PROFILPELAJAR.COM

Liga Nacional
Season	2019–20
Dates	27 July 2019–15 March 2020
Champions	Apertura: Olimpia; Clausura: None
Relegated	None
CONCACAF League	Olimpia; Marathón; Motagua
Matches played	164
Goals scored	462 (2.82 per match)
Top goalscorer	Mejía (23)
Biggest home win	MOT 5–0 HNP; (9 February 2020); OLI 5–0 HNP; (12 February 2020); RES 5–0 UPN; (22 February 2020); OLI 5–0 MAR; (23 February 2020)
Biggest away win	HNP 0–4 OLI; (27 July 2019); PLA 0–4 MAR; (22 September 2019); PLA 0–4 RDM; (20 October 2019); HNP 0–4 PLA; (21 February 2020)
Highest scoring	RDM 4–4 MOT; (14 August 2019); MAR 4–4 UPN; (5 October 2019)
Longest unbeaten run	MAR (9); OLI (9)
Longest losing run	HNP (9)
	← 2018–19 2020–21 → All statistics correct as of 15 March 2020.

The 2019–20 Honduran Liga Nacional season was the 54th Honduran Liga Nacional edition since its establishment in 1965. The tournament started in July 2019 and ended in March 2020. The season was divided into two halves (Apertura and Clausura), each crowning one champion. A new format will be used starting this season, each club plays the others twice (a double round-robin system), once at their home stadium and once at that of their opponents', for 18 games. The first five teams will advance to the post-season (Pentagonal), where they will play each other once. If the same team wins both phases, they will be crowned champions automatically; otherwise, a final series will be scheduled between the winners of both phases. This format was last used in 1992–93.^[1] At the end of the season, the three teams with the best record will qualify to the 2020 CONCACAF League.

Following the 13th matchday on 15 March 2020 the Clausura tournament was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Honduras.^[2] On 29 April the tournament was officially cancelled with no champion declared and no team relegated.^[3]

2019–20 teams

Location of teams in 2019–20 season

A total of 10 teams will contest the tournament, including 9 sides from the 2018–19 season plus C.D. Real Sociedad, promoted from the 2018–19 Liga de Ascenso.

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity
Honduras Progreso	El Progreso	Estadio Humberto Micheletti	5,000
Marathón	San Pedro Sula	Estadio Yankel Rosenthal	15,000
Motagua	Tegucigalpa	Estadio Tiburcio Carías Andino	35,000
Olimpia	Tegucigalpa	Estadio Tiburcio Carías Andino	35,000
Platense	Puerto Cortés	Estadio Excélsior	7,910
Real de Minas	Danlí	Estadio Marcelo Tinoco	5,000
Real España	San Pedro Sula	Estadio Francisco Morazán	26,781
Real Sociedad	Tocoa	Estadio Francisco Martínez Durón	3,000
UPNFM	Choluteca	Estadio Emilio Williams Agasse	8,000
Vida	La Ceiba	Estadio Nilmo Edwards	18,000

C.D. Real de Minas is from Tegucigalpa but will play at Danlí.
Lobos UPNFM is from Tegucigalpa but will play at Choluteca.

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Vacancy	Replaced by	Appointment	Position in table
Real España	Carlos Restrepo	Sacked	6 May 2019^[4]	Hernán Medford	10 June 2019	Preseason
Olimpia	Manuel Keosseián	Sacked	5 June 2019^[5]	Pedro Troglio	14 June 2019^[6]	Preseason
Vida	Héctor Castellón	Resigned	10 June 2019	Washington Araujo	20 June 2019^[7]	Preseason
Honduras Progreso	Luís Alvarado	Sacked	16 August 2019	Horacio Londoño	16 August 2019	10th
Platense	José Torres	Sacked	2 September 2019	Héctor Castellón	3 September 2019	9th^[8]
Real Sociedad	Mauro Reyes	Sacked	16 September 2019	Carlos Tábora	16 September 2019	10th^[9]
Real España	Hernán Medford	Resigned	23 September 2019	Luis Ordóñez	24 September 2019	8th^[10]
Honduras Progreso	Horacio Londoño	Sacked	4 October 2019	TBD	TBA	9th
Real España	Luis Ordóñez	Separated	7 October 2019	Ramiro Martínez	7 October 2019	7th^[11]

Apertura

The Apertura tournament was the first half of the 2019–20 season which ran from July to December 2019. On 10 November, C.D. Olimpia secured their third straight spot in the final series after defeating C.D. Marathón 1–0 at Tegucigalpa.^[12] Olimpia, Marathón, F.C. Motagua, Lobos UPNFM and C.D.S. Vida advanced to the Pentagonal stage.^[13] After seven tournaments, Olimpia was able to stop the drought and won the Apertura tournament after winning both the regular season and post-season.^[14]

Regular season

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Olimpia	18	14	2	2	37	12	+25	44	Advance to Pentagonal and Final
2	Marathón	18	12	4	2	39	17	+22	40	Advance to Pentagonal
3	Motagua	18	9	4	5	26	21	+5	31
4	UPNFM	18	7	5	6	24	23	+1	26
5	Vida	18	7	4	7	24	24	0	25
6	Real de Minas	18	7	2	9	25	29	−4	23
7	Real España	18	5	7	6	26	25	+1	22
8	Platense	18	6	3	9	28	36	−8	21
9	Real Sociedad	18	2	4	12	12	30	−18	10
10	Honduras Progreso	18	3	1	14	12	36	−24	10

Updated to match(es) played on 20 November 2019. Source: Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.

