The second half of the 2025/2026 seasons have kicked off throughout much of Central America.

The 2026 Clausura in Mexico began with some major tansfers and signings, both within the league and from abroad. From within the league, Chivas were perhaps the big movers bringing in Jasmine Casárez and Cristina Ferral. Big name signings like Isa Haas, Karol Arcanjo and Mariza joined from Brazil. Since the start of the season, the league as seen Manuela Pavi, Emma Watson, and Sofia Jakobsson.

Opening Rounds

After the first three match weeks, there weren’t many surprises aside from Mazatlan opening up the season with two straight wins after going the entire apertura without winning a single match. Cruz Azul made a statement in week 3 with a 1-0 win over Pachuca in a match that saw la Machina dominate well beyond the score line.

Next Round of Matches

The next four match weeks have seen Rayadas and Chivas establish themselves at the top of the table. America and Tigres are close behind. Perhaps the team most fun to watch so far has been Toluca, who have not struggled to score goals, but they’ve also not struggled to concede goals. They opened the season with a 5-3 win over Xolos, and they have to fight back from a two-goal deficit to win 3-2 over Juarez in week 6. Mazatlan, the early surprise package, have found the stronger teams a more difficult task, and they’ve been brought closer to Earth, but they’re still picking up points, including a dominant 5-0 win against Nexaca in week 6.

Standings

After week 7, the usual suspects are at the top of the table. The teams in the top 6 look like they’ll stay there, but who finishes where is still very much up in the air. Spots 7 through 11 also feel wide open. Cruz Azul should top that group, but an injury to Aerial Chavarin has seen them drop points in three of their last four matches. Pumas, Juarez, Tijuana, and Mazatlan have all shown the ability to win matches, but they’ve also shown issues with consistency.

As the clausura nears the halfway point, I think the major storylines to follow are whether Toluca and Chivas have what it takes to see their good starts through to the playoffs. In particular, Toluca has looked very good offensively, but it’s not clear they can out-score everyone to the Clausura championship. But if they can get their defense sorted out, they will be very dangerous.

The other team that’s been a mixed bag are Juarez. When they have it together, they look very good. They can control matches and Dayana Martin is very dangerous in the attack, helped by solid play from Aisha Solorzano and Grace Asantewaa. Actually, let me give special praise to Dayana Martin. She is such a threat for Juarez on the right. She’s fast, harasses her defenders, has good vision and can finish. She’s been a major bright spot to start this season and super fun to watch. If bigger clubs aren’t looking at her, they’re crazy. She should be on an NWSL roster in short order.

But getting back to Juarez more generally, after looking dangerous for long stretches, Juarez will just collapse. They gave up a two-goal lead to Toluca in about 5 minutes after completely dominating the opening 40 minutes. They may not have the depth to win the title, but if they can get their act together, they should reach the playoffs again and could move on a round.

Goal of the Season So Far

The goal of the season so far goes to Toluca’s French striker Eugenie Le Sommer for this cheeky, 20-yard chip that hit both posts before going into the net. It completed a hat trick for Le Sommer and put to rest a potential comeback for Tijuana.

El Salvador’s top division kicked off their clausura on January 16th. Perennial champions Alianza FC took home the apertura crown on the back of 42 league goals from star striker Paola Calderon. However, the offseason saw Alianza’s other big star, Genesis Carpio, move to rivals Inter FA.

Perennial runners-up, Municipal Limeño, are also expected to challenge for the clausura title. They’ve largely kept their apertura squad together, including their core of Colombian players who provide so much of Limeño’s attacking power.

The other two clubs that may upset the favorites are Inter FA and CD FAS. The former have brought in a good amount of talent for the clausura. Genesis Carpio was mentioned above, but they also signed former Limeño keeper Giselle Euceda and Colombian winger Ayslan Carabali. The latter didn’t make many moves to start the clausura, but they held onto a very talented defensive unit. Just this week they announced the signing a four new players, including three attackers, so

After the first 5 match weeks, the league is divided into three groups: the contenders, the outside contenders, and the also-rans.

‘The Contenders’ are the group of clubs highlighted above. Limeño tops the table the a goal difference of +41 on 41 goals for and 0 goals conceded. Alianza, Inter FA, and CD FAS wrap up this group. All four teams have been the dominant sides and played at least one of the other sides, both matches resulting in draws. Alianza and Limeño remain the favorites, but all four of these teams feel genuinely capable of winning the clausura.

