Querétaro and Puebla, the Apertura 2026 surprise dreaming of ending their playoff drought

Some tables don't lie, and this one from the Apertura 2026 has two names that few expected to see near the top: Querétaro and Puebla. Two clubs that have spent years living far from the Liguilla spotlight are now sitting among the top eight with two of the tightest budgets in all of Liga MX. Short on payroll, long on hope.

Gallos Blancos sit in fifth place in the overall standings with 14 points and a goal difference of plus-3, a start that owes a lot to the work Esteban González has done on the sideline. The team has a whole new look, which is no small thing given where it's coming from. On the other side, in Puebla, Gerardo Espinoza has kept a competitive squad together despite the limitations the club has carried for seasons. La Franja is also in the mix, something that sounded almost like fantasy just six months ago.

Querétaro's seven-year wait

One thing should be clarified before talking about droughts: Querétaro hasn't been off the map forever. In fact, in the Clausura 2024 the club played in the Play-In, the stage that hands out the last tickets to the postseason, and was eliminated there by Necaxa.

But the Play-In is one thing, and the Liguilla itself is another entirely. On that front, Gallos have gone seven years without reaching it. You have to go back to the Apertura 2019, when the team was coached by Víctor Manuel Vucetich and advanced to the quarterfinals. And the team that ended that run? Necaxa, again. History repeats itself with almost uncomfortable precision.

Puebla looks to close out a three-year absence

La Franja's wait is shorter, though no less painful: three years without the Liguilla. The club's last trip to the playoffs came in the Apertura 2023, under Ricardo Carbajal, and it left behind the kind of memory that stings because of how close it came to something big.

In those quarterfinals, Puebla battled to a 2-2 draw against Tigres at home, at Estadio Cuauhtémoc, and dared to dream of an upset. But the second leg at Estadio Universitario told a different story: Tigres delivered a forceful 3-0 and advanced to the semifinals, leaving the Puebla side empty handed.

Now both clubs are once again peeking into territory that eluded them for so long. Nothing is guaranteed yet, the tournament still has a long way to go, but Querétaro and Puebla both have a chance in front of them to close out two stories that began, painfully, back in 2019 and 2023.