2018–19 Ascenso MX season

Ascenso MX
Season	2018–19
Dates	20 July 2018 – May 2019
Champions	Apertura:; Atlético San Luis (1st title); Clausura:; Atlético San Luis (2nd title)
Promoted	Atlético San Luis
Relegated	Tampico Madero
Matches played	210
Goals scored	520 (2.48 per match)
Top goalscorer	Apertura: Roberto Nurse; Nicolás Ibáñez; (8 goals); Clausura: Nicolás Ibáñez; (11 goals)
Biggest home win	Apertura:; Atlante 4–1 UAT; (27 July 2018); Sinaloa 4–1 Tapachula; (17 September 2018); Tampico Madero 4–1 UdeG; (19 October 2018); Clausura:; Atlante 5–1 Sonora; (4 January 2019); Atlante 4–0 UdeG; (10 February 2019); Sinaloa 4–0 Oaxaca; (2 March 2019); UdeG 4–0 Zacatepec; (3 March 2019); Zacatepec 4–0 Sonora; (6 April 2019)
Biggest away win	Apertura:; Celaya 0–4 Atlético San Luis; (18 August 2018); Clausura:; Sinaloa 3–6 Atlante; (16 February 2019)
Highest scoring	Apertura:; Zacatepec 4–2 Tapachula; (18 August 2018); Clausura:; Sinaloa 3–6 Atlante; (16 February 2019)
Longest winning run	Apertura: 7 matches; Juárez ; Clausura:4 matches; Sonora; Atlético San Luis
Longest unbeaten run	Apertura: 12 matches; Juárez ; Clausura:14 matches; Atlético San Luis
Longest winless run	Apertura: 10 matches; Celaya ; Clausura: 5 matches; Juárez
Longest losing run	Apertura: 5 matches; Tampico Madero; Clausura:3 matches; Tampico Madero; Sinaloa
Highest attendance	Apertura: 11,314; Juárez 2–3 Atlante; (3 November 2018); Clausura: 19,564; Atlético San Luis 2–2 Sinaloa; (12 April 2019)
Lowest attendance	Apertura: 886; Celaya 1–2 Oaxaca; (3 November 2018); Clausura: 873; Sonora 3–2 Venados; (22 February 2019)
Total attendance	Apertura: 492,645; Clausura: 495,024
Average attendance	Apertura: 4,692; Clausura: 4,715
	← 2017–18 2019–20 → Stats are from the regular season only

The 2018–19 Ascenso MX season is a two-part competition: Apertura 2018 and Clausura 2019. Ascenso MX is the second-tier football league of Mexico. Apertura began on 20 July 2018, and Clausura began on 4 January 2019.

Changes from the previous season

Nine teams met the requirements to be promoted to the Liga MX for the 2019–2020 season: Atlético San Luis, Juárez, Oaxaca, Sinaloa, Sonora, Tampico Madero, UdeG, Zacatecas, and Zacatepec. Atlante and Celaya lost their right to be promoted from the previous season.^[2]

The relegated team of the Clausura 2019 Liga MX season had the option of paying MXN$120 million to remain in Liga MX. Of that amount, MXN$60 million would go to the Ascenso MX team that is not certified to be promoted and MXN$60 million would go to new projects determined by the Liga MX assembly. If the team that had normally relegated to the tier below did then the MXN$120 million remained in Liga MX, the team's right to be the 18th team of Liga MX will be seceded to Liga MX and the MXN$120 million must be paid by the other 17 teams of Liga MX. The vacant position in Liga MX could then be occupied by a certified Ascenso MX team or an external sport project. If the position is not occupied, Liga MX reserves all rights to do as deemed fit with it for the 2019–20 Liga MX season.^[3]^[4]^[5]

Teams in the Liga Premier de México must be certified to be promoted to Ascenso MX. If a promoted team is not certified for Ascenso MX, the relegated Ascenso MX team is required to pay MXN$15 million, of which MXN$5 million are given to the team that is not certified, and MXN$10 million are for development projects of Ascenso MX.^[3]^[4]^[5]

Team squads are limited to 12 players not developed in Mexico. A maximum of nine of those players may be in the match-day squad.^[3]^[4]^[5]

