2015–16 Honduran Liga Nacional

Liga Nacional

Season	2015–16
Champions	Apertura: Honduras Progreso Clausura: Olimpia
Relegated	Victoria
Champions League	Honduras Progreso Olimpia
Matches played	200
Goals scored	544 (2.72 per match)
Top goalscorer	Vega (25)
Biggest home win	Motagua 7–1 Real España (14 November 2015)
Biggest away win	Victoria 0–4 Real Sociedad (9 January 2016) Victoria 0–4 Olimpia (27 February 2016)
Highest scoring	Victoria 4–4 Real España (31 October 2015) Motagua 7–1 Real España (14 November 2015)
Longest unbeaten run	Real Sociedad (18)
Longest losing run	Victoria (7)
← 2014–15 2016–17 → All statistics correct as of 22 May 2016.

The 2015–16 Honduran Liga Nacional season was the 50th Honduran Liga Nacional edition, since its establishment in 1965. For this season, the system format remained the same as the previous season. The tournament began on 31 July 2015^[1] and ended on 22 May 2016.

2015–16 teams

A total of 10 teams will contest the tournament, including 9 sides from the 2014–15 season plus Juticalpa F.C., promoted from the 2014–15 Liga de Ascenso.

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity
Honduras Progreso	El Progreso	Estadio Humberto Micheletti	5,000
Juticalpa	Juticalpa	Estadio Juan Ramón Brevé Vargas	20,000
Marathón	San Pedro Sula	Estadio Yankel Rosenthal	15,000
Motagua	Tegucigalpa	Estadio Tiburcio Carías Andino	35,000
Olimpia	Tegucigalpa	Estadio Tiburcio Carías Andino	35,000
Platense	Puerto Cortés	Estadio Excélsior	7,910
Real España	San Pedro Sula	Estadio Francisco Morazán	26,781
Real Sociedad	Tocoa	Estadio Francisco Martínez Durón	3,000
Victoria	La Ceiba	Estadio Nilmo Edwards	18,000
Vida	La Ceiba	Estadio Nilmo Edwards	18,000

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Vacancy	Replaced by	Appointment	Position in table
Juticalpa	Roger Espinoza	Sacked[2]	7 September 2015	Emilio Umanzor	8 September 2015	7th (Apertura)
Platense	Ricardo Ortiz	Sacked[3]	8 September 2015	Guillermo Bernárdez	8 September 2015	10th (Apertura)
Vida	Ramón Maradiaga	Resigned[4]	20 September 2015	Elvin López	21 September 2015	4th (Apertura)
Real Sociedad	Horacio Londoño	Resigned[5]	22 September 2015	Mauro Reyes	22 September 2015	5th (Apertura)
Real España	Mario Zanabria	Resigned[6]	3 November 2015	Miguel Falero	3 November 2015	10th (Apertura)
Victoria	Jorge Pineda	Resigned[7]	19 January 2016	Horacio Londoño	19 January 2016	10th (Clausura)
Juticalpa	Emilio Umanzor	Sacked[8]	1 February 2016	Wilmer Cruz	1 February 2016	8th (Clausura)
Marathón	Jairo Ríos	Sacked[9]	19 February 2016	Carlos Pavón	19 February 2016	4th (Clausura)
Victoria	Horacio Londoño	Resigned[10]	5 April 2016	Jorge Lozano	5 April 2016	10th (Clausura)

