2009–10 Honduran Liga Nacional

Liga Nacional
Season	2009–10
Champions	Apertura: Marathón (8th title); Clausura: Olimpia (23rd title)
Relegated	Real Juventud
Champions League	Marathón; Olimpia; Motagua
Top goalscorer	Apertura: Jerry Palacios (13 goals); Clausura: Jerry Bengtson (12 goals)
	← 2008–09 2010–11 →

The 2009–10 Liga Nacional de Fútbol de Honduras season is the 45th season of top-flight professional football in Honduras and the nineteenth season in which the Apertura and Clausura system is used.

Marathón and Olimpia claimed the Apertura and Clausura championships, respectively.

Club information

Ten teams will participate in the 2009–10 season. Nine teams from last season remain for this season. Real Juventud were relegated at the end of the 2008–09 season. They would have been replaced by Liga Nacional de Ascenso de Honduras promotion play-off winners Atlético Gualala. However, both teams decided to merge under the name of Real Juventud prior to the season.^{[citation needed]}

Club	City
Deportes Savio	Santa Rosa de Copán
Hispano	Comayagua
Marathón	San Pedro Sula
Motagua	Tegucigalpa
Olimpia	Tegucigalpa
Platense	Puerto Cortés
Real España	San Pedro Sula
Real Juventud	Santa Bárbara
Victoria	La Ceiba
Vida	La Ceiba

Torneo Apertura

The Torneo Apertura began on July 18, 2009, and ended on November 25, 2009. Marathón, Motagua, Olimpia and Real España qualified for the Apertura final round after ending the tournament in the top four places.

Classification stage

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Marathón	18	11	5	2	32	16	+16	38	Advanced to the Final Stage
2	Motagua	18	10	5	3	31	14	+17	35
3	Olimpia	18	8	6	4	29	16	+13	30
4	Real España	18	9	3	6	26	20	+6	30
5	Victoria	18	7	5	6	22	27	−5	26
6	Platense	18	6	6	6	23	25	−2	24
7	Vida	18	4	6	8	22	33	−11	18
8	Deportes Savio	18	4	5	9	13	23	−10	17
9	Hispano	18	4	3	11	17	28	−11	15
10	Real Juventud	18	3	4	11	19	32	−13	13

Updated to games played on November 4, 2009.
Source: RSSSF
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Results

Home \ Away^[1]	SAV	HIS	MAR	MOT	OLI	PLA	RES	RJU	VIC	VID
Deportes Savio		1–0	0–1	0–2	1–0	1–1	1–0	1–1	0–1	0–1
Hispano	1–0		0–2	2–2	0–0	2–1	0–3	3–0	1–0	2–2
Marathón	1–1	2–1		2–0	2–2	0–2	1–0	4–1	3–0	3–1
Motagua	3–1	1–0	2–2		0–1	2–0	1–0	2–0	3–0	1–2
Olimpia	2–0	1–0	0–2	0–0		1–1	2–0	2–1	6–1	7–1
Platense	1–1	1–0	0–1	2–2	1–1		2–3	1–0	1–1	3–2
Real España	2–1	3–2	3–2	1–2	2–0	1–2		1–0	2–0	1–0
Real Juventud	0–1	4–2	2–3	0–3	1–1	3–1	2–2		2–2	2–1
Victoria	4–1	2–0	0–0	0–4	2–1	4–0	1–1	1–0		2–2
Vida	2–2	3–1	1–1	1–1	1–2	0–3	1–1	1–0	0–1

Updated to games played on November 4, 2009.
Source: RSSSF
1 ^{^} The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Final stage

The Final Stage ran from November 7, 2009, to November 25, 2009. Two-legged ties in this stage were settled by points: three for a win, one for a draw, and zero for a loss. Ties in points in the semifinals were settled first by goal difference, followed by the Classification Stage standings. A tie in points in the Finals would be settled by goal difference first, followed by two 15-minute extra-time periods, then a penalty shootout if necessary.

Semifinals

Semifinal A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Marathón	2	1	0	1	3	3	0	3	Advanced to the Finals ¹
2	Real España	2	1	0	1	3	3	0	3

Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd goal difference; 3rd best classification stage standing.
1. Marathón advanced because of better classification standing.

