# 2015–16 Guatemalan Liga Nacional

The 2015–16 Liga Nacional de Fútbol de Guatemala season was the 17th season in which the Apertura and Clausura season was used. The season began in 2015 and ended in 2016.

## 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.

## Teams

| Team | Home city | Stadium | Capacity |
| Antigua GFC | Antigua Guatemala, Sacatepequez | Pensativo | 9,000 |
| Cobán Imperial | Cobán, Guatemala | Estadio José Ángel Rossi | 15, 000 |
| Comunicaciones | Guatemala, Guatemala | Cementos Progreso | 16,000 |
| Guastatoya | Guastatoya, El Progreso | David Cordón Hichos | 3,000 |
| Malacateco | Malacatán, San Marcos | Santa Lucía | 7,000 |
| Marquense | San Marcos, Guatemala | Marquesa de la Ensenada | 10,000 |
| Mictlan | Mita, Jutiapa | Estadio La Asunción | 3,000 |
| Municipal | Guatemala, Guatemala | Manuel Felipe Carrera | 7,500 |
| Petapa | San Miguel Petapa, Guatemala | Julio Armando Cobar | 7,000 |
| Suchitepéquez | Mazatenango, Suchitepéquez | Carlos Salazar Hijo | 12,000 |
| Universidad SC | Guatemala, Guatemala | Revolución | 5,000 |
| Xelajú MC | Quetzaltenango | Mario Camposeco | 11,000 |

## Apertura

The 2015 Torneo Apertura began on 13 August 2015 and ended on 21 December 2015.

### Personnel and sponsoring

| Team | Chairman | Head Coach | Kitmaker | Shirt sponsor |
| Antigua GFC | Rafael Arreaga | Mauricio Tapia | TBD | Pegamex |
| Cobán Imperial | Irasema Melendez | Fabricio Chapa Benitez | Puma | TBD |
| Comunicaciones | Pedro Portilla | William Coito Olivera | TBD | TBD |
| Guastatoya | | Ariel Sena | TBD | TBD |
| Malacateco | TBD | Nelson Mauricio Ancheta | TBD | TBD |
| Marquense | TBD | Juan Melgar | TBD | TBD |
| Mictlan | TBD | Sergio Guevara | TBD | TBD |
| Municipal | Gerardo Villa | Gustavo Machaín | TBD | DemosPro |
| Deportivo Petapa | TBD | Pablo Centrone | TBD | TBD |
| Suchitepéquez | TBD | Walter Claverí | TBD | TBD |
| Universidad SC | TBD | Roberto Gamarra | TBD | TBD |
| Xelajú | TBD | Hernán Medford | RetoSports | TBD |

## Managerial changes
### Beginning of the season

| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Replaced by | Date of appointment |
| C.S.D. Municipal | Enzo Trossero | Sacked | 2015 | Mauricio Wright | 2015 |
| Deportivo Malacateco | Emilio Umanzor | Sacked | 2015 | Nelson Mauricio Ancheta | 2015 |
| Marquense | Carlos Washington Blanco | resigned | 2015 | Juan Melgar | June 2015 |
| Xelajú | Nahúm Espinoza | | 2015 | Hernán Medford | June 2015 |

### During the season

| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Replaced by | Date of appointment | Position in table |
| Universidad SC | Roberto Gamarra | Resigned | September 2015 | Ramiro Cepeda | September 2015 | 12th (Apertura 2015) |
| Deportivo Malacateco | Nelson Mauricio Ancheta | Resigned | November 2015 | Ronald Gomez | November 2015 | 12th (Apertura 2015) |
| C.S.D. Municipal | Mauricio Wright | Sacked | November 2015 | Gustavo Machain | November 2015 | 7th (Apertura 2015) |