Teams are required to give youth players playing time. For the Apertura 2018 season, teams must accumulate 675 minutes with players born on or after 1997. For the Clausura 2019 season, teams must accumulate 882 minutes with players born in 1998.^[3]^[4]^[5]

The away goals rule is no longer a tiebreaker for the liguilla.^[3]^[4]^[5]

15 clubs will participate in this season:

Lobos BUAP were relegated from Liga MX, but paid the required MXN$120 million to remain in Liga MX.^[6]^[7]
Tapachula won the 2017–18 Promotion Final, but were not certified to be promoted prior to the beginning of the season. They received the payment from Lobos BUAP and remain in Ascenso MX.
Murciélagos were relegated to the Liga Premier de México.^[3]^[4]
Tepatitlán won the Liga Premier de México promotion final, but was not certified to be promoted. The right to promotion was initially seceded to the runner-up, Loros UdeC. Loros UdeC was not certified to compete in the category, therefore, only 15 teams will participate in the Ascenso MX season.^[8]
Tlaxcala lost their spot in Ascenso MX as renovations to the Estadio Tlahuicole were not completed on time.^[9]

Stadiums and Locations

Club	City	Stadium	Capacity
Atlante	Cancún, Quintana Roo	Andrés Quintana Roo	17,289
Atlético San Luis	San Luis Potosí City, San Luis Potosí	Alfonso Lastras	25,111
Celaya	Celaya, Guanajuato	Miguel Alemán Valdés	23,182
Juárez	Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua	Olímpico Benito Juárez	19,703
Oaxaca	Oaxaca City, Oaxaca	Tecnológico de Oaxaca	14,598
Sinaloa	Culiacán, Sinaloa	Banorte	20,108
Sonora	Hermosillo, Sonora	Héroe de Nacozari	18,747
Tampico Madero	Tampico / Ciudad Madero, Tamaulipas	Tamaulipas	19,667
Tapachula	Tapachula, Chiapas	Olímpico de Tapachula	18,017
UAEM	Toluca, State of Mexico	Universitario Alberto "Chivo" Córdoba	32,603
UAT	Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas	Marte R. Gómez	10,520
UdeG	Guadalajara, Jalisco	Jalisco	55,020
Venados	Mérida, Yucatán	Carlos Iturralde	15,087
Zacatecas	Zacatecas City, Zacatecas	Carlos Vega Villalba	20,068
Zacatepec	Zacatepec, Morelos	Agustín "Coruco" Díaz	24,313