Real España v Marathón

November 7, 2009
19:30 (UTC-6)

Real España	1–2	Marathón
Lucas 31' (o.g.)		Palacios 15' Ramírez 48'

Estadio Francisco Morazán, San Pedro Sula
Attendance: 6,408
Referee: José Cálix

Marathón v Real España

November 10, 2009
19:30 (UTC-6)

Marathón	1–2	Real España
Palacios 13'		Caetano 10' González 50'

Estadio Olímpico Metropolitano, San Pedro Sula
Referee: Geovanny Mendoza

Semifinal B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Olimpia	2	1	0	1	2	1	+1	3	Advanced to the Finals
2	Motagua	2	1	0	1	1	2	−1	3

Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd goal difference; 3rd best classification stage standing.

Olimpia v Motagua

November 7, 2009
19:30 (UTC-6)

Olimpia	0–1	Motagua
		Diduch 41' (pen.)

Estadio Tiburcio Carías Andino, Tegucigalpa
Attendance: 6,408
Referee: Óscar Moncada

Motagua v Olimpia

November 10, 2009
19:30 (UTC-6)

Motagua	0–2	Olimpia
		Rojas 14' Turcios 85'

Estadio Tiburcio Carías Andino, Tegucigalpa
Referee: Benigno Pineda

Finals

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Marathón	2	1	0	1	2	1	+1	3	2010–11 CONCACAF Champions League Preliminary Round
2	Olimpia	2	1	0	1	1	2	−1	3

Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd extra time; 3rd penalty shootout.

Olimpia v Marathón

November 22, 2009
16:00 (UTC-6)

Olimpia	1–0	Marathón
Rosales 70'

Estadio Tiburcio Carías Andino, Tegucigalpa
Attendance: 12,477
Referee: Óscar Moncada

Marathón v Olimpia

November 25, 2009
19:30 (UTC-6)

Marathón	2–0	Olimpia
Ramírez 5' Palacios 64'

Estadio Olímpico Metropolitano, San Pedro Sula
Referee: Benigno Pineda

Marathón

Olimpia



GK	27	Juan Obelar
RB	23	Mauricio Sabillón
CB	4	Máximo Lucas	67'
CB	5	Erick Norales
LB	6	Juan Carlos García
CM	3	Astor Henríquez	63'
CM	19	Mario Berríos
AM	11	Guillermo Ramírez	73'
RF	15	Walter Martínez
CF	10	Jerry Palacios
LF	22	Mitchel Brown
Substitutions:
MF	–	Mario Rodríguez	63'
DF	–	Luis Santamaría	67'
MF	–	Mariano Acevedo	73'
Manager:
Manuel Keosseian



GK	27	Noel Valladares
RB	30	Johnny Palacios
CB	4	Fabio de Souza
CB	–	Jaime Rosales
LB	7	Rony Morales
DM	–	Franklin Arévalo
CM	–	Rubén Matamoros
CM	–	Johnny Calderón	69'
AM	–	Danilo Turcios
CF	11	Wilmer Velásquez	69'
CF	33	Ramiro Bruschi	74'
Substitutions:
MF	–	Erick Andino	69'
FW	–	Everaldo Ferreira	69'
FW	–	Jocimar Nascimento	74'
Manager:
Juan Carlos Espinoza

Liga Nacional 2009–10 Apertura Champion
C.D. Marathón 8th title

Top goalscorers

Pos	Player	Team	Goals
1	Jerry Palacios	Marathón	13
2	Georgie Welcome	Motagua	11
3	Mauricio Copete	Victoria	9
4	Mitchel Brown	Marathón	8
4	Wilmer Velásquez	Olimpia	8
6	Jerry Bengtson	Vida	7
	Charles Córdoba	Vida	7
	Harrison Róchez	Platense	7
9	Douglas Caetano	Real España	6
10	Pompilio Cacho	Real Juventud	5
	Randy Diamond	Real Juventud	5
	Sergio Diduch	Motagua	5