The early years of Club Deportivo Guadalajara
In 1906, Mexicans, together with Belgian and French immigrants, founded a football club called Club Unión. The name was taken from Avenida Unión; a street at whose intersection with the neighbouring Avenida Bosque (today José Guadalupe Zuno Hernandez) there was then an undeveloped area where the first match of the still young club was played.
Over the decades, the version has prevailed that the initiative to found the club came from the Belgian Edgar Everaert, who arrived in Guadalajara on 15 September 1904. Born in Bruges, Everaert had already been exposed to the game in his childhood and, according to legend, was a supporter of Club Bruges.
In contrast, Gabriel Orozco's records state that Club Unión was founded at the behest of his father, Gregorio Orozco. Among those who joined his project were Edgar Everaert, some Frenchmen, an Austrian, and several residents of Mexicaltzingo, a neighborhood south of downtown Guadalajara.
Gregorio Orozco was born on 17 July 1889. He got to know football through reading European newspapers. He quickly developed a passion for the sport and managed to inspire it in other young men around him. Thanks to the support of Edgar Everaert, balls and boots were imported from England and the official rules from Paris.
In 1908 Everaert suggested that the club change its name in line with the European model, where the custom of giving football clubs the name of their town or neighbourhood had become established. The main purpose of this measure was to create a sense of rootedness and belonging and to attract a public that identified with the club based in its town or neighbourhood. Thus, the renaming eventually occurred that same year. What was retained, however, were the club's original colours: the red and white striped shirts and blue shorts. According to the club's chronicle, the colours red, white and blue were chosen at the time of the club's foundation by the rather large faction of French co-founders according to the national colours of their home country. However, a different opinion holds that the colours of the coat of arms of the city of Bruges, Everaert's home, were used as a model, as this bears a striking resemblance to the club's logo (see left).
The new sport was quickly adopted by the youth of the neighborhood, so that the number of competitors grew rapidly. Guadalajara remained under the leadership of the Orozco brothers until 1915. The first president of the club was Rafael Orozco and in 1912 the office passed to his brother Gregorio Orozco.
The Liga de Occidente state championship was held for the first time in the 1908/09 season, giving Guadalajara an early opportunity to compete with other teams in the region. The first serious rival was the Liceo de Varones team, with whom they shared all titles up to and including 1913/14. Both teams were successful three times in each of those six years.
After the foundation of Atlas Guadalajara in 1916, it was the latter's team that first took over the supremacy in Jalisco, winning the championship four times in a row between 1918 and 1921. This was followed by three runner-up finishes for the Atlatistas between 1922 and 1924, in which CD Guadalajara won the championship as well as in 1925, when it first faced CD Nacional, who became CD Guadalajara's main rival until the late 1930s; for between 1926 and 1939 Guadalajara and Nacional were tied on the success scale with six titles each, and only once (1936) did Atlas manage to break their supremacy.
When the Mexican professional football league was introduced in the 1943/44 season, CD Guadalajara was one of the founding members, but in the early days usually only finished in mid-table or in the lower half of the table. At least twice (1951/52 and 1954/55) the vice-championship succeeded, before in the season 1956/57 the first championship title was won.
The CD Guadalajara team played its first professional match in a 1942/43 Copa México match on 6 June 1943. June 1943 in a Clásico Tapatío against Atlas Guadalajara, which was lost 1-3, with the following line-up: Félix Valadez - José "Pelón" Gutiérrez, Reyes "Térile" Sánchez - Victorino "Zarco" Vázquez, Rafael "Raffles" Orozco, Wintilo Lozano - José "Chato" Torres, Max Prieto, Pablo "Pablotas" González, Luis Reyes, Manuel "Cosas" López. Three players who played the first professional football match in the club's history came from El Salto: goalkeeper Valadez, defender Gutiérrez and striker González.