### Standings

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Xelajú MC | 22 | 13 | 2 | 7 | 22 | 17 | +5 | 41 | Qualified to the Semifinals |
| 2 | Antigua GFC | 22 | 11 | 5 | 6 | 28 | 19 | +9 | 38 | Qualified to the Semifinals |
| 3 | Comunicaciones | 22 | 11 | 4 | 7 | 26 | 20 | +6 | 37 | Qualified to the Quarterfinals |
| 4 | Guastatoya | 22 | 9 | 7 | 6 | 33 | 23 | +10 | 34 | Qualified to the Quarterfinals |
| 5 | Suchitepéquez | 22 | 10 | 4 | 8 | 36 | 27 | +9 | 34 | Qualified to the Quarterfinals |
| 6 | Petapa | 22 | 9 | 6 | 7 | 29 | 31 | −2 | 33 | Qualified to the Quarterfinals |
| 7 | Municipal | 22 | 9 | 4 | 9 | 28 | 27 | +1 | 31 | |
| 8 | Marquense | 22 | 8 | 5 | 9 | 22 | 28 | −6 | 29 | |
| 9 | Cobán Imperial | 22 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 20 | 26 | −6 | 28 | |
| 10 | Mictlan | 22 | 7 | 5 | 10 | 24 | 28 | −4 | 26 | |
| 11 | Universidad SC | 22 | 4 | 6 | 12 | 31 | 36 | −5 | 18 | |
| 12 | Malacateco | 22 | 4 | 5 | 13 | 24 | 41 | −17 | 17 | |

### Results

| Home \ Away | ANT | COB | COM | GUA | MAL | MAR | MIC | MUN | PET | SUC | USC | XEL |
| Antigua GFC | | 0–0 | 0–1 | 3–0 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 1–4 | 3–0 |
| Cobán Imperial | 0–0 | | 2–1 | 2–2 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2–3 | 3–3 | 2–2 | 0–0 |
| Comunicaciones | 1–0 | 2–1 | | 0–0 | 2–1 | 2–2 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 |
| Guastatoya | 1–2 | 2–0 | 1–1 | | 4–1 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 2–3 | 2–0 |
| Malacateco | 1–3 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 0–2 | | 4–0 | 2–0 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 0–3 | 0–1 |
| Marquense | 1–1 | 0–1 | 0–3 | 2–0 | 2–2 | | 3–1 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 1–0 |
| Mictlan | 1–2 | 3–0 | 2–0 | 2–2 | 2–2 | 0–0 | | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 3–1 |
| Municipal | 1–1 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 0–3 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 2–0 | | 4–1 | 3–2 | 3–2 | 0–0 |
| Petapa | 0–2 | 1–0 | 1–4 | 0–0 | 4–1 | 0–2 | 3–0 | 3–0 | | 1–1 | 2–1 | 2–1 |
| Suchitepéquez | 3–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 4–1 | 3–0 | 2–3 | 0–2 | 6–0 | | 2–0 | 1–0 |
| Universidad SC | 0–1 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 2–3 | 2–2 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 2–4 | 2–0 | 2–2 | | 1–2 |
| Xelajú MC | 1–0 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | |

## Playoffs

| Qualifying stage | Qualifying stage | Qualifying stage | Qualifying stage | Qualifying stage | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Finals | Finals | Finals | Finals | Finals |
| | | | | | 1 | Xelajú MC | 0 | 2 | 2 | | | | | |
| | | | | | 3 | Guastatoya | 3 | 2 | 5 | | | | | |
| 4 | Guastatoya | 3 | 0 | 3 | 3 | Guastatoya | 3 | 2 | 5 | | | | | |
| 5 | Suchitepéquez | 3 | 0 | 3 | | | | | | | | | | |
| 5 | Suchitepéquez | 3 | 0 | 3 | | | | | | 3 | Guastatoya | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| | | | | | | | | | | 2 | Antigua GFC | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 3 | Comunicaciones | 0 | 3 | 3 | | | | | | | | | | | 2 | Antigua GFC | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 6 | Petapa | 0 | 0 | 0 | | | | | | | | | | |
| 6 | Petapa | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | Antigua GFC | 3 | 1 | 4 | | | | | |
| | | | | | 4 | Comunicaciones | 3 | 0 | 3 | | | | | |
| 3 | | | | | 4 | Comunicaciones | 3 | 0 | 3 | | | | | |
| 6 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

### Quarterfinals

| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| Comunicaciones | QF1 | Petapa | 0–0 | 3-0 |
| Guastatoya | QF2 | Suchitepéquez | 3–3 | 0-0 |
* $^†$ Order of legs reversed.

#### Second leg

Comunicaciones won 3–0 on aggregate.
1–1 on aggregate. Guastatoya advanced on the away goal rule.

### Semifinals

| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| Xelajú MC | 2-5 | Guastatoya | 0-3 | 2-2 |
| Antigua GFC | 4-3 | Comunicaciones | 3-3 | 1-0 |

#### Second leg

Guastatoya won 5–2 on aggregate.
Antigua GFC won 4-3 on aggregate.

### Finals

| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| Guastatoya | 2-3 | Antigua GFC | 2-1 | 0-2 |

#### Second leg

Antigua GFC won 3-2 on aggregate.
* Apertura 2015 champions
* Antigua GFC 1st title

## List of foreign players in the league

This is a list of foreign players in Apertura 2015. 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.