2018–19 Ascenso MX season is located in Mexico

Location of teams in the 2018–19 Ascenso MX

Personnel and kits

Team	Chairman	Head Coach	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor(s)
Atlante	José Gabriel Gutiérrez Lavín	Gabriel Pereyra	Gerardo Ruíz	Kappa	Cancún, Riviera Maya, Pegaso¹, Acustik¹
Atlético San Luis	Alberto Marrero	Alfonso Sosa	Mario Abrante	Joma	Canel's, Nissin, Cemento Moctezuma, Grupo Acerero, Corona¹, Caliente¹ ³, Mobil Super², Coca-Cola², Ricon², Grupo Vencedor², MedioTiempo³, Bokados³, OneClick³
Celaya	Alan Achar	José Islas	Rodolfo Salinas	Keuka	Bachoco, Caja Popular Mexicana
Juárez	Juan Carlos Talavera	Gabriel Caballero	Leandro Carrijó	Carrara	Del Rio, S-Mart¹, Tecate¹, AutoPronto², Leche Lucerna², Hágalo², Transtelco³, UACJ³
Oaxaca	Santiago San Román	Juan Manuel Rivera (Interim)	Luis Venegas	Keuka	Ópticas América, Electrolit²
Sinaloa	José Antonio Núñez	Diego Maradona	Jesús Chávez	Charly	Coppel, Electrolit, SuKarne, Caliente, LG
Sonora	Juan Pablo Rojo	Isaác Morales	José Saavedra	Keuka	Súper del Norte, Acer, Megacable³, Coca-Cola³
Tampico Madero	Luis Miguel Pérez Amarante	Mario García	Javier Orozco	Charly	Tam, Nexum, Boing!, Electrolit², Omnibus de México², Aeroméxico³, Caliente³, Leche Marsella³
Tapachula	José Luis Orantes Costanzo	Luis Fernando Soto	Christian Bermúdez	Silver Sport	Cafetaleros de Corazón, Electrolit²
UAEM	Alfredo Barrera Baca	David Rangel	Rodrigo Bronzatti	Kappa	OMPP WOFP, Fundación UAEMéx¹, Electrolit², Centro Médico de Toluca²
UAT	Rafael Flores Alcocer	Carlos Reinoso	Arturo Ortíz	Pirma	Tecate¹, Hampton by Hilton², Tam², Massey Ferguson², Electrolit²
UdeG	José Alberto Castellanos Gutiérrez	Jorge Dávalos	Ismael Valadéz	Umbro	Electrolit, Corona¹, Coca-Cola², Canal 44³, GHIR³, Pulparidno⁴
Venados	Rodolfo Rosas Cantillo	Sergio Orduña	Aldo Polo	U-Sports	Tony Roma's, Yucatán, Montejo¹, Puerto Lindo¹, Mérida², Farmacias Unión², Coca-Cola², MedioTiempo³, Cinemex³, Carl's Jr.³, Claro Sports⁴
Zacatecas	Armando Martínez Patiño	Andrés Carevic	Roberto Nurse	Pirma	Telcel, Red Gasislo, Zacatecas ¡Deslumbrante!, Mobil Super, Office Depot, Corona¹, Caliente¹ ³, MedioTiempo³, Coca-Cola⁴
Zacatepec	Víctor Manuel Arana	Ricardo Valiño	Marco Argüelles	Yire	Akron, Itromep Omeprazol

1. ^ On the back of shirt.

2. ^ On the sleeves.

3. ^ On the shorts.

4. ^ On the socks.

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Replaced by	Date of appointment	Position in table
Pre-Apertura changes
Juárez	Tomás Campos (Interim)	End of tenure as caretaker	May 1, 2018	Gabriel Caballero	June 4, 2018^[10]	Preseason
Zacatepec	Marcelo Michel Leaño	Signed by Necaxa	May 10, 2018	Alberto Clark	May 17, 2018
UAT	Ricardo Rayas	Resigned	May 16, 2018	Juan Carlos Chávez	May 21, 2018
Atlante	Sergio Bueno	Sacked	May 25, 2018^[11]	Gabriel Pereyra	June 5, 2018^[12]
Sonora	Mario García	Sacked	May 28, 2018	Héctor Altamirano	May 29, 2018^[13]
Oaxaca	Irving Rubirosa	Sacked	May 29, 2018^[14]	Ricardo Rayas	June 5, 2018^[15]
Tapachula	Gabriel Caballero	Signed by Juárez	June 4, 2018^[16]	Irving Rubirosa	June 5, 2018^[17]
Celaya	Ricardo Valiño	Sacked	July 4, 2018^[18]	Enrique Maximiliano Meza	July 5, 2018^[19]
Apertura changes
Tapachula	Irving Rubirosa	Sacked	August 27, 2018^[20]	Diego de la Torre (Interim)	August 28, 2018^[21]	13th
Tampico Madero	Eduardo Fentanes	Sacked	September 5, 2018^[22]	Miguel de Jesús Fuentes	September 6, 2018^[23]	10th
Dorados	Paco Ramírez	Sacked	September 6, 2018^[24]	Diego Maradona	September 6, 2018^[25]	13th
Venados	Bruno Marioni	Sacked	September 15, 2018^[26]	Joel Sánchez	September 19, 2018^[27]	13th
Zacatepec	Alberto Clark	Sacked	October 2, 2018	Ricardo Valiño	October 3, 2018	10th
UAEM	Héctor Hugo Eugui	Sacked	October 23, 2018	David Rangel	October 23, 2018	8th
Pre-Clausura changes
Oaxaca	Ricardo Rayas	Sacked	November 23, 2018^[28]	Álex Diego	December 3, 2018^[29]	Preseason
Venados	Joel Sánchez	Sacked	November 28, 2018^[30]	Sergio Orduña	December 1, 2018^[31]
Tapachula	Diego de la Torre (Interim)	End of tenure as caretaker	December 3, 2018	Luis Fernando Soto	December 3, 2018^[32]
Sonora	Héctor Altamirano	Resigned	December 13, 2018^[33]	Isaác Morales	December 17, 2018^[34]
Celaya	Enrique Maximiliano Meza	Sacked	December 5, 2018^[35]	José Islas	December 27, 2018^[36]
Clausura changes
UAT	Juan Carlos Chávez	Resigned	February 9, 2019^[37]	Carlos Reinoso	February 13, 2019^[38]	11th
Tampico Madero	Miguel de Jesús Fuentes	Sacked	March 5, 2019^[39]	Mario García Covalles	March 6, 2019^[40]	15th
Oaxaca	Álex Diego	Sacked	April 8, 2019^[41]	Juan Manuel Rivera (interim)	April 8, 2019^[42]	6th

