Liga MX Femenil is no more.

Ok not really, just the name is no more. The league rebranded this past week, going from Liga BBVA MX Femenil (its original government name) to Liga Femenil BBVA, complete with a new logo and a new format.

The new logo is meant to look like a ball, with the yellow part on the outside forming two letter Fs. The color scheme is different as well, utilizing blue, yellow, and pink instead of the pink, green, and gray scheme. The font is different as well, replacing the faux-graffiti with a more mature typeset.

The format also harkens back to the the origins of the league, with the 18 teams divided into two groups. This time they’re divided by ELO rating, with each group having three of the strongest teams, three middle-of-the-pack teams, and three teams from the remaining lot. Unlike the last time the league used groups, each team won’t play each other twice a season, they’ll play each other once a season and then pair up against one the teams in the other group on each level.

Now that I’ve had a few days to digest everything, I think there’s a lot to like about the change. The logo and branding was outdated. It really did serve as a reminder that the league started in mid 2010’s, which it clearly did but also has grown more in the past decade than most other leagues around the world. It was a great hallmark of the initial era, however this one is much more modern and befitting of a league that is of the quality of Liga MX Femenil.

Changing the name is fine as well, although I do wonder if people will still refer to it as Liga MX Femenil. Almost no one will include BBVA, the league sponsor, when talking about the league. Almost no one includes it now when referring to the league, and I don’t think dropping the “MX” will change that at all.

The group system however still has me on the fence. First and foremost I’m a believer in a single table where everyone plays each other twice a year (or once a season in Apertura/Clausura format), so I don’t like that we won’t get that. That said I don’t think using groups is the worst idea, but I don’t understand why do intergroup play against two teams from each level. To me it would make more sense to play games against the other teams on your level - the best teams playing against the best teams to sharpen their skills, the mid-tier teams playing against mid-tier teams to try and get some points to make Liguilla and figure some things out, and the rest of the teams playing one another to try and figure out the basics of their identity, give players minutes, etc. Yes the table will be imbalanced, but it’s already imbalanced when you have superteams like América and Tigres and teams that need any and all help they can get like Santos and Necaxa.

At a minimum, I think you have to give credit to the league for trying something new and different. It may not work out how anyone had hoped, and that’s ok as long any needed changes are made as soon as that becomes apparent. Time will tell, however.

Tijuana tied San Luis 1-1 in their final preseason match. Kader Hançar was the goalscorer for Xolos Femenil

Pumas played Querétaro in their final preseason tune-up. No score was reported, unfortunately.

I really enjoyed this look at Chivas’s U19 team that they published on ChivasTV and would love it if other teams followed suite. The U19s are such a valuable resource and yet for a lot of clubs they’re really underreported on.

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