Apertura

The Apertura tournament is the first half of the 2015–16 season. It began on 1 August with a 1–0 C.D. Victoria's win over Platense F.C. at Estadio Nilmo Edwards.^[11] Juticalpa F.C.'s first ever Liga Nacional game occurred on 9 August with great success for the debs as they managed to beat Real C.D. España with a 2–0 score. This game also served as the first ever official game at recently opened stadium Juan Ramón Brevé Vargas.^[12] On 30 August, C.D.S. Vida defeated Club Deportivo Olimpia with a 2–3 away score for the first time after 21 years at Estadio Tiburcio Carías Andino.^[13] That Olimpia's defeat represented their first time losing three consecutive games playing in Tegucigalpa since 2001 and their worst season start ever with a 1–0–4 record at the moment. On 7 September, Juticalpa's Roger Espinoza became the first coach to be sacked due to poor results.^[14] On 12 September, Vida's defender Elder Torres broke an all-time record against C.D. Motagua for being sent off after only 8 seconds of kickoff in a match played at Tegucigalpa.^[15] That same night, Olimpia's coach Héctor Vargas reached his 400 game as a manager in the Honduran Liga Nacional since his debut in 1998.^[16] On 26 September, manager Ramón Maradiaga coached his last game with Vida leading his team in a 2–0 victory over C.D. Real Sociedad as he was hired by the El Salvador national football team on their quest to the 2018 FIFA World Cup.^[17] On 4 October, Malian defender Mamadou Traoré became the first African player to score a goal in the history of the league in the Platense's 2–1 win over Vida.^[18] On 7 October, Marathón's president Yankel Rosenthal was arrested in Miami after the United States Department of Justice released a statement saying that he, as well as his uncle Jaime Rosenthal and cousin Yani Rosenthal were labeled "specially designated narcotics traffickers" under the Kingpin Act.^[19] On 6 November, C.D. Honduras Progreso clinched their first ever regular season title after defeating 1–0 Marathón at Estadio Humberto Micheletti. On 14 November, Motagua defeated Real España 7–1 at Tegucigalpa setting a record as the largest victory against them;^[20] representing also, the worst regular season finish for Real España with only 15 points of 54 possible (27.78%). On 10 December, international midfielder and Olimpia player Arnold Peralta was shot dead by a gunman in La Ceiba, five days after playing his last game in the semifinals.^[21] On 19 December, Honduras Progreso lifted their first league title after defeating Motagua on penalty shootouts after a 4–4 aggregate.^[22]

Regular season

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Honduras Progreso	18	11	3	4	31	21	+10	36	Qualification to the Semifinals
2	Motagua	18	9	5	4	41	25	+16	32
3	Olimpia	18	8	2	8	32	25	+7	26	Qualification to the Second round
4	Vida	18	7	5	6	19	24	−5	26
5	Marathón	18	6	6	6	19	20	−1	24
6	Real Sociedad	18	6	5	7	26	22	+4	23
7	Platense	18	5	7	6	20	20	0	22
8	Juticalpa	18	6	4	8	19	22	−3	22
9	Victoria	18	4	7	7	20	35	−15	19
10	Real España	18	3	6	9	26	39	−13	15

Results

As of 19 November 2015

Postseason

Playoffs

3rd seeded	Agg.	6th seeded	1st leg	2nd leg
Olimpia	5–4	Real Sociedad	2–2	3–2
4th seeded	Agg.	5th seeded	1st leg	2nd leg
Vida	0–0	Marathón	0–0	0–0

Semifinals

1st seeded	Agg.	4th seeded	1st leg	2nd leg
Honduras Progreso	1–0	Vida	0–0	1–0
2nd seeded	Agg.	3rd seeded	1st leg	2nd leg
Motagua	2–2	Olimpia	1–1	1–1