Results

Home \ Away	HNP	MAR	MOT	OLI	PLA	RDM	RES	RSO	UPN	VID
Honduras Progreso	—	1–3	0–1	0–4	1–2	1–0	1–1	0–1	0–1	2–3
Marathón	4–1	—	2–1	1–1	3–2	2–0	3–1	0–0	4–4	0–0
Motagua	2–1	1–0	—	1–2	2–1	1–1	1–1	2–1	3–1	3–1
Olimpia	4–0	1–0	2–0	—	1–2	5–1	1–1	2–0	1–0	1–0
Platense	0–1	0–4	2–3	2–1	—	0–4	4–2	1–1	1–1	3–0
Real de Minas	1–0	0–1	4–4	1–2	3–1	—	1–2	2–1	3–2	1–0
Real España	3–0	2–4	1–0	0–2	2–2	5–1	—	3–0	1–2	0–2
Real Sociedad	0–1	2–5	0–0	1–2	3–1	0–2	0–0	—	0–2	1–3
UPNFM	3–2	0–1	0–1	0–2	1–0	1–0	1–1	2–0	—	2–2
Vida	3–0	0–2	1–0	2–3	3–4	1–0	0–0	2–1	1–1	—

Updated to match(es) played on 20 November 2019. Source: Soccerway
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For upcoming matches, an "a" indicates there is an article about the rivalry between the two participants.

Postseason

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Olimpia	4	3	0	1	10	2	+8	9	Apertura winners
2	Motagua	4	3	0	1	10	5	+5	9
3	Vida	4	1	1	2	7	11	−4	4
4	UPNFM	4	1	1	2	5	9	−4	4
5	Marathón	4	0	2	2	5	10	−5	2

Updated to match(es) played on 8 December 2019. Source: Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.

Results

Home \ Away	MAR	MOT	OLI	UPN	VID
Marathón	—	1–2			2–2
Motagua		—		3–0	5–2
Olimpia	4–0	2–0	—
UPNFM	2–2		0–3	—
Vida			2–1	1–3	—

Updated to match(es) played on 8 December 2019. Source: Soccerway
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For upcoming matches, an "a" indicates there is an article about the rivalry between the two participants.

Final

The final series were scheduled to be played between the winners of the regular season and the Final 5 Stage (Pentagonal). Since C.D. Olimpia won both phases, no finals were necessary.

Clausura

The Clausura tournament was the second half of the 2019–20 season which runs from January to March 2020.

Regular season

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Motagua	13	8	3	2	25	10	+15	27
2	Marathón	13	7	3	3	25	18	+7	24
3	Olimpia	13	6	4	3	26	15	+11	22
4	Real España	13	7	0	6	20	13	+7	21
5	Vida	12	3	8	1	13	10	+3	17
6	Real de Minas	13	5	2	6	16	18	−2	17
7	Real Sociedad	12	3	5	4	13	17	−4	14
8	Platense	13	3	3	7	16	24	−8	12
9	UPNFM	13	1	7	5	8	18	−10	10
10	Honduras Progreso	13	1	5	7	10	29	−19	8

Updated to match(es) played on 15 March 2020. Source: Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.

Results

Home \ Away	HNP	MAR	MOT	OLI	PLA	RDM	RES	RSO	UPN	VID
Honduras Progreso	—	1–2		0–0	0–4		1–2	2–2		1–1
Marathón	1–0	—	a	1–2	5–2	3–0	3–0	1–2	2–2
Motagua	5–0	1–1	—	4–1		2–3	1–0	2–0	0–0
Olimpia	5–0	5–0	1–2	—	2–0	2–1	a			1–1
Platense	4–1	2–4	0–3		—		2–1	1–1	0–0	0–1
Real de Minas	1–2		0–0		4–0	—	0–3	1–0	1–0
Real España		a	0–1	2–1	2–1	3–0	—		5–0	0–2
Real Sociedad	1–1	1–2		2–2		1–4	1–0	—	1–0	1–1
UPNFM	1–1		1–3	1–1		1–0	0–2		—	1–1
Vida		0–0	3–1	1–3	0–0	1–1			1–1	—

Updated to match(es) played on 15 March 2020. Source: Soccerway
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For upcoming matches, an "a" indicates there is an article about the rivalry between the two participants.