Apertura 2018

Apertura 2018 was the 47th edition of Ascenso MX. The league season began on 20 July 2018 and ended on 11 November 2018. Cafetaleros de Tapachula defended their inaugural league title.

Regular season

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Juárez	14	11	2	1	26	10	+16	35	Advance to liguilla^{[lower-alpha 1]}
2	Zacatecas	14	10	2	2	27	15	+12	32
3	Atlante	14	10	0	4	27	19	+8	30
4	Sonora	14	7	4	3	21	18	+3	25
5	Atlético San Luis (C)	14	6	5	3	17	10	+7	23
6	Oaxaca	14	6	4	4	17	13	+4	22
7	Sinaloa	14	6	4	4	16	13	+3	22
8	UdeG	14	5	3	6	22	20	+2	18
9	UAEM	14	4	5	5	9	10	−1	17
10	UAT	14	4	3	7	14	19	−5	15
11	Zacatepec	14	3	4	7	15	20	−5	13
12	Tapachula	14	3	3	8	18	28	−10	12
13	Tampico Madero	14	2	3	9	11	20	−9	9
14	Venados	14	2	3	9	12	23	−11	9	Team is last in the relegation table.
15	Celaya	14	1	5	8	11	25	−14	8

Source: Ascenso MX
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Number of goals scored; 4) Number of goals scored away; 5) Head-to-head results between tied teams; 6) Highest relegation coefficient; 7) Fair Play points
(C) Champions
Notes:

↑ The first eight ranked teams qualify for the liguilla.

Positions by round

	Leader and qualification to playoffs
	Qualification to playoffs
	Last place in table

Team ╲ Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15
Team ╲ Round
Juárez	4	1	1	1	3	2	2	1	2†	2	1	1	1	1	1
Zacatecas	8	4	5†	7	5	4	3	3	3	3	3	3	2	2	2
Atlante	12	5	4	3	1	1	1	2	1	1	2	2	3†	3	3
Sonora	2	2	2	2	4	5	4	4	4	4	4†	5	4	4	4
Atlético San Luis	9	3	3	4	2	3†	5	6	6	5	5	4	5	5	5
Oaxaca	13	6	8	6	9	9	8	9	7	7	6	6	6	7	6†
Sinaloa	6	11†	15	15	12	12	13	10	12	9	8	7	7	6	7
UdeG	10†	14	13	14	15	15	12	11	10	11	10	11	8	9	8
UAEM	1	9	6	5	7	7	7	5	5	6†	7	8	9	8	9
UAT	3	10	7	10	8	8	9	7	8	8	9	10†	11	11	10
Zacatepec	11	7	11	9	6	6	6	8†	9	10	11	9	10	10	11
Tapachula	15	13	12	13	13	13	15	15	15	13	12	13	12	12†	12
Tampico Madero	14	15	10	11†	11	10	10	12	13	14	14	14	14	14	13
Venados	5	8	9	8	10†	11	11	13	11	12	13	12	13	13	14
Celaya	7	12	14	12	14	14	14†	14	14	15	15	15	15	15	15

Updated to match(es) played on 11 November 2018. Source: Ascenso MX, League calendar
Notes: † indicates team rested that round

