1996–97 Primera División A season

Ascenso MX
Season	1996–97
Champions	Apertura: Tigres UANL (1st Title) ; Clausura: Tigres UANL (2nd title)
Promoted	Tigres UANL
Relegated	Atletico San Francisco
Top goalscorer	Invierno: Nilson Esidio Munoz (12) ; Carlos Pavón, Ángel Lemus (12)
	← 1995–96 1997–98 →

Primera División A (Méxican First A Division) is a Mexican football tournament. This was the first short tournament played in any of the divisions in Mexico composed of Invieno 1996 and Verano 1997. Tigres UANL were able to gain direct promotion to Primera Division for the 1997-98 season after winning both short tournaments in 1996-97.

Changes for the 1996–97 season

Tigres UANL were demoted from Liga MX
Tigrillos UANL were promoted from Segunda División.
Tigres UANL were promoted to Liga MX
Gallos Blancos de Hermosillo moved to Pachuca and became Atlético Hidalgo.^[1]
Real Sociedad de Zacatecas new team.^[2]

Stadiums

Location of teams in the 1996–97 Primera División A

City	Stadium	Capacity
Acapulco de Juárez	Unidad Deportiva Acapulco	13,000
Pachuca	Hidalgo	30.000
Cruz Azul Hidalgo	10 de Diciembre	10.000
Ciudad Victoria	Estadio Marte R. Gómez	20.000
Irapuato	Sergio León Chávez	26.000
La Piedad	Juan N. López	20.000
Cuernavaca	Centenario	15.800
San Luis Potosí	Plan de San Luis	18.000
Zacatecas	Francisco Villa	18.000
San Francisco del Rincón	San Francisco	8.000
Saltillo	Francisco I. Madero	10.000
Tampico-Ciudad Madero	Tamaulipas	30.000
Tijuana	Cerro Colorado	12.000
San Nicolás de los Garza	Universitario	40.000
Mérida	Carlos Iturralde	24,000
Zacatepec	Agustín Díaz	18.000

Invierno 1996

This year Atlético Hidalgo joined the league along with Tigres UANL who had been relegated. Tigres UANL would go on to be the tournament's champion.

Group league tables

Group 1

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	UANL	16	11	2	3	29	13	+16	35	Qualifies for the Liguilla
2	UAT	16	7	5	4	21	21	0	26
3	RS Zacatecas	16	6	7	3	24	17	+7	25
4	San Luis	16	7	3	6	26	31	−5	24
5	Tigrillos	16	4	4	8	21	21	0	16

Source: FMF
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd goal difference; 3rd goals scored; 4th head-to-head; 5th away goals scored; 6th draw

Group 2

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Tampico Madero	16	7	4	5	16	18	−2	25	Qualifies for the Liguilla
2	La Piedad	16	5	5	6	20	22	−2	20	Qualifies for the Liguilla
3	Atlético Yucatán	16	5	5	6	13	16	−3	20
4	Inter de Tijuana	16	4	3	9	16	26	−10	15

Source: FMF
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd goal difference; 3rd goals scored; 4th head-to-head; 5th away goals scored; 6th draw

Group 3

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Marte	16	7	5	4	24	17	+7	26	Qualifies for the Liguilla
2	Atlético Hidalgo	16	7	4	5	21	15	+6	25	Qualifies for the Liguilla
3	Acapulco	16	4	3	9	17	27	−10	15
4	Atlético San Francisco	16	4	2	10	20	25	−5	14	Last on the relegation table

Source: FMF
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd goal difference; 3rd goals scored; 4th head-to-head; 5th away goals scored; 6th draw

Group 4

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Irapuato	16	8	3	5	16	13	+3	27	Qualifies for the Liguilla
2	Saltillo	16	6	6	4	20	15	+5	24	Qualifies for the Liguilla
3	Cruz Azul Hidalgo	16	5	4	7	21	20	+1	19
4	Zacatepec	16	4	5	7	14	22	−8	17

Source: FMF
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd goal difference; 3rd goals scored; 4th head-to-head; 5th away goals scored; 6th draw