## Clausura

The 2016 Torneo Clausura began on 2016 and will end in 2016.

### Personnel and sponsoring

| Team | Chairman | Head Coach | Kitmaker | Shirt sponsor |
| Antigua GFC | Rafael Arreaga | Mauricio Tapia | TBD | Pegamex |
| Cobán Imperial | | Fabricio Chapa Benitez | Puma | TBD |
| Comunicaciones | Pedro Portilla | Iván Franco Sopegno | TBD | TBD |
| Guastatoya | | Francisco Melgar | TBD | TBD |
| Malacateco | TBD | Rónald Gómez | TBD | TBD |
| Marquense | TBD | Néstor Emilio Soria | TBD | TBD |
| Mictlan | TBD | Sergio Guevara | TBD | TBD |
| Municipal | Gerardo Villa | Gustavo Machain | TBD | TBD |
| Deportivo Petapa | TBD | Pablo Centrone | TBD | TBD |
| Suchitepéquez | TBD | Walter Claverí | TBD | TBD |
| Universidad SC | TBD | Ramiro Cepeda | TBD | TBD |
| Xelajú | TBD | Hernán Medford | RetoSports | TBD |

## Managerial changes
### Beginning of the season

| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Replaced by | Date of appointment | Position in table |
| Comunicaciones | William Coito Olivera | Sacked | December 2015 | Ivan Sopengo | December 2015 | th (Apertura 2015) |
| Guastatoya | Ariel Sena | Resigned | December 2015 | Francisco Melgar | 2015 | th (Apertura 2015) |
| Deportivo Marquense | Francisco Melgar | Resigned due to personal reason | December 2015 | Néstor Emilio Soria | December 2015 | th (Apertura 2015) |
| Suchitepéquez | Walter Claverí | Resigned due to become head of the national team | January 2016 | Douglas Zamora | January 2016 | th (Apertura 2015) |

### During the season

| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Replaced by | Date of appointment | Position in table |
| Cobán Imperial | Fabricio Chapa Benitez | Sacked | 2016 | Héctor Julián Trujillo | 2016 | th (Clausura 2016) |
| Guastatoya | Francisco Melgar | Sacked | 2016 | Roque Alfaro | 2016 | th (Apertura 2016) |
| Xelajú | Hernán Medford | Resigned | 2016 | Carlos Jurado | 2016 | th (Apertura 2016) |

### Standings

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Suchitepéquez | 22 | 12 | 3 | 7 | 36 | 23 | +13 | 39 | Qualified to the Semifinals |
| 2 | Municipal | 22 | 9 | 9 | 4 | 29 | 21 | +8 | 36 | Qualified to the Semifinals |
| 3 | Comunicaciones | 22 | 9 | 5 | 8 | 32 | 27 | +5 | 32 | Qualified to the Quarterfinals |
| 4 | Malacateco | 22 | 9 | 4 | 9 | 35 | 24 | +11 | 31 | Qualified to the Quarterfinals |
| 5 | Antigua GFC | 22 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 27 | 23 | +4 | 31 | Qualified to the Quarterfinals |
| 6 | Marquense | 22 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 30 | 29 | +1 | 31 | Qualified to the Quarterfinals |
| 7 | Guastatoya | 22 | 10 | 1 | 11 | 26 | 28 | −2 | 31 | |
| 8 | Mictlan | 22 | 8 | 6 | 8 | 21 | 28 | −7 | 30 | |
| 9 | Universidad SC | 22 | 8 | 5 | 9 | 32 | 29 | +3 | 29 | |
| 10 | Xelajú MC | 22 | 5 | 9 | 8 | 19 | 25 | −6 | 24 | |
| 11 | Petapa | 22 | 5 | 8 | 9 | 33 | 40 | −7 | 23 | |
| 12 | Cobán Imperial | 22 | 5 | 8 | 9 | 17 | 40 | −23 | 23 | |