Postseason

Results

Top goalscorers

The top goalscorer will be determined by the addition of goals of both Apertura and Clausura tournaments.

As of 15 March 2020

23 goals:

Juan Mejía (Real de Minas)

17 goals:

Jorge Benguché (Olimpia)

15 goals:

Roberto Moreira (Motagua)

Jerry Bengtson (Olimpia)

14 goals:

Franco Güity (UPNFM)

13 goals:

Justin Arboleda (Marathón / Olimpia)

11 goals:

Bruno Volpi (Platense / Marathón)

10 goals:

Rony Martínez (Real España)

9 goals:

Josué Villafranca (Vida)

Mario Martínez (Marathón)

Carlo Costly (Marathón / Platense)

Carlos Discua (Marathón)

8 goals:

Jamal Charles (R. España / R. Sociedad)

7 goals:

Marcelo Estigarribia (Motagua)

Alexander Aguilar (Platense / Vida)

Jhow Benavídez (Real España)

Kevin López (Motagua)

Diego Reyes (Platense)

6 goals:

Eddie Hernández (Olimpia)

Kílmar Peña (UPNFM)

Edwin Solano (Marathón)

Carlos Meléndez (Vida)

Matías Garrido (Olimpia)

Darixon Vuelto (Real España)

5 goals:

Frelys López (Marathón)

José Pinto (UPNFM / Olimpia)

Jeancarlo Vargas (Platense)

Ilce Barahona (Platense)

Rubilio Castillo (Motagua)

4 goals:

3 goals:

2 goals:

1 goal:

Cristian Maidana (Olimpia)

Selvin Guevara (Real España)

Marcelo Pereira (Motagua)

Ángel Velásquez (Platense)

Marcelo Canales (Vida)

Deyron Martínez (Real Sociedad)

Allans Vargas (Real España)

Franklin Flores (Real España)

Sebastián Colón (Real de Minas)

Denil Maldonado (Motagua)

Jesús Rivera (Vida)

Pedro Mencía (Honduras Progreso)

Axel Gómez (Olimpia)

Víctor Moncada (UPNFM)

Mayron Flores (Marathón)

Júnior Padilla (UPNFM)

Luís Meléndez (Vida)

Sony Fernández (UPNFM)

Emilio Izaguirre (Motagua)

Carlos Róchez (Marathón)

Erick Peña (Honduras Progreso)

Kendrick Cárcamo (Real Sociedad)

Danny Mejía (Real Sociedad)

José Reyes (Olimpia)

Horacio Argueta (Vida)

Dennis Lagos (UPNFM)

Edwin Rodríguez (Olimpia)

Gerson Rodas (Honduras Progreso)

Rody Meléndez (Real España)

Julio Moncada (Platense)

José López (Marathón)

Jeffry Miranda (Marathón)

Aldo Fajardo (Platense)

Jonathan Ferrari (Olimpia)

German Mejía (Olimpia)

Wilmer Crisanto (Motagua)

Juan Delgado (Honduras Progreso)

Samuel Elvir (UPNFM)

Samuel Lucas (Honduras Progreso)

Carlos Perdomo (Marathón)

Wilmer Fuentes (Real Sociedad)

César Guillén (Vida)

Luis Palma (Vida)

Yaudel Lahera (Honduras Progreso)

Darwin Andino (Real de Minas)

Jorge Claros (Real España)

Jeffri Flores (Platense)

Cristian Alessandrini (Vida)

Bayron Méndez (Real Sociedad)

José Cañete (Olimpia)

Pedro González (Olimpia)

Henry Figueroa (Marathón)

Jorge Saldívar (Honduras Progreso)

Hilder Colón (Honduras Progreso)

Joshua Vargas (Platense)

Víctor Araúz (Platense)

Santiago Correa (Real España)

Deybi Flores (Olimpia)

Óscar García (Real de Minas)

Diego Rodríguez (Real de Minas)

Carlos Lanza (Vida)

Sendel Cruz (UPNFM)

Dábirson Castillo (Platense)

Ted Bodden (UPNFM)

Luís Guzmán (Real de Minas)

1 own-goal:

Aggregate table

Relegation will be determined by the aggregated table of both Apertura and Clausura tournaments.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Olimpia	31	20	6	5	63	27	+36	66
2	Marathón	31	19	7	5	64	35	+29	64
3	Motagua	31	17	7	7	51	31	+20	58
4	Real España	31	12	7	12	46	38	+8	43
5	Vida	30	10	12	8	37	34	+3	42
6	Real de Minas	31	12	4	15	41	47	−6	40
7	UPNFM	31	8	12	11	32	41	−9	36
8	Platense	31	9	6	16	44	60	−16	33
9	Real Sociedad	30	5	9	16	25	47	−22	24
10	Honduras Progreso	31	4	6	21	22	65	−43	18