General league table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	UANL	16	11	2	3	29	13	+16	35	Qualifies for the Liguilla
2	Irapuato	16	8	3	5	16	13	+3	27
3	Marte	16	7	5	4	24	17	+7	26
4	UAT	16	7	5	4	21	21	0	26
5	RS Zacatecas	16	6	7	3	24	17	+7	25
6	Atlético Hidalgo	16	7	4	5	21	15	+6	25
7	Tampico Madero	16	7	4	5	16	18	−2	25
8	Saltillo	16	6	6	4	20	15	+5	24
9	San Luis	16	7	3	6	26	31	−5	24
10	La Piedad	16	5	5	6	20	22	−2	20	Qualifies for the Liguilla
11	Atlético Yucatán	16	5	5	6	13	16	−3	20
12	Cruz Azul Hidalgo	16	5	4	7	21	20	+1	19
13	Zacatepec	16	4	5	7	14	22	−8	17
14	Tigrillos	16	4	4	8	21	21	0	16
15	Acapulco	16	4	3	9	17	27	−10	15
16	Inter de Tijuana	16	4	3	9	16	26	−10	15
17	Atlético San Francisco	16	4	2	10	20	25	−5	14	Last on the relegation table

Source: FMF
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd goal difference; 3rd goals scored; 4th head-to-head; 5th away goals scored; 6th draw

Results

Home \ Away	ACA	ATH	CRH	IRA	LAP	MAR	SNL	RSZ	SAL	SFR	TAM	TJS	UNL	TIG	UAT	YUC	ZAC
Acapulco		1–1	2–2					1–4	1–1	3–2			1–2	1–0			2–0
Atlético Hidalgo			4–1				4–1	0–1	1–1	1–0			0–0	2–0	1–2		4–1
Cruz Azul Hidalgo				3–1	3–0	0–1	4–2				2–1		1–2			2–0
Irapuato	1–0	0–1						2–0	1–0	2–1		1–0		2–1			0–1
La Piedad	4–0	0–1		1–0				1–1	1–1			3–2		1–1	4–1
Marte	1–0	5–1		2–2	3–1						2–0	3–1			1–1	1–2
San Luis	4–2			0–0	2–1	1–0					2–2	1–0				4–1
RS Zacatecas			2–1			1–1	1–1			3–0	1–3		1–1		0–0	1–1	3–0
Saltillo			1–0			0–0	5–0	3–2		1–0			0–1	2–1	1–1		1–2
San Francisco			1–0		1–1	3–0	4–6				4–1		1–2			0–2	0–0
Tampico Madero	1–0	1–0		1–2	1–0				0–0			2–2			1–0	1–0
Tijuana	1–0	1–0	0–0					1–2	2–3	2–1				1–1			1–0
Tigres				1–0	4–0	2–3	1–0				2–0	5–1				2–0
Tigrillos			1–1			1–0	4–1	1–1		1–2	1–1		1–2		5–1		2–1
UAT	3–2		2–1	1–1			2–0			1–0		2–0	1–0				3–4
Yucatán	0–1	0–0		0–1	1–1				2–0			2–1		1–0	0–0
Zacatepec			0–0		0–1	1–1	0–1				0–0		3–2			1–1

Updated to match(es) played on 24 November 1997. Source: Memoria Futbolera (subscription required)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Liguilla

Repechaje

Home	Team	Score	Visitor	Global
1	C.F. La Piedad	2-1	Real Sociedad
2	Real Sociedad	6-1	C.F. La Piedad	7-3

Quarterfinals					Semifinals					Finals

1	Tigres	1	1	2

8	Saltillo	1	1	2
					1	Tigres	2	8	10

					4	Tampico Madero	1	2	1
5	Tampico Madero	3	1	5

4	Irapuato FC	0	0	2
										1	Tigres	0	3	3

										2	Atlético Hidalgo	1	0	1
3	Atlético Hidalgo	0	1	3

6	Marte	0	0	1
					2	Atlético Hidalgo	2	3	1

					2	Real Sociedad	0	1	7
7	Real Sociedad	2	0	1

2	Correcaminos	0	1	0

Invierno 1996 winner:
Tigres 1st title

Top scorers

Scorer	Goals	Team
Nilson Esidio Munoz	12	Tigres
Ángel Lemus	10	Irapuato
Juan Zandoná	9	Real Sociedad de Zacatecas

Last updated: May 3, 2008
Source: FMF Last updated: January 20, 2012
Source: Senorgol^{[permanent dead link]}

Verano 1997

Tigres UANL would go on to be the tournament's champion.

