Mexican football fans have frankly been spoilt this summer. With the national Mens, Womens and Youth teams participation in the Women's World Cup, Under-20 World Cup and the Copa America throughout June, and as El Tri stand on the brink of a seventh Gold Cup success, Liga MX returns with more focus on Mexican football than ever before.
Santos Laguna return as reigning champions but with the added player transfer activity of the big clubs, as well as managerial changes, their bid to retain the title could be the most complicated ever.
As the weekend's action gets under way perhaps most of the attention will be on Tigres. The Copa Libertadores finalists will return to Liga MX as one of the favorites for the title after their big money summer spending for strikers Andre-Pierre Gignac and Ikechukwu Uche, as well as Mexican Javier Aquino.
Tigres may have other matters on their mind this weekend, however, with their Copa Libertadores Final first-leg against River Plate taking place mid-week, but expect a strong challenge this season from the Monterrey side.
City rivals Monterrey have refused to be left behind in the summer spending stakes and having purchased Uruguayan international Walter Gargano and Argentine Rogelio Funes Mori, Los Rayados will have title aspirations of their own.
Expect this weekend to see new faces at Leon, who brought in some experienced defenders in the form of Guillermo Burdisso and Diego Novaretti, while Toluca acted quickly to sign Christian Cueva, who impressed at the Copa America with Peru.
There will be new faces in the dugouts as well this weekend, as former America boss Gustavo Matosas takes charge of Atlas who will be looking to further their long awaited progress in the Liguillas.
America have appointed Ignacio Ambriz, and he wasted no time in signing the much need Javier Guemez to sure up the America midfield and will look to push Las Aguilas to the Apertura title they lost last year.
Whether or not new Tijuana boss Ruben Omar Romano will be able to guide the Baja California side into the post season or not will depend much on Romano's ability to tighten up the Tijuanna defense after their fragile finish to last season.
Also stepping into new managerial posts are Sergio Bueno at Cruzz Azul, Enrique Meza at Monarcas, Pablo Marini at Puebla and Ricardo La Volpe at Chiapas.
For returning champions Santos, having sealed their first league title under Pedro Caixinha, the challenge will be to be more attack-minded this season if they are to avoid the narrow manner in which they snuck into the post-season last year.
Given Tigres strength and the power that can be expected from Americas, Santos task to retain the title could be an extremely difficult one.
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