBD Municipal TBD Gustavo Machaín TBD TBD Petapa TBD Pablo Centrone TBD TBD Suchitepéquez TBD Walter Claverí TBD TBD Xelajú TBD Hernán Medford RetoSports TBD
Table
Standings
Positions by round
Results
Final phase
Quarterfinals
First leg
Second leg
Guastatoya won 4–2 on aggregate.
Suchitepéquez won 1–0 on aggregate.
Semifinals
First leg
Second leg
Municipal won 3–1 on aggregate.
Guastatoya won 5-4 on aggregate.
Finals
First leg
Second leg
Municipal won 2-0 on aggregate.
Aggregate table Three teams would have qualified for CONCACAF club competitions, but due to FIFA's suspension of Guatemala, these spots were given to other Central American countries.
External links http://www.prensalibre.com/Deportes/FutbolNacional https://web.archive.org/web/20150813211930/http://lared.com.gt/pages/sec_noticia/113