Did a couple of stories in Spanish looking at how Liga MX and its clubs compare statistically with those in Europe’s “big 5” leagues. Sharing some of the points below in case they are of interest.

#ligamxeng

Not going to overly hypothesize all the reasons here, but altitude, temperatures, travel, watering pitches, cultural elements and even grass type will all play their part. Numbers also obviously relative to the opposition played, which means firm conclusions aren’t always easy.

However, I think they are interesting from the perspective of how tough it can be for players to move from Liga MX ... Data from 2019-20 seasons before suspensions/cancelations. Compared the 117 teams in the “big five” plus Liga MX, as well as league averages.

Thread:

1) Lots of fouls in Liga MX! Necaxa (16.69) and Morelia/Mazatlan (16.50) are in 2nd and 3rd (of the 117 clubs) behind Getafe in most fouls per game (19.04). All 18 Liga MX clubs in the top 50 (of 117) of this metric.

Tijuana top in reds per game (0.32), America 4th (0.20).

2) Liga MX is relatively moderate in terms of % of away wins, even with the longer travel distances etc. In Liga MX: 44 % home win, 31.6 % away. In La Liga, the away team wins only 24.4 percent of games, which is a huge difference compared to 37.1 percent in Serie A.

3) Liga MX tops managerial changes

Mexico is known for its turnover of coaches and the numbers show that even if Serie A (11 changes) isn’t too far behind, Liga MX is ruling this category with 13. Premier League only had 6.

4) @CIES_Football data shows that with the exception of Ligue 1 (15 percent of players under 22) there’s not a huge difference between Liga MX (9), Premier League (8.5), Bundesliga (9.5) and Serie A (7.7) in terms of playing time for U-22 players.

5) The Bundesliga has the team with the highest amount of possession per game (Bayern Munich — 67.4 %) and the lowest (Augsburg — 36.1%).

In Mexico, there is less variation. Tigres under Ferretti had 59 % average possession per game, with FC Juarez the least (43.2 %).

6) RB Leipzig (61.92) + Eintracht Frankfurt (61.38) are at the top of the charts in ball recoveries per game, while Mexico’s highest entrant is Santos Laguna in a lowly 70th (50.93) of the 117 clubs. The last 12 teams are all from Liga MX.

(Interested to hear any ideas here!)

7) In last place of % of aerial duels won is Chivas (44.4). However, Mex teams do compare favorably with the European leagues, with Cruz Azul (56.1) in 5th place and Necaxa (54.8) and Toluca (53.3) inside top 18. (Not sure how useful this is, except that Chivas are bad in air)

8) There’s only one Mexican team in the top 39 teams in terms of crosses from open play per game (Pachuca), while there’s only one in the top 40 for offsides per game (Tijuana).

9) The “through ball” metric also shows that the top Mexican side Leon (1.10 through balls per game) is only 40th (of 117) and falls a long way behind leader Paris Saint-Germain (3.22).

10) Santos Laguna under Almada is 1st of 117 for direct speed (2.27 meters advanced per second) in possession. In fact, 5 of the top 8 in this category are teams from Mexico. Los Guerreros are top in Liga MX (31st overall) in possession won in final third (4.43 per game)

(Want to thank @JM_navarrete for his thoughts and help while I was doing this. I’m sure he’d be happy to answer any questions. Original story in Spanish: https://www.espn.com.mx/futbol/mexico/nota/_/id/6960423/liga-mx-comparacion-torneos-europeos-estadisticas-equipos-jugadores)