Mexico City’s Club América made history yet again, beating Monterrey to claim an unprecedented third straight Mexican soccer league title on Sunday.
The 3-2 aggregate victory also earned the Eagles their league-record 16th championship.
Back home in the capital, América fans flocked to the iconic Angel of Independence Monument to celebrate the team’s historic achievement.
Protecting a 2-1 lead from Thursday’s first leg, América played swarming defense from its base 5-4-1 alignment, limiting space down the wings and frustrating Monterrey probes through the middle.
In minute 23, América’s Álvaro Fidalgo found space through midfield, casually floating a pass to Alejandro Zendejas who had split two defenders. Zendejas nodded the ball backward into the path of an onrushing Richard Sánchez, who blasted the bouncing ball past a helpless Luis Cárdenas.
The goal extended the Eagles’ lead in the final to 3-1 and allowed América to sit back on defense. The club’s tactical discipline was on full display for the next hour and Monterrey struggled to create scoring chances.
In minute 85, Monterrey substitute Johan Rojas curled a shot around an América defender and inside the far post to add some drama to the game’s final minutes.
With Monterrey needing one more goal to force overtime, the Eagles found themselves chasing shadows as the home team pressed forward and poured cross after cross into the goalie area.
With the entire América team scrambling to preserve the slim advantage, Monterrey managed to fire off six shots in the game’s final 10 minutes (including six minutes of stoppage time), but none reached the net. Four of the shots were blocked by defenders, the other two were off target.
When the final whistle sounded, the Eagles rushed the field to celebrate their historic feat, the first Liga MX franchise to win three championships in a row.
Since the Mexican soccer league switched to a short-season format in 1996, only three other clubs have won back-to-back titles: Atlas (2021-2022), León (2013-2014) and UNAM (2004).
América had previously won three straight titles when the league used a single-season format, hoisting the trophy after the 1983-1984, 1984-1985 and 1985 Prode seasons (the 1985 Prode was a shortened season since Mexico was set to host the 1986 World Cup).
Guadalajara holds the league record with four consecutive championships from 1958 through 1962.
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