First Division, 1984-85 championship. Same structure as Second Division, except the top 2 teams in each group went to quarterfinals instead of semi-final round-robin groups and the 2 teams with fewest points after the first stage went to relegation play-off. And almost inevitable confusing change, of course – after the first stage of the championship Oaxtepec (Oaxtepec) was sold and moved to Puebla, where continued the championship as Angeles (Puebla).
Grupo 1
1. America (Mexico City) 46 points after 38 games.
2. Leon (Leon) 42
3. UANL (Monterrey) 35
4. Deportivo Neza (Nezahualcoyotl) 28
5. Necaxa (Mexico City) 25 to relegation play-off
Grupo 2.
1. UNAM (Mexico City) 55
2. Atlas (Guadalajara) 43
3. Tampico-Madero 42
4. Oaxtepec( Oaxtepec)/ Angeles (Puebla) 35
5. Atletico Morelia (Morelia) 30
Grupo 3.
1. Universidad de Guadalajara (Guadalajara) 47
2. Cruz Azul (Mexico City) 47
3. Atlante (Mexico City) 44
4. Atletico Potosino (San Luis Potosi) 34
5. Monterrey (Monterrey) 32
Grupo 4
1. CD Guadalajara (Guadalajara) 45
2. Puebla (Puebla) 37
3. UAG (Zapopan) 36
4. Toluca (Toluca) 30
5. Zacatepec (Zacatepec) 27 to relegation play-off
As in the Second Division, the rules played a joke: in a normal final table Puebla would have been 10th and out of play-offs, but they went ahead as second-placed in their group.
Necaxa and Zacatepec met to decide the relegated team.
Necaxa won both legs – 2-1 and 1-0 – and survived. Zacatepec was relegated.
The ¼ finals.
Puebla lost to UNAM after high drama: 2-0, 0-2, penalty shoot out 3-5.
Leon prevailed over Universidad de Guadalajara in similar fashion: 1-0, 1-2, penalty shoot out 5-4.
Atlas eliminated Cruz Azul: 1-1 and 2-0.
CD Guadalajara lost twice to America: 0-2 and 0-1.
In the semifinals UNAM prevailed over Leon 3-3 and 2-0. Atlas and America fought with equal strength, but America clinched victory: 1-1, 0-0, 8-7 penalty shoot-out.
And the grand final at last: America vs UNAM. 1-1 in the first match. 0-0 in the second leg. Third match was staged on neutral ground, in Queretaro. Now America won: 3-1.
UNAM lost and probably deserved to lose – it happen to be a matter of endurance and eventually the Pumas cracked. Quite a bitter ending of otherwise strong season.
America (Mexico City) won the championship and it was no surprise – they had splendid season. Their timing was better than UNAM’s – Pumas seemingly spent lots of energy in the first phase, where America was more parsimonious. America was gradually coming to their best form and given the circumstances of this year, they aimed at two championships, so the idea was to be at their best in the second half the year. It worked.