Group league tables

Group 1

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	UAT	16	10	4	2	28	16	+12	34	Qualifies for the Liguilla
2	UANL	16	9	6	1	42	20	+22	33
3	Tigrillos	16	7	5	4	21	16	+5	26
4	RS Zacatecas	16	4	5	7	27	25	+2	17
5	San Luis	16	3	8	5	25	32	−7	17

Source: FMF
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd goal difference; 3rd goals scored; 4th head-to-head; 5th away goals scored; 6th draw

Group 2

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Atlético Yucatán	16	6	4	6	19	21	−2	22	Qualifies for the Liguilla
2	Tampico Madero	16	6	2	8	24	29	−5	20	Qualifies for the Liguilla
3	La Piedad	16	3	6	7	26	34	−8	15
4	Inter de Tijuana	16	2	4	10	13	32	−19	10	Last on the relegation table

Source: FMF
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd goal difference; 3rd goals scored; 4th head-to-head; 5th away goals scored; 6th draw

Group 3

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Atlético Hidalgo	16	9	4	3	33	27	+6	31	Qualifies for the Liguilla
2	Atlético San Francisco	16	4	5	7	26	30	−4	17	Qualifies for the Liguilla
3	Acapulco	16	3	6	7	17	33	−16	15
4	Marte	16	2	6	8	23	28	−5	12

Source: FMF
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd goal difference; 3rd goals scored; 4th head-to-head; 5th away goals scored; 6th draw

Group 4

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Cruz Azul Hidalgo	16	8	3	5	29	20	+9	27	Qualifies for the Liguilla
2	Saltillo	16	7	5	4	24	19	+5	26
3	Zacatepec	16	7	3	6	21	23	−2	24
4	Irapuato	16	4	8	4	26	19	+7	20

Source: FMF
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd goal difference; 3rd goals scored; 4th head-to-head; 5th away goals scored; 6th draw

General league table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	UAT	16	10	4	2	28	16	+12	34	Qualifies for the Liguilla
2	UANL	16	9	6	1	42	20	+22	33
3	Atlético Hidalgo	16	9	4	3	33	27	+6	31
4	Cruz Azul Hidalgo	16	8	3	5	29	20	+9	27
5	Saltillo	16	7	5	4	24	19	+5	26
6	Tigrillos	16	7	5	4	21	16	+5	26
7	Zacatepec	16	7	3	6	21	23	−2	24
8	Atlético Yucatán	16	6	4	6	19	21	−2	22
9	Irapuato	16	4	8	4	26	19	+7	20
10	Tampico Madero	16	6	2	8	24	29	−5	20	Qualifies for the Liguilla
11	RS Zacatecas	16	4	5	7	27	25	+2	17
12	Atlético San Francisco	16	4	5	7	26	30	−4	17	Qualifies for the Liguilla
13	San Luis	16	3	8	5	25	32	−7	17
14	La Piedad	16	3	6	7	26	34	−8	15
15	Acapulco	16	3	6	7	17	33	−16	15
16	Marte	16	2	6	8	23	28	−5	12
17	Inter de Tijuana	16	2	4	10	13	32	−19	10	Last on the relegation table

Source: FMF
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd goal difference; 3rd goals scored; 4th head-to-head; 5th away goals scored; 6th draw

