Mazatlán FC is on its way out of Liga MX, and its place will be taken by Atlante FC after Grupo Atlante, led by Emilio Escalante, bought the club’s affiliation certificate. Clausura 2026 will be Mazatlán’s last tournament in the top division, ending a six-year run that began in 2020 when Monarcas Morelia moved to the Pacific coast to create the club.
The sale means Mazatlán will disappear as a Primera División team, while Atlante will leave Liga de Expansión and move up to the top flight. The move was set in motion when Ricardo Salinas decided to sell the franchise, which was put on the market and found a buyer. There are no signs that Mazatlán will use a free slot in Liga de Expansión, leaving its future outside the top division unclear.
The roster now faces total uncertainty. The players do not become free agents automatically when the sale is completed, so the new owners must negotiate the departure of each one before they can continue their careers elsewhere. That detail turns a franchise move into an immediate labor problem for a squad that had no role in the decision and now must wait for the paperwork to catch up with the sale.
Mazatlán’s exit comes after the club failed to consolidate itself on the field or in commercial terms, according to the account of the sale. Mexican football has seen this kind of franchise movement before. In 2020, Mazatlán was created after Monarcas Morelia left Morelia, and Atlético Morelia was later founded in the same city after it was left without a club; that team also traces part of its lineage to Zacatepec. For Mazatlán, the countdown is already fixed. Clausura 2026 is the last chapter, and after that the club that arrived six years ago will no longer exist in Liga MX.