CD Guadalajara played their first match in the newly-introduced professional league on 21 October 1943. October 1943, a 4-1 away win against CF Atlante, with the following line-up: Esteban "Poeta" Pérez - Vicente "Chato" Hidalgo, José "Pelón" Gutiérrez - Rafael "Raffles" Orozco, Wintilo Lozano, Victorino "Zarco" Vázquez - Teófilo "Tilo" García, Max Prieto, Luis Reyes, Pablo "Pablotas" González, Manuel "Cosas" López.
Before the Deportivo Guadalajara football team won its first championship title in the 1956/57 season, the footballers reached the final of the Mexican Cup competition a total of four times, but lost on all occasions. Below are all the team line-ups of cup finalists during this period:
Vicente "Capulina" González - Rodrigo Ruiz, Gregorio "Tepa" Gómez - Castorena, Rafael "Rafles" Orozco, Francisco "Borrego" Silva - José Trinidad Naranjo, Juan Jasso, Javier "Chamaco" de la Torre, Max Prieto, Rafael "Zurdo" Rivera.
- Final 1951 against CF Atlante (0:1):
Jaime "Tubo" Gómez - Rodrigo Ruiz, Gregorio "Tepa" Gómez - Rafael "Rafles" Orozco, Rafael Bocanegra, Juan "Gallo" Delgado, Javier "Chamaco" de la Torre - Jesús "Chuco" Ponce, Javier "Chamaco" de la Torre, Tomás Balcázar, Rafael "Zurdo" Rivera.
Jaime "Tubo" Gómez - Pedro "Chato" Nuño, Guillermo "Tigre" Sepúlveda, José "Jamaicón" Villegas - Juan Jasso, Rafael "Zurdo" Rivera - Javier "Chamaco" de la Torre, Salvador "Chava" Reyes, Adalberto "Dumbo" López, Tomás Balcázar, Raúl "Pina" Arellano.
Jaime "Tubo" Gómez - Pedro "Chato" Nuño, Guillermo "Tigre" Sepúlveda, José "Jamaicón" Villegas - Juan Jasso, Rafael "Zurdo" Rivera - Francisco "Panchito" Flores, Salvador "Chava" Reyes, Adalberto "Dumbo" López, Crescencio "Mellone" Gutiérrez, Raúl "Pina" Arellano.
El Campeonísimo - the great years of Club Deportivo Guadalajara (1957 to 1965)
The discovery of some top-class young talent in the 1955/56 season heralded the most successful era yet in Club Deportivo Guadalajara's history, which now spans more than a century. These diamonds in the rough soon formed an ideal complement to the existing roster, and together they formed a team of great harmony in the years to come, winning seven championships in the nine years between 1957 and 1965, and losing the championship on the last day of the season.
The following season, 1956/57, Chivas Guadalajara had handed their arch-rivals América a stinging 7-0 drubbing and at the end of the season had become Mexican football champions for the first time. The champions' goalkeeper, Jaime el Tubo Gómez, described the title win at the time as "a celebration in the spirit of the fans and a symbolic triumph for genuine Mexican football"; an allusion to the club's consistent non-foreigner policy, the majority of whose long-time pillars from the Campeonisimo era were even born in Guadalajara. The triumph was greeted with joy and satisfaction not only in Guadalajara but throughout the country, as it was the first championship in 20 years to be won by a team made up entirely of Mexican players. The last time this had been achieved was by Necaxa in the 1936/37 season.
Winning the championship had left Chivas hungry for more. In order to keep the championship team together, the board even increased the players' salaries. The only change was in the coaching staff, with Uruguayan champion Donaldo Ross replaced by Hungarian Árpád Fekete. His defensive tactics, however, were not initially welcomed by the players or the spectators. However, as success set in, his tactics began to be increasingly accepted. After a third-place finish in the 1957/58 season, Guadalajara became champions for the second time in 1959 and defended their title for the first time in the 1959/60 season. After winning the title for the third time, Guadalajara began to be a prized national passion and Fékete proclaimed with satisfaction after the game, "We fought ... with a team made up only of Mexican players, against teams that were just loaded with foreign players. This is a tremendous success for Mexican football and you can all be proud to have a champion of inestimable value."
