Deportivo Mixco wrote a historic page this weekend by securing its qualification for the 2026 Concacaf Central American Cup, a tournament in which it will participate for the first time in its history.
The classification of the Chicharroneros occurred thanks to a combination of factors related to the classification system of the regional competition, which grants four places to Guatemalan teams based on the results of the Apertura 2025 and Clausura 2026 tournaments of the National League. Antigua GFC and Municipal, champion and runner-up of Apertura 2025 respectively, already had two of those places secured, while the other two will be defined with the finalists of Clausura 2026.
Mixco’s path to the Central American Cup is explained as follows. Municipal has already secured its ticket for having been runner-up in Apertura 2025, which means that if the Reds reach the final of Clausura 2026 again, one of the finalists from the previous tournament would repeat. In this scenario, the regulations establish that the quota would be awarded to the next best positioned in the accumulated table that does not have a guaranteed ticket, and that team is precisely Deportivo Mixco, which closed the regular phase as second in the accumulated table with 80 points, 44 in the Apertura 2025 and 36 in the Clausura 2026, below Municipal which accumulated 86 units.
The situation was definitively resolved with the crossing of the semifinals of Clausura 2026, where Mixco and Municipal will face each other this week. If Mixco advances to the final, they will stamp their ticket directly as a finalist in the tournament. If it is Municipal who advances, the Rojos would reach the final again, repeating their presence from Apertura 2025, and the available place would automatically fall to Mixco as it is the best-positioned team in the accumulated table without a guaranteed ticket. In either of the two scenarios, the Chicharroneros’ qualification for the 2026 Central American Cup is guaranteed.
A historic classification for Mixco
The 2026 Concacaf Central American Cup will kick off in July and will bring together 20 clubs from across the Central American region in four groups of five teams, with the top two in each group advancing to the quarterfinals. Among the confirmed participants are the three-time champion Liga Deportiva Alajuelense from Costa Rica, Club Olimpia and Motagua from Honduras and Luis Ángel Firpo and FAS from El Salvador, making the tournament the most demanding scenario in which Mixco will have participated at the club level in its entire history.
The official draw for the 2026 Central American Cup will be held on Tuesday, May 26 in Miami, Florida, starting at 6:00 PM, where the groups and rivals that Mixco will face in its historic debut in the regional competition will be known. Along with the Chicharroneros, Guatemala will also be represented by Antigua GFC and Municipal, with the fourth place still to be defined between Xelajú MC and Comunicaciones, who will face each other this week in the semifinals of Clausura 2026 and whose finalist will complete the Chapina representation in the Central American Cup.
Mixco’s path to this historic classification was marked by a solid season in the National League. The Chicharroneros closed the regular phase of Clausura 2026 as the second team in the table with 36 points and advanced to the semifinals of the league after one of the most dramatic comebacks of the competition, scoring two goals in the last two minutes against Cobán Imperial to tie the series 2-2 on aggregate and advance for the best position in the table.