### Results

| Home \ Away | ANT | COB | COM | GUA | MAL | MAR | MIC | MUN | PET | SUC | USC | XEL |
| Antigua GFC | | 0–0 | 1–3 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 2–4 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 4–1 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 0–0 |
| Cobán Imperial | 1–1 | | 1–3 | 0–0 | 3–2 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 3–2 | 2–1 | 2–2 | 0–0 |
| Comunicaciones | 2–1 | 4–0 | | 1–2 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 4–0 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 0–4 | 1–0 |
| Guastatoya | 1–0 | 3–0 | 0–1 | | 2–0 | 3–4 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 3–1 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 2–0 |
| Malacateco | 2–1 | 9–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | | 1–1 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 3–2 | 4–1 | 2–0 | 2–0 |
| Marquense | 1–2 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 2–1 | | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2–4 | 2–2 |
| Mictlan | 0–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 0–0 | | 3–3 | 2–2 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 3–2 |
| Municipal | 0–0 | 0–0 | 2–2 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | | 8–2 | 3–2 | 1–1 | 2–1 |
| Petapa | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 6–0 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 3–1 | 0–0 | | 2–1 | 2–3 | 2–2 |
| Suchitepéquez | 0–1 | 3–0 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 4–1 | 3–1 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 2–0 | | 1–0 | 1–1 |
| Universidad SC | 3–1 | 4–0 | 1–2 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 2–6 | | 0–0 |
| Xelajú MC | 1–3 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 1–2 | |

## Playoffs

| Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Finals | Finals | Finals | Finals | Finals |
| | | | | | 1 | Suchitepéquez | 2 | 2 | 4 | | | | | |
| | | | | | 4 | Malacateco | 1 | 0 | 1 | | | | | |
| 4 | Malacateco | 0 | 3 | 3 | 4 | Malacateco | 1 | 0 | 1 | | | | | |
| 5 | Antigua GFC | 2 | 0 | 2 | | | | | | | | | | |
| 5 | Antigua GFC | 2 | 0 | 2 | | | | | | 1 | Suchitepéquez | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| | | | | | | | | | | 3 | Comunicaciones | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 3 | Comunicaciones | 3 | 1 | 4 | | | | | | | | | | | 3 | Comunicaciones | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 6 | Marquense | 3 | 0 | 3 | | | | | | | | | | |
| 6 | Marquense | 3 | 0 | 3 | 2 | CSD Municipal | 0 | 2 | 2 | | | | | |
| | | | | | 3 | Comunicaciones | 1 | 1 | 2 | | | | | |
| 3 | | | | | 3 | Comunicaciones | 1 | 1 | 2 | | | | | |
| 6 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

### Quarterfinals

| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| Deportivo Malacateco | 3-0 | Antigua GFC | 0–2 | – |
| Comunicaciones | 4–3 | Marquense | 3–3 | 1–0 |
* $^†$ Order of legs reversed.

#### Second leg

Comunicaciones won 4–3 on aggregate.
Malacateco won 3–2 on aggregate.

### Semifinals

| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| Suchitepéquez | – | Deportivo Malacateco | 2–1 | – |
| CSD Municipal | – | Comunicaciones | 0–1 | – |

#### Second leg

Suchitepéquez won 4–1 on aggregate.
Comunicaciones won 2-2 on aggregate.

### Finals

| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |

#### Second leg

won – on aggregate.

## Aggregate table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Suchitepéquez (C, Q) | 44 | 22 | 7 | 15 | 72 | 50 | +22 | 73 | 2016–17 CONCACAF Champions League group stage |
| 2 | Antigua GFC (C, Q) | 44 | 19 | 12 | 13 | 55 | 42 | +13 | 69 | 2016–17 CONCACAF Champions League group stage |
| 3 | Comunicaciones | 44 | 20 | 9 | 15 | 58 | 47 | +11 | 69 | |
| 4 | Municipal | 44 | 18 | 13 | 13 | 57 | 48 | +9 | 67 | |
| 5 | Guastatoya | 44 | 19 | 8 | 17 | 59 | 51 | +8 | 65 | |
| 6 | Xelajú MC | 44 | 18 | 11 | 15 | 41 | 42 | −1 | 65 | |
| 7 | Marquense | 44 | 16 | 12 | 16 | 52 | 57 | −5 | 60 | |
| 8 | Petapa | 44 | 14 | 14 | 16 | 62 | 71 | −9 | 56 | |
| 9 | Mictlan | 44 | 15 | 11 | 18 | 45 | 56 | −11 | 56 | |
| 10 | Cobán Imperial | 44 | 12 | 15 | 17 | 37 | 66 | −29 | 51 | |
| 11 | Malacateco | 44 | 13 | 9 | 22 | 59 | 65 | −6 | 48 | |
| 12 | Universidad SC | 44 | 12 | 11 | 21 | 48 | 76 | −28 | 47 | |

## List of foreign players in the league

This is a list of foreign players in Clausura 2016. 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.