Pumas UNAM open the Apertura 2026-27 season against Pachuca on Sunday morning at the Estadio Olimpico Universitario in Mexico City, and the fixture doubles as the first match of Esteban Solari’s reign in charge. It is also the sort of opener that can change the mood around a club quickly: Pumas arrive with a new coach, a familiar opponent and the memory of a playoff run that ended with silverware slipping away.
Solari takes over from Efrain Juarez with Pumas having finished 10th in the Apertura before surging to the top of the Clausura regular-season table on 36 points, level with Guadalajara but ahead on goal difference, plus 17 to 16. That run carried them to the Clausura final, where Cruz Azul won 2-1 on aggregate after Rodolfo Rotondi struck a stoppage-time winner in the second leg. The edge of that campaign still matters because it is the standard Solari is inheriting: a team that proved it can compete at the top, but one that is now trying to restart after a title loss and a coaching change.
The opening match also gives Pumas a quick chance to test how Solari wants them to look. A new head coach usually begins by protecting structure first, keeping the side compact and asking the players who already know the system to carry the load while he settles the details. That matters here because Pumas have won just once in their last five fixtures across all competitions, and their most recent competitive outing was a 2-1 loss to Cruz Azul. They also fell 1-0 to America de Cali in a pre-season match, which leaves little room for a slow start if they want the Apertura to feel different from the end of the last campaign.
Pachuca arrive with their own edge. Benjamin Mora is their new manager, and the club finished ninth in the Apertura before ending the Clausura regular season in fourth place, then reaching the playoff semi-finals before Pumas knocked them out. Their last five outings produced three wins and two defeats, with four goals scored and three conceded, and both losses came against Pumas. That recent record gives the opener extra bite, especially because this is also Solari’s reunion with the club he left at the end of the Clausura.
There is a second layer to the matchup as well. Pachuca signed Rodolfo Pizarro from FC Juarez ahead of the new campaign, while Pumas and Pachuca have split their last five meetings with two wins for Pumas and three for Pachuca. But the larger question belongs to Solari: whether he can turn a strong recent ceiling into a clean beginning. If Pumas start well on Sunday morning, the title race around them will already feel different. If they do not, the opening week will quickly revive the doubts that followed the season-ending defeat.