Despite successfully defending the title, Fékete was replaced by Javier de la Torre before the start of the 1960/61 season. His first act was to free the team from the tactical shackles imposed by Fékete. He gave the players the freedom to develop and come up with their own ideas. He also always listened to the players and did not restrict their creativity and inventiveness. The players thanked him in their own way and went on to win more titles.
In the 1960/61 season Guadalajara had to cope with a number of absentees due to injury, but the substitutes fitted in seamlessly and performed as well as the regulars, allowing Chivas to win their fourth championship - third in a row - with a 3-2 victory over Toluca. The chants of joy at Estadio Jalisco (Campeones, Campeones) were the spark in the creation of the new nickname Campeonisimo. In the 1961/62 season Guadalajara celebrated another title defence - their fourth successive triumph.
The 1962/63 season looked set to be another triumph. However, local neighbours Oro, of all teams, coached by Guadalajara's previous champion Arpad Fékete, gave the Chivistas a thrilling head-to-head. As if made to heighten the tension, the fixture list on the final matchday determined the meeting of these two teams, of all teams. Before the decisive game, Chivas Guadalajara were one point ahead, so a draw would have been enough to secure their fourth consecutive title. However, a late goal from Brazilian Necco to make it 1-0 to Oro saw the two sides swap places and Oro themselves win the title for the first - and only - time. For Javier de la Torre, the defeat to Oro was the result of fatigue and oversaturation.
These factors - fatigue and over-saturation - continued into the first half of the next season, when the team put in some pretty woeful performances. But in the second half of the season, they were transformed, unleashed on the pitch and began to come from behind. That season, they went head-to-head for the top spot against arch-rivals América. Guadalajara emerged victorious from that duel, capping a superb second half with their sixth title with a 2-0 win over city rivals Nacional on the final matchday. Chivas management were so overwhelmed by the celebrations that followed the title win that they invited fans to join the team at the club's ground.
Although Guadalajara never lost their lead in the standings in the following 1964/65 season, they came under severe pressure from Zacatepec, Atlas and, in the end, Oro. Defending the title proved increasingly difficult as the season wore on. The opponents in the championship battle strengthened themselves with foreign players. On the penultimate matchday, a draw was enough for Chivas to win the championship again. "And although there was joy in the red and white camp," Tubo Gómez recalls, "the fans were not as enthusiastic as in previous championships."
Many factors worked together to create the campeonisimo; a successful team made up only of local players that won 7 championship titles in 9 years: good camaraderie, consistency and an absolute will to win. But perhaps the decisive factor was that this team stayed together for a long time.
Chivas Flacas
Between the 1965 and 1970 championships, Guadalajara finished two third-place finishes (1966 and 1967), a sixth-place finish (1968), and a runner-up finish (1969). Chivas also finished second once again in the special tournament before the 1970 World Cup - immediately after winning the championship. But from then on, things went downhill. In the 1970/71 season, which was divided into two groups for the first time, Guadalajara escaped the relegation matches for staying in the league only because of one more point scored. After Chivas managed to reach the semi-finals of the championship once again in the 1971/72 season, narrowly losing 1-0 and 0-2 to eventual champions Cruz Azul, Guadalajara otherwise finished in double figures in the table for most of the 1970s and were given the new nickname "Chivas Flacas" (skinny goats); a reference to their meagre sporting performances. Eleven years after their near-relegation in 1971, Guadalajara again escaped the relegation play-offs by just one point in the 1981/82 season.