Final

1st seeded	Agg.	2nd seeded	1st leg	2nd leg
Honduras Progreso	4–4	Motagua	3–3	1–1

Clausura

The Clausura tournament is the second half of the 2015–16 season. The tournament started on 9 January 2016 at Estadio Yankel Rosenthal in the 1–2 C.D. Honduras Progreso's away victory over C.D. Marathón.^[23] This Honduras Progreso's win marks their fourth consecutive victory playing in their season's inaugural game, a flawless record since their promotion in 2014.^[24] For their second year in a row, Club Deportivo Olimpia launched an exclusive yellow jersey which will be used in the month of February to show their support to the fight against Childhood cancer.^[25] On 16 February, all-time C.D.S. Vida's top scorer Carlos Alvarado died at the age of 65.^[26] On the night of 6 April, there were two records accomplished by two players; Javier Portillo became the player with the most red cards in the league with 14 in total. Meanwhile, Leonardo Isaula played its 502nd match in the history of the league, breaking the previous mark left by Rony Morales who had 501 appearances.^[27] On 10 April, C.D. Victoria consummated their relegation to Liga de Ascenso after Real C.D. España defeated Marathón on week 14; it was the first relegation for Victoria since 2003.^[28] The season ended on 22 May 2016 as Olimpia conquered its 30th national title after defeating C.D. Real Sociedad in the finals with a 5–2 aggregated score.^[29]

Regular season

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Olimpia	18	11	4	3	37	13	+24	37	Qualification to the Semifinals
2	Real Sociedad	18	10	7	1	35	15	+20	37
3	Real España	18	9	5	4	29	19	+10	32	Qualification to the Second round
4	Motagua	18	9	3	6	28	22	+6	30
5	Juticalpa	18	8	4	6	25	22	+3	28
6	Marathón	18	7	4	7	25	20	+5	25
7	Vida	18	4	7	7	18	24	−6	19
8	Honduras Progreso	18	3	6	9	21	30	−9	15
9	Platense	18	3	6	9	18	34	−16	15
10	Victoria	18	1	4	13	10	47	−37	7

Results

As of 1 May 2016

Postseason

Playoffs

3rd seeded	Agg.	6th seeded	1st leg	2nd leg
Real España	2–1	Marathón	0–1	2–0
4th seeded	Agg.	5th seeded	1st leg	2nd leg
Motagua	3–1	Juticalpa	0–1	3–0

Semifinals

1st seeded	Agg.	4th seeded	1st leg	2nd leg
Olimpia	2–0	Motagua	0–0	2–0
2nd seeded	Agg.	3rd seeded	1st leg	2nd leg
Real Sociedad	5–2	Real España	2–2	3–0

Final

1st seeded	Agg.	2nd seeded	1st leg	2nd leg
Olimpia	5–2	Real Sociedad	2–1	3–1

Top goalscorers

As of 22 May 2016^[30]

• 25 goals:

Marco Vega (Real Sociedad)

• 18 goals:

Alberth Elis (Olimpia)

• 17 goals:

Claudio Cardozo (Real España)

• 15 goals:

Israel Silva (Motagua)

• 14 goals:

• 13 goals:

Lucas Gómez (Motagua)

• 11 goals:

• 10 goals:

• 9 goals:

• 8 goals:

• 7 goals:

• 6 goals:

• 5 goals:

• 4 goals:

• 3 goals:

• 2 goals:

• 1 goal:

• 1 own goal:

• 2 own goals:

Wilfredo Barahona (Real España)

Aggregate table

Relegation is determined by the aggregated table of both Apertura and Clausura tournaments. On 10 April 2016, C.D. Victoria officially became the team relegated to Liga de Ascenso.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Olimpia	36	19	6	11	69	38	+31	63	2016–17 CONCACAF Champions League
2	Motagua	36	18	8	10	69	47	+22	62
3	Real Sociedad	36	16	12	8	61	37	+24	60
4	Honduras Progreso	36	14	9	13	52	51	+1	51	2016–17 CONCACAF Champions League
5	Juticalpa	36	14	8	14	44	44	0	50
6	Marathón	36	13	10	13	44	40	+4	49
7	Real España	36	12	11	13	55	58	−3	47
8	Vida	36	11	12	13	37	48	−11	45
9	Platense	36	8	13	15	38	54	−16	37
10	Victoria	36	5	11	20	30	82	−52	26	Relegation to the 2016–17 Liga de Ascenso

References

External links

• LNP Official