Results

Home \ Away	ATE	ATS	CEL	JUA	OAX	SIN	SON	TAM	TAP	UDG	UAM	UAT	VEN	ZAS	ZAC
Atlante		2–3	-	-	2–1	1–0	-	2–1	-	-	1–0	4–1	-	-	-
Atlético San Luis	-		-	-	-	-	-	-	3–1	0–0	1–2	1–0	1–0	0–0	0–0
Celaya	1–0	0–4		0–2	1–2	1–1	2–3	0–1	-	-	-	-	-	-	1–1
Juárez	2–3	1–0	-		1–0	3–0	3–0	0–0	-	-	-	-	-	-	2–1
Oaxaca	-	1–0	-	-		1–0	-	2–0	1–1	-	2–0	3–2	-	-	-
Sinaloa		1–1						2–1	4–1	2–0	0–1	0–0
Sonora	2–1	1–1			2–1	1–1		2–1			0–0				2–0
Tampico Madero		1–2							0–2	4–1	0–0	1–2		0–3
Tapachula	1–2		2–0	2–3			2–2			0–3			3–2	0–1
U. de G.	2–3		4–1	1–2	1–1		2–3						3–0	3–2
UAEM			1–1	0–1					3–1	0–0		2–1	0–0	0–1	0–1
UAT			1–1	1–2			1–0		0–0	2–1			0–1	1–2	2–1
Venados	1–2		1–1	1–3	1–1	0–1	1–2	1–0
Zacatecas	3–1		2–1	1–1	2–1	2–3	2–1						3–1
Zacatepec	1–3				0–0	0–1		1–1	4–2	0–1			3–2	2–3

Updated to match(es) played on 11 November 2018. Source: Ascenso MX, League calendar
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Regular Season statistics

Scoring

First goal of the season:
Héctor Arrigo for UAEM against Tapachula (20 July 2018)^[43]

Top goalscorers

Players sorted first by goals scored, then by last name.

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Nicolás Ibáñez	Atlético San Luis	8
1	Roberto Nurse	Zacatecas	8
2	Vinicio Angulo	Sinaloa	7
	Lizandro Echeverría	Atlante
	Fernando Fernández	Atlante
	Guillermo Martínez	Zacatecas
	Luciano Nequecaur	Oaxaca
	Miguel Ángel Vallejo	Sonora
9	Leandro Carrijó	Juárez	6
9	Gabriel Hachen	Juárez	6

Source: Ascenso MX

Top assists

Players sorted first by assists, then by last name.

Rank	Player	Club	Assists
1	Francisco Rivera	Zacatecas	5
2	Diego Diellos	Tapachula	4
	Mauro Fernández	Juárez
	Gabriel Hachen	Juárez
	Julio Nava	Sinaloa
	José Ramírez	Zacatecas
	David Salazar	Atlante
8	Daniel Amador	U. de G.	3
	Lizandro Echeverría	Atlante
	Sergio Vergara	Zacatecas

Source: Ascenso MX Twitter Profile

Hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date	Round	Reference
Vinicio Angulo	Sinaloa	Tapachula	4–1 (H)	17 September 2018	8

(H) – Home ; (A) – Away

Attendance

Per team

Pos	Team	Total	High	Low	Average	Change
1	Atlético San Luis	63,185	11,271	5,610	9,026	−15.0%^†
2	Juárez	60,612	11,314	6,952	8,659	+54.4%^†
3	Sinaloa	44,748	10,133	3,243	7,458	+47.2%^†
4	U. de G.	38,147	10,114	4,011	5,450	−17.4%^†
5	Tampico Madero	32,518	10,200	3,153	5,420	−32.0%^†
6	Zacatecas	35,333	10,124	3,557	5,048	+32.0%^†
7	Sonora	29,220	6,205	2,859	4,174	−28.8%^†
8	Venados	27,240	9,754	1,876	3,891	+0.3%^†
9	Tapachula	26,645	10,127	1,322	3,806	−78.5%^†
10	Zacatepec	28,677	8,551	1,612	3,585	+14.1%^†
11	UAT	28,344	4,883	1,297	3,543	+126.8%^†
12	Atlante	20,526	4,907	2,126	3,421	−7.8%^†
13	Oaxaca	17,103	8,220	1,071	2,851	−51.1%^†
14	Celaya	21,186	6,920	886	2,648	−29.5%^†
15	UAEM	19,161	4,124	1,154	2,395	+11.2%^†
	League total	492,645	11,314	886	4,692	−17.6%^†