Among the long-time regulars of "Chivas Flacas" who never won a title with Chivas are (in alphabetical order with club affiliation in brackets) Pedro Damián Alvarez (1975-1980), Manuel Chavarría (1971-1976), Hugo Díaz de la Paz (1972-1982), Aurelio Hernández (1970-1972 and 1974-1980), Gabriel López Zapiain (1971-1982), José Martínez González (1970-1981); the jersey with the number 22 of the player who died in a traffic accident is no longer awarded), Víctor Rangel (1976-1984), José Luis Real (1971-1980) and Guillermo Torres (1971-1977 as well as 1980-1985).
The later years
The positive turnaround came with the appointment of their former homegrown Alberto Guerra as coach for the 1982/83 season. Under his guidance, Chivas Rayadas advanced to the final, eliminating arch-rivals and title favourites América in the semi-finals. After losing the first leg 2-1 in front of their own crowd, the surprisingly won the second leg 3-0 at Mexico City's Azteca Stadium to advance to the final, which (after 2-1 and 0-1) was ultimately lost 6-7 on penalties to Puebla FC in somewhat unfortunate fashion. Guadalajara also reached the finals in the following season 1983/84, this time failing 2-2 and 1-3 against América. However, the team had not yet reached its zenith. After 17 lean years, the Chivasi won their ninth league title at the end of the 1986/87 season. Alberto Guerra remained in charge until the end of the 1988/89 season, a tenure that lasted seven years and was surpassed only by the successful Campeonísimo coach Javier de la Torre, who had been in charge of Guadalajara for more than 12 years.
After a few more mediocre years, in which they missed out on the play-offs on several occasions and two semi-final appearances (against América in 1991 and Necaxa in 1995) were still their greatest achievements, a coach was finally brought in before the 1996/97 season in the shape of Brazilian-born Ricardo Ferretti, who was to put the team back on the road to success. Guadalajara won their tenth title in their very first season - the first in which there were two champions per season, as has been the norm ever since. After losing out to Necaxa in the quarter-finals of the Apertura, they marched through the Clausura play-offs with relative ease, beating Santos Laguna 1-1 and 5-0 in the quarter-finals and Toros Neza 1-1 and 6-1 in the final. "Man of the match in this second final, in which no goals had been scored by half-time, was Gustavo Nápoles, whose four goals in 34 minutes were enough to put the Toros to the sword.
Ferretti had coached the team over a four-year period, making a total of eight rounds of the championship, missing out on the play-offs only once. In addition to the aforementioned 1997 championship title, the club reached the finals once again in the 1998/99 Apertura and the semi-finals in the 1999/00 Clausura.
With Ferretti no longer in charge, Chivas had a disastrous season. In the Apertura it went particularly bad, so that only 3 of a total of 17 games were won. In the overall 2000/01 standings, Guadalajara eventually finished 17th (out of 18 teams). With this record, the club only avoided relegation because in Mexico there is only one relegation per season, which is also calculated based on a three-year record.
Since then, the club has gone through some ups and downs, but under its new president, the wealthy Jorge Vergara (in office since November 2002), has found its way back to success. In the Clausura 2003/04 they reached a championship final again, even if it was lost to UNAM Pumas. After a 1-1 draw in Guadalajara and a 0-0 draw at the Olympic Stadium in Mexico City, the penalty shoot-out that was needed to determine the winner was lost 4-5 when Rafael Medina failed to convert the last penalty.
In December 2006, Chivas won their eleventh and most recent league title. After a mixed first round with seven wins and five losses, the team excelled in the subsequent Liguilla, the Mexican term for the play-offs. In the Repechaje, the qualifying round for the Liguilla, the Chivasi first eliminated Tiburones Rojos de Veracruz (2-1 and 4-0) and then beat big rivals Cruz Azul (2-0 and 2-2) and América (2-0 and 0-0) to reach the finals against Diablos Rojos de Toluca, in which Guadalajara prevailed 1-1 and 2-1.
