The InterLiga was a football competition from 2004 to 2010 between Mexican clubs to determine qualifying spots for that country in South America's premier club competition, the

Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as the Copa Libertadores de América ( pt, Copa Libertadores da América), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in S ...

. Prior to the 2004 Copa Libertadores, Mexican clubs competed in two levels of competition—first against one another, and then against clubs from

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in ...

—for spots in the main competition. In 2004, Mexico and Venezuela were granted automatic entries to the Copa Libertadores for the first time. The

Mexican Football Federation The Mexican Football Federation (; abbreviated as Femexfut or FMF) is the governing body of association football in Mexico. It adm the Mexico national team, the Liga MX and all affiliated amateur sectors, and controls promoting, organizing, dire ...

decided to create a qualifying league for its two automatic spots, and the first InterLiga was held that January, during the off-season of the Mexican Primera División. The eight qualifying teams were selected based on their combined results in the ''Apertura'' and ''Clausura'' phases of the Primera División, and divided into two groups of four, with even-numbered seeds in one group and odd-numbered seeds in the other. Each group was conducted as a single round-robin league. In order to assure a more neutral environment, and to take advantage of a large and relatively well-off pool of Mexican football fans, all matches were held in the United States in

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

and

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

, two states with large Mexican populations. The winners of each group then played in a final for one of the two Libertadores berths. The loser of the final had a second chance to earn the other berth, as it would compete in a play-in game against the winner of a match against the two second-place finishers from each group. The actual league champions are currently excluded from the InterLiga as they qualify for the

CONCACAF Champions League The CONCACAF Champions League, known officially as the Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League for sponsorship reasons, is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONCACAF. The tournament is contested by clubs from North Amer ...

, which is contested during the same time period as the Libertadores, and whose prize is a spot in the

FIFA Club World Cup The FIFA Club World Cup is an international men's association football competition organised by the ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The competition was first contested in 200 ...

. Mexican teams would not be eligible for the latter competition if they won the Libertadores because Mexico belongs to CONCACAF.

Tournaments

{, class="wikitable" !Year!!Final Venue!!Champion!!Runner-up , - bgcolor="ddeeff" ,

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

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Carson Carson may refer to: People *Carson (surname), people with the surname *Carson (given name), people with the given name Places ;In the United States *Carson, California, a city *Carson Township, Fayette County, Illinois *Carson, Iowa, a city *Ca ...

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Santos Laguna Club Santos Laguna S.A. de C.V. (), commonly known as Santos Laguna or Santos, is a Mexican professional football club that competes in the Liga MX. It is located in northern Mexico and represents the urban area of La Comarca Lagunera, made u ...

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2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris (dwarf planet), Er ...

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Houston Houston (; ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in Texas, the Southern United States#Major cities, most populous city in the Southern United States, the List of United States cities by population, fourth-most pop ...

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Monterrey Monterrey ( , ) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern state of Nuevo León, Mexico, and the third largest city in Mexico behind Guadalajara and Mexico City. Located at the foothills of the Sierra Madre Oriental, the city is ancho ...

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2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto ...

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2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing ...

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Atlas An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of maps of Earth or of a region of Earth. Atlases have traditionally been bound into book form, but today many atlases are in multimedia formats. In addition to presenting geograp ...

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2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

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Pachuca Pachuca (; ote, Nju̱nthe), formally known as Pachuca de Soto, is the capital and largest city of the Mexican state of Hidalgo. It is located in the south-central part of the state. Pachuca de Soto is also the name of the municipality of whi ...

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2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

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, , América Note: After both finals have been played, both winners qualify to Copa Libertadores, but the winner with the best performance in the group stage becomes champion. Since 2005, when Mexico gained a third spot (dubbed "Mexico 3") to play in the pre-group stage of the Copa Libertadores, the runner-up has been "Mexico 3". "Mexico 1", who qualifies directly to the group stage of the Copa Libertadores, has been chosen in a match between the two champions of the year preceding the previous, independent from the InterLiga. "Mexico 2" is the InterLiga champion and also qualifies directly to the group stage.

Participations

* América: 6 (2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010) * UANL: 6 (2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010) *

Morelia Morelia (; from 1545 to 1828 known as Valladolid) is a city and municipal seat of the municipality of Morelia in the north-central part of the state of Michoacán in central Mexico. The city is in the Guayangareo Valley and is the capital and larg ...

: 5 (2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009) * Guadalajara: 4 (2004, 2005, 2006, 2009) *

: 4 (2006, 2007, 2008,2010) *

Atlante Atlante or Atlantes may refer to: * Atlas (architecture), a column in the shape of a man * Atlante San Alejo, a Salvadoran football club * Atlante F.C., a Mexican football club * Atlante (private equity fund) * ''Atlante''-class tugboat * Atlante ...