‘The Outside Contenders’ are comprised of Zacatecoluca FC, CD Aguila, and Fuerte San Francisco. Despite sitting ahead of CD FAS due to goal difference, Zacatecoluca fall below them in this grouping because they’ve had an easier schedule than FAS. Aguila and Fuerte San Francisco have struggled with the larger teams but can give them a solid match. If they can put a run together, they can beat any team on their day. Still, these sides may work themselves into a playoff spot, but it’s not likely any of these teams reach the final, let alone win it.

‘The Also-Rans’ are comprised of the rest of the sides in the league. Many of them have suffered double-digit defeats against the stronger sides and will sort out based on how they play against each other.

In the nascent season, unsurprisingly, the best matches have the two games between the top contenders, both resulting in draws but best showing the quality of these sides.

Inter FA 1-1 Alianza FC
(Full Match)

In the opening week, Inter FA and Alianza faced off. It was a match impacted by a heavy wind that impacted play, but Inter FA gave Alianza fits throughout. The goals came very late in the match, with Genesis Carpio scoring against her former club to earn a well-deserved point for the Santa Tecla club.

CD FAS 0-0 Municipal Limeño
(Full Match)

A match where FAS’s defense was able to hold out against Limeño’s offense. FAS had their moments getting forward, but they didn’t create much danger, and they failed to convert their best chances. The most dangerous chances fell to Limeño, but FAS’s stout defending kept them at bay.

With a little more than half the season remaining, but big four will be playing each other more regularly, and we should see the top of the table shift a little. I’m genuinely excited to see if Inter FA can break the dominance of Alianza and Limeño by reaching the final, and I think there’s a genuine chance Alianza finally get beaten for the title after 5 consecutive championships.

Guatemala’s women’s division began their 2026 Clausura on the January 31/February 1 weekend with three matches from the first match day. The clausura started with a few hiccups. Most significantly, less than a week before the season started, CSD Suchitepéquez reported that they were withdrawing for the season because they could not fund their expenses for the season. Their withdrawal left the league with 12 teams remaining, but since Suchitepéquez were scheduled to play on the initial weekend, it meant their game was cancelled. Fortunately, CSD Suchitepéquez have not fully dissolved their women’s team. It has just withdrawn for the season. Hopefully they can get their finances in order and return to play. They were back-to-back champions in the 2022 Clausura and 2022 Apertura seasons, so they are a side with recent success. Additionally, the league announced just ahead of the opening weekend that two matches were abandoned because a couple clubs had not properly registered their players. The end result was that the first match week went from 6 fixtures to 3, but those matches went off and included one exciting fixture.

CSD Municipal 0-3 Cuilco FC
(Full Replay)

The match of the week involved Municipal hosting Cuilco. Municipal ended the apertura season with the best record with Cuilco running out first-time champions by winning the apertura. Despite a fairly even match, the goals went one direction, with the defending champions running out 3-0 winners.

The pick of the goals coming from Nayeli Carrera. She had a brace in the match, and the best goal came from this lovely curler from the edge of the box:

UNIFUT Juvenil 2-5 UNIFUT
(Full Replay)

UNIFUT has their main squad as well as a youth side in the top division. After going down two, the youth side fought back to make it 2-2 at half, but the full side dominated the second half and ran out 5-2 winners.

Antigua GFC 0-3 Huehuetecas FC
(Full Replay)

The opening match of the clausura was dominated by Huehuetecas, who had a 3-0 lead by half time. Antigua were a bit better in the second half, and the visitors may have eased up a bit, but the second half was still mostly one way traffic for Huehuetecas.

Abandoned Matches

Ultimately, the league awarded 3-0 wins to the two teams that were properly registered for the first match week, so the remaining two matches ended:

Xelaju MC 3-0 Deportivo Guatemala
Villa Nueva CDS 0-3 Cremas Femenino

After the first matchday, the league standings sit as follows:

As the clausuras continue in CONCACAF, action is heating up in CONMEBOL. The U20 Championships are underway. The leagues in a number of nations are kicking off soon, and Palmeiras take on Corinthians in the Supercopa Feminina to open up the season is Brazil. We’ll catch up on the action in South America next week.