Immediately prior to their eleventh league title, Chivas Guadalajara had already made a splash in the Copa Libertadores, South America's Champions League. In 2005 and 2006, Guadalajara reached the semi-finals twice in a row; and yet in 2005, struggled to overcome the fate of the competition. After beating league rivals Pachuca 1-1 and 3-1 in the round of 16, which Guadalajara hailed as a triumph of true Mexican football, they swept aside South America's most successful side of the new millennium, three-time World Cup winners Boca Juniors, 4-0 at their own Estadio Jalisco in the quarter-finals. Chivas were in for a hot ride at Boca's legendary stadium, the Bombonera. But they defended a 0-0 draw with luck and skill, until the 79th minute. Then the nerves of the Argentinians, who were used to winning, were visibly on edge. After a scuffle between some of the players, the Boca Juniors supporters and attendants got involved. As a result, the referee saw no other option than to stop the match. The South American Football Association eventually decided that the result of 0-0 should remain valid. Boca was out and Chivas in the semi-finals. However, Guadalajara were forced to field five players - Oswaldo Sanchez, Carlos Salcido, Ramon Morales, Alberto Medina and Omar Bravo - for their national team, who were playing in the FIFA Confederations Cup 2005 at the same time as Chivista's first leg against Brazilian representatives Athletico Paranaense. Without these key players, Chivas went down 3-0.
It didn't help that Chivas club owner Jorge Vergara flew his veterans in on his private jet for the second leg at their home Estadio Jalisco immediately after Mexico's third-place match against hosts Germany; even with the internationals and despite a 1:0 lead at the break and two other quality first-half chances, the first of which hit the crossbar and the second of which was saved by a Brazilian defender, it was still only a 2-2 draw that could not make up for the heavy first-leg defeat. Nevertheless, Chivas may have set a remarkable record on the day, as with the exception of Omar Bravo, who had not played in the Confederations Cup, all the other players had also played in the Mexican side's match against the German side in Leipzig the previous day, meaning the four Chivas players - Sánchez, Salcido, Morales and Medina - played two games in two days on two continents.
Athletico Paranaense lost their final matches 1-1 and 0-4 to FC São Paulo. Chivas won 2-1 twice against this team in the preliminary group matches of the 2006 Copa Libertadores, but eventually also lost 1-0 and 3-0 to this opponent in the semi-finals of the same tournament.
Four years later, Guadalajara reached the 2010 Copa Libertadores finals and again lost to a Brazilian opponent; this time SC Internacional 2-1 and 2-3.
After Chivas went through a few lean years in terms of sport, the team has shown improvement again since 2015. In the four seasons of 2015 and 2016, Chivasi reached the Liguillas three times in the fight for the Mexican football championship, in which they were defeated once in the semi-finals by eventual champions Santos Laguna and twice in a row in the quarter-finals by arch-rivals Club América. During the same period, they also qualified for the cup final three times, and won the domestic cup competition for the third time overall (after 1963 and 1970) in the 2015 Apertura by defeating "home" Club León 1-0 in the final at Estadio León on 5 November 2015. This success was achieved with the following line-up:
Rodolfo Cota - Carlos Salcido, Oswaldo Alanís (he scored the winning goal in the 71st minute), Miguel Ponce, Miguel Basulto - Marco Fabián (80th Israel Castro), Michael Pérez, Raúl López - Carlos Fierro (64th Isaác Brizuela), Omar Bravo, Carlos Cisneros (71st Ángel Zaldívar); Coach: Matías Almeyda.
Also in the 2017 Clausura, the Chivasi (for the fourth time in the fifth tournament overall) reached the final held on 19 April 2017, which was won 3-1 on penalties against Monarcas Morelia after a goalless encounter. It was the club's first major title at the Estadio Chivas, which has been used since 2010. This success was achieved with the following line-up:
Miguel Jiménez - Carlos Salcido, Miguel Ponce, Hedgardo Marín, Néstor Calderón (63rd), Eduardo López - Michael Pérez, Jesús Sánchez, Orbelín Pineda - Alan Pulido, Carlos Fierro, Ángel Zaldívar (39th), Rodolfo Pizarro; Coach: Matías