: 3 (2004,2005,2010) *

: 3 (2004, 2008, 2009) *

Chiapas Chiapas (; Tzotzil and Tzeltal: ''Chyapas'' ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Chiapas ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Chiapas), is one of the states that make up the 32 federal entities of Mexico. It comprises 124 municipalities ...

: 3 (2005, 2007, 2010) *

Cruz Azul Club de Futbol Cruz Azul or simply Cruz Azul () is a professional football club based in Mexico City, Mexico. It competes in the Liga MX, the top division of Mexican football. Because "azul" means "blue" in Spanish, the club has traditionally ...

: 3 (2006, 2007, 2008) *

Estudiantes Tecos Tecos Fútbol Club (often referred to by its nickname "Tecos") is a Mexican professional football club associated with the Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara AC. It plays its home games in the '' Estadio 3 de Marzo'' (March 3 Stadium, named f ...

: 3 (2007, 2009, 2010) * Necaxa: 3 (2005, 2006, 2007) *

: 3 (2004, 2005, 2010) *

Toluca Toluca , officially Toluca de Lerdo , is the state capital of the State of Mexico as well as the seat of the Municipality of Toluca. With a population of 910,608 as of the 2020 census, Toluca is the fifth most populous city in Mexico. The city f ...

: 3 (2004, 2005, 2009) *

: 2 (2006, 2009) *

Puebla Puebla ( en, colony, settlement), officially Free and Sovereign State of Puebla ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Puebla), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 217 municipalities and its cap ...

: 1 (2010) *

UNAM The National Autonomous University of Mexico ( es, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM) is a public research university in Mexico. It is consistently ranked as one of the best universities in Latin America, where it's also the bigges ...

: 1 (2007) *

Veracruz Veracruz (), formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave), is one of the 31 states which, along with Me ...

: 1 (2006)

History Topscorers

{, class="wikitable" !Pos!!Player!!Goals , - , 1, , Reinaldo Navia , , 9 , - , 1, ,

Salvador Cabañas Salvador Cabañas Ortega (born 5 August 1980) is a Paraguayan former professional footballer who played as a striker. Cabañas played for Club 12 de Octubre, Guaraní, Audax Italiano, Chiapas, Club América, General Caballero, Tanabi and I ...

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Bruno Marioni Bruno Marioni Giménez (born 15 June 1975, in Paraná) is a retired Argentine striker who preferred to attack from the sides. He is currently the manager of Liga de Expansión MX team Venados. Career Marioni made his debut under the last n ...

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Cuauhtémoc Blanco Cuauhtémoc Blanco Bravo (; born 17 January 1973) is a Mexican politician and former professional footballer who is the current Governor of Morelos under the coalition ''Juntos Haremos Historia''. He formerly served as the municipal president ...

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Omar Bravo Omar Bravo Tordecillas (born 4 March 1980) is a Mexican former professional footballer who played as a striker. He is Guadalajara's all-time leading scorer in all matches. Club career Club Deportivo Guadalajara Omar Bravo has scored 132 goals ...

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Walter Gaitán Walter Nicolás Gaitán Sayavedra (March 13, 1977) is a retired Argentine professional footballer. An attacking midfielder, Gaitán was known for his vision on the pitch, passing, powerful left shot and a classy ball control. Nicknamed ''Chueco ...

, , 5 , - , 4, , Kléber Boas, , 5 , - , 4, , Alfredo Moreno, , 5 , - , 5, , Manuel Perez, , 4 , - , 5, ,

Jared Borgetti Jared Francisco Borgetti Echavarría (; born 14 August 1973) is a Mexican former professional footballer who currently works as a commentator for ESPN Deportes and ESPN Mexico. As a player, Borgetti was known as a prolific goal scorer at both ...

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Sebastian Gonzalez Sebastian may refer to: People * Sebastian (name), including a list of persons with the name Arts, entertainment, and media Films and television * ''Sebastian'' (1968 film), British spy film * ''Sebastian'' (1995 film), Swedish drama film ...

, , 4 , - , 5, , Carlos Ochoa, , 4 , - , 5, , Ramón Morales, , 4 , - , 5, ,

Edgar Benitez Edgar is a commonly used English given name, from an Anglo-Saxon name ''Eadgar'' (composed of ''wikt:en:ead, ead'' "rich, prosperous" and ''Gar (spear), gar'' "spear"). Like most Anglo-Saxon names, it fell out of use by the later medieval per ...

, , 4 , - , 5, , Adolfo Bautista, , 4 , - , 5, ,

Jorge Achucarro Jorge Daniel Achucarro (born 6 November 1981) is a retired Paraguayan footballer. He has played for the Paraguay national football team. Career Club career Achucarro began his professional playing career in 1998 with Cerro Porteño, where he ma ...

, , 4 As January 19, 2008

External links

Official site
(in Spanish and English) {{InterLiga Defunct football competitions in Mexico International club association football competitions hosted by the United States