Results

Home \ Away	ACA	ATH	CRH	IRA	LAP	MAR	SNL	RSZ	SAL	SFR	TAM	TJS	UNL	TIG	UAT	YUC	ZAC
Acapulco				0–0	4–3	2–2	3–2				0–2	4–2			0–1	0–0
Atlético Hidalgo	2–2			2–1	1–3	4–2					3–2	2–0				4–1
Cruz Azul Hidalgo	6–0	2–3						1–1	0–2	2–1		3–0		2–1	2–1		3–1
Irapuato			2–0		6–0	2–2	4–2				3–1		1–1		0–0	2–3
La Piedad			3–3			1–1	1–1			1–1	4–1		2–2			0–1	0–1
Marte			2–3				5–1	2–4	1–1	2–3			0–1	1–1			1–2
San Luis		5–1	1–0					2–2	2–2	0–0			2–4	2–1	1–1		1–1
RS Zacatecas	3–0	1–1		1–1	1–2				0–0			3–1		0–2
Saltillo	2–0	1–2		1–1	4–2						1–0	3–0				2–1
San Francisco	3–1	2–3		1–1				3–2	1–1			4–0		0–1	2–3
Tampico Madero			1–0			0–0	4–0	1–0		5–3			2–2	0–2			2–1
Tijuana				1–1	1–1	0–1	1–1				4–1		1–2		0–2	1–0
Tigres	4–0	2–2	1–1					3–2	6–1	4–0				1–1	3–1		4–1
Tigrillos	1–1	0–1		2–1	2–1				2–1			1–1				2–1
Correcaminos UAT		2–2			4–2	2–1		2–1	1–0		4–1			0–0		1–0
Yucatán			0–1			1–0	2–2	3–2		1–1	2–1		3–2				0–0
Zacatepec	0–0	1–0		2–0				1–4	0–2	3–1		3–0		3–2	1–3

Updated to match(es) played on 4 May 1998. Source: Memoria Futbolera (subscription required)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Liguilla

Repechaje

First Leg

May 8, 1997

15:00

A.S Francisco	2–1	U.N.L.

Estadio Domingo Velázquez
San Francisco del Rincón, Guanajuato

Attendance: 8,000

Second leg

May 10, 1997

17:00

Tigrillos	4–1	A.S Francisco

Estadio Universitario

First Leg

May 8, 1997

21:00

Tampico-Madero	1–1	Zacatepec

Estadio Tamaulipas

Second leg

May 11, 1997

15:00

Zacatepec	3–1	Tampico-Madero

Estadio Agustín Coruco Díaz

Liguilla

Quarterfinals					Semifinals					Finals

1	Tigres	2	3	5

8	Zacatepec	1	0	1
					1	Tigres	0	3	3

					4	Cruz Azul Hidalgo	1	0	1
5	Cruz Azul Hidalgo	1	0	1

4	Saltillo	0	1	1
										1	Tigres	0	4	4

										2	Correcaminos	1	0	1
3	Atlético Hidalgo	1	3	4

6	Tigrillos	4	1	5
					2	Correcaminos	0	6	6

					6	Tigrillos	0	2	2
7	Correcaminos	1	2	3

2	A. Yucatán	1	1	2

Verano 1997 winner:
Tigres 2nd title

Top scorers

Scorer	Goals	Team
Carlos Pavón	12	Correcaminos
Ángel Lemus	12	Irapuato

Last updated: May 3, 2008
Source: FMF Last updated: January 20, 2012
Source: Senorgol^{[permanent dead link]}

Relegation table

Pos.	Team	Games	Points	PPG
14.	Acapulco	90	79	0.8778
15.	Atlético Yucatán	60	52	0.8667
16.	Marte	90	78	0.8667
17.	Tijuana	90	78	0.8667

References

^ Osornio, Gerardo (November 8, 2007). "Un Atlético con historia". El Fanático (in Spanish). Retrieved September 29, 2018.
^ "Real Sociedad de Zacatecas – Revista Fútbol Creativo #5" (in Spanish). January 10, 2015. Retrieved September 29, 2018.

[1] Osornio, Gerardo (November 8, 2007). "Un Atlético con historia". El Fanático (in Spanish). Retrieved September 29, 2018.

[2] "Real Sociedad de Zacatecas – Revista Fútbol Creativo #5" (in Spanish). January 10, 2015. Retrieved September 29, 2018.

[1]

[2]

v t e Liga de Expansión MX seasons
Primera A	1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 Clausura 2008 2008–09 Clausura 2009
Liga de Ascenso	2009–10 Bicentenario 2010 2010–11 2011–12
Ascenso MX	2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20
Liga de Expansión MX	2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25