Updated to games played on 11 November 2018
Source: Ascenso MX
Notes:
Only regular season listed

Highest and lowest

Highest attendance					Lowest attendance
Week	Home	Score	Away	Attendance	Home	Score	Away	Attendance
1	Atlético San Luis	0–0	Zacatecas	11,271	UAEM	3–1	Tapachula	1,154
2	Tampico Madero	1–2	Atlético San Luis	7,461	Atlante	4–1	UAT	2,126
3	Atlético San Luis	1–0	Venados	10,245	UAEM	0–0	UdeG	1,385
4	Tapachula	1–2	Atlante	10,127	Oaxaca	3–2	UAT	1,071
5	Juárez	0–0	Tampico Madero	9,363	Atlante	2–1	Oaxaca	2,210
6	Tampico Madero	0–0	UAEM	5,269	Oaxaca	1–1	Tapachula	1,507
7	Juárez	1–0	Atlético San Luis	7,822	Zacatepec	0–0	Oaxaca	2,392
8	Tampico Madero	1–2	UAT	10,200	Celaya	0–2	Juárez	1,231
9	Oaxaca	1–0	Sinaloa	8,220	UAEM	1–1	Celaya	2,131
10	Atlético San Luis	1–0	UAT	10,124	Venados	1–2	Atlante	3,093
11	Zacatepec	0–1	Sinaloa	8,551	Oaxaca	2–0	Tampico Madero	1,457
12	Zacatecas	2–3	Sinaloa	10,124	Celaya	1–0	Atlante	1,300
13	Sinaloa	2–1	Tampico Madero	8,223	UAT	1–2	Juárez	1,297
14	Juárez	2–3	Atlante	11,314	Celaya	1–2	Oaxaca	886
15	U. de G.	4–1	Celaya	10,114	Zacatepec	1–1	Tampico Madero	1,612

Source: Ascenso MX

Liguilla (Playoffs)

The eight best teams play two games against each other on a home-and-away basis. The higher seeded teams play on their home field during the second leg. The winner of each match up is determined by aggregate score. In the quarterfinals and semifinals, if the two teams are tied on aggregate the higher seeded team advances. In the final, if the two teams are tied after both legs, the match goes to extra time and, if necessary, a penalty shoot-out.

Quarter-finals					Semi-finals					Final

3	Atlante (s)	1	0	1

6	Oaxaca	1	0	1
					3	Atlante	0	2	2

					5	Atlético San Luis	3	0	3
4	Sonora	0	1	1

5	Atlético San Luis	0	3	3
										5	Atlético San Luis	0	4	4

										7	Sinaloa	1	2	3
1	Juárez (s)	1	1	2

8	U. de G.	1	1	2
					1	Juárez	0	1	1

					7	Sinaloa	2	0	2
2	Zacatecas	0	0	0

7	Sinaloa	0	1	1

Quarter-finals

The first legs were played on 14 and 15 November, and the second legs were played on 17 and 18 November 2018.

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Juárez	2–2 (s)	U. de G.	1–1	1–1
Zacatecas	0–1	Sinaloa	0–0	0–1
Atlante	1–1 (s)	Oaxaca	1–1	0–0
Sonora	1–3	Atlético San Luis	0–0	1–3

All times are UTC−6 except for matches in Cancún, Ciudad Juárez, Culiacán, and Hermosillo.

First leg

14 November 2018	U. de G.	1–1	Juárez	Guadalajara
19:00	Baltazar 49'	Report Referee Report	Carrijó 74'	Stadium: Estadio Jalisco Attendance: 13,025 Referee: Juan Andrés Esquivel González

14 November 2018	Sinaloa	0–0	Zacatecas	Culiacán
20:00 UTC−7		Report Referee Report		Stadium: Estadio Banorte Attendance: 10,953 Referee: Edgar Ulises Rangel Araujo

15 November 2018	Oaxaca	1–1	Atlante	Oaxaca
19:00	Santos 1'	Report Referee Report	Reyes 38'	Stadium: Estadio Tecnológico de Oaxaca Attendance: 3,111 Referee: Brian Omar González Veles

15 November 2018	Atlético San Luis	0–0	Sonora	San Luis Potosí
21:00		Report Referee Report		Stadium: Estadio Alfonso Lastras Attendance: 9,606 Referee: Mario Humberto Vargas Mata

Second leg

17 November 2018	Zacatecas	0–1 (0–1 agg.)	Sinaloa	Zacatecas
16:00		Report Referee report	Angulo 65'	Stadium: Estadio Carlos Vega Villalba Attendance: 9,971 Referee: Óscar Mejía García
Note: Sinaloa won 1–0 on aggregate.

