The 2024–25 Liga Guate, also known as Liga Guate Banrural for sponsorship reasons, was the 72nd professional season of the top-flight football league in Guatemala. The season was divided into two championships—the 2024 Apertura and the 2025 Clausura—each in an identical format and each contested by the same 12 teams.
Competition format Same as previous years, the season was divided into two short tournaments: Torneo Apertura (opening) and Torneo Clausura (closing), each of which crowning its own champion. Both Apertura and Clausura tournaments were played under the same format which consisted in a Classification phase and a Final phase.
In the classification phase, teams played each other twice on a home-and-away round-robin basis. The top eight teams at the conclusion of the classification stage advanced to the quarter-finals of the final stage.
The final phase was played on a single-elimination format and consisted of the quarter-finals, semi-finals and the finals. All rounds were played on a home-and-away two-legged basis, with the higher-ranked team in the classification phase of each tie hosting the second leg. The quarter-final pairings were pre-determined based on the teams' final position in the classification phase. In the semi-finals the teams were re-seeded based also on their final position in the classification phase in order to determine the two pairings. The quarter-finals and semi-finals matchups were determined as follows:
Quarter-finals Match A: Third placed team vs. Sixth placed team Match B: Fourth placed team vs. Fifth placed team Match C: First placed team vs. Eighth placed team Match D: Second placed team vs. Seventh placed team
Semi-finals Match I: Second best placed semi-finalist vs. Third best placed semi-finalist Match II: Top-placed semi-finalist vs. Fourth best placed semi-finalist
Both champions of the Apertura and Clausura tournaments plus the best placed team on the aggregate table (excluding the two champions) at the end of the season qualified for the 2025 CONCACAF Central American Cup.
Teams A total of 12 teams took part in this season: the top ten teams from the aggregate table of the 2023–24 season as well as two promoted teams from the 2023–24 Primera División season.
Stadiums and locations
Team City Stadium CapacityAchuapaEl ProgresoWinston Pineda 6,000 Antigua Antigua Guatemala Pensativo 10,000 Cobán Imperial Cobán Verapaz 15,000 Comunicaciones Guatemala City Doroteo Guamuch Flores 26,000 Deportivo Zacapa Zacapa Estadio David Ordoñez Bardales 8,100 Guastatoya Guastatoya David Cordón Hichos 3,100 Malacateco Malacatán Santa Lucía 8,000 Marquense San Marcos Estadio Marquesa de la Ensenada 11,000 Mixco Mixco Santo Domingo de Guzmán 5,200 Municipal Guatemala City El Trébol 7,500 Xelajú Quetzaltenango Mario Camposeco 11,220 Xinabajul-Huehue Huehuetenango Los Cuchumatanes 5,340
Managerial changes
Before the start of the season
TeamOutgoing managerManner of departureDate of vacancyReplaced byDate of appointmentPosition in table TBD TBD Contract finished 2024 TBD 2024 th and Quarterfinalist (TBD) Deportivo Malacateco Gabriel Pereyra Contract finished June 2024 Roberto Hernandez June 7, 2024 th and Quarterfinalist (TBD)
During the Apertura season
TeamOutgoing managerManner of departureDate of vacancyReplaced byDate of appointmentPosition in table Deportivo Zacapa Adrián García Arias Sacked September 2024 Rafael Díaz Aitkenhead September 2024 th (2024 Apertura) Deportivo Marquense Erick González Mutual Consent 2024 Mauricio Tapia October 12, 2024 th (2024 Apertura) Comunicaciones Willy Olivera Mutual Consent October 14, 2024 Ronald Gonzalez October 15, 2024 th (2024 Apertura)
Between the Apertura and Clausura season
TeamOutgoing managerManner of departureDate of vacancyReplaced byDate of appointmentPosition in table Marquense Mauricio Tapia Resigned December 12, 2024 TBD 2024 th (2024 Apertura) Antigua Javier Lopez Resigned December 16, 2024 Mauricio Tapia December 22, 2024 th (2024 Apertura)
Apertura The Apertura 2024 tournament began on 3 August and scheduled to end on 23 November 2024. Comunicaciones were the defending champions, having won the Apertura 2023 tournament at the previous season.
Standings
Results
Top goalscorers Players sorted first by goals scored, then by last name. Goals scored during the final phase are not included as the tournament top scorer award only takes into account goals scored in the classification phase.
No. Player Club Goals 1 Erick Lemus Comunicaciones 9 2 Óscar Villa Xelajú 9 3 José Martínez Municipal 7 4 Nicolas Martinez Mixco 7 5 Santiago Gómez Antigua 6 6 Matías Rotondi Municipal 6 7 Ángel López Malacateco 5 8 Rudy Munoz Municipal 5 9 Kevin Ramirez Malacateco 5 10 Julio Cesar Rodriguez Xinabajul 5 10 Yeltsin Álvarez Cobán Imperial 4
Final phase – Apertura 2024 The final phase of the Apertura tournament ran from 28 November to 22 December 2024.
Clausura The Clausura 2025 tournament is scheduled to begin in January and end in May 2025. The defending champions are Municipal, who had won the previous Clausura 2024 tournament.
Standings
Results
Aggregate table The aggregate table is used to determine the third qualified team for the 2025 CONCACAF Central American Cup, besides the Apertura and Clausura champions, and the two relegated teams to the 2025–26 Primera División.
References
External links