17 November 2018	Juárez	1–1 (2–2 agg.)	U. de G.	Ciudad Juárez
20:00 UTC−7	Carrijó 70'	Report Referee report	Télles 54'	Stadium: Estadio Olímpico Benito Juárez Attendance: 15,596 Referee: Eduardo Galván Basulto
Note: Tied 2–2 on aggregate. Juárez advanced as the higher seed in the classification table.

18 November 2018	Atlante	0–0 (1–1 agg.)	Oaxaca	Cancún
20:00 UTC−5		Report Referee report		Stadium: Estadio Andrés Quintana Roo Attendance: 6,016 Referee: Jonathan Hernández Juárez
Note: Tied 1–1 on aggregate. Atlante advanced as the higher seed in the classification table.

18 November 2018	Sonora	1–3 (1–3 agg.)	Atlético San Luis	Hermosillo
20:00 UTC−7	Vallejo 78'	Report Referee report	I. González 5' Ibáñez 34' Pineda 88' (pen.)	Stadium: Estadio Héroe de Nacozari Attendance: 7,528 Referee: Alejandro Funk Villafañe

Semi-finals

The first legs were played on 21 and 22 November, and the second legs were played on 24 and 25 November 2018.

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Juárez	1–2	Sinaloa	0–2	1–0
Atlante	2–3	Atlético San Luis	0–3	2–0

First leg

21 November 2018	Sinaloa	2–0	Juárez	Culiacán
20:00 UTC−7	Córdoba 12' Sandoval 26'	Report Referee report		Stadium: Estadio Banorte Attendance: 15,333 Referee: Mario Humberto Vargas Mata

22 November 2018	Atlético San Luis	3–0	Atlante	San Luis Potosí
20:00	Bilbao 3' I. González 27' Sánchez 73'	Report Referee report		Stadium: Estadio Alfonso Lastras Attendance: 19,010 Referee: Edgar Ulises Rangel Araujo

Second leg

24 November 2018	Juárez	1–0 (1–2 agg.)	Sinaloa	Ciudad Juárez
18:00 UTC−7	Carrijó 38' (pen.)	Report Referee Report		Stadium: Estadio Olímpico Benito Juárez Attendance: 19,703 Referee: Jonathan Hernández Juárez

25 November 2018	Atlante	2–0 (2–3 agg.)	Atlético San Luis	Cancún
20:00 UTC−5	Vélez 29' Ruíz 46' (pen.)	Report Referee Report		Stadium: Estadio Andrés Quintana Roo Attendance: 7,027 Referee: Eduardo Galván Basulto

Final

The first leg was played on 29 November, and the second leg was played on 2 December 2018.

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Atlético San Luis	4–3	Sinaloa	0–1	4–2

First leg

29 November 2018	Sinaloa	1–0	Atlético San Luis	Culiacán
20:00 UTC−7	Rivera 74'	Report Referee Report		Stadium: Estadio Banorte Attendance: 19,333 Referee: Mario Humberto Vargas Mata

Second leg

2 December 2018	Atlético San Luis	4–2 (a.e.t.) (4–3 agg.)	Sinaloa	San Luis Potosí
20:30	Ibáñez 45+2' Barbosa 65' (o.g.) I. González 75' Torres 103'	Report Referee Report	Córdoba 32' Rivera 56'	Stadium: Estadio Alfonso Lastras Attendance: 25,624 Referee: Edgar Ulises Rangel Araujo

Apertura 2018 winners:
Atlético San Luis 1st title

Clausura 2019

The Clausura 2019 season is the 48th season of Ascenso MX. The season began on 4 January 2019. The defending champions are Atlético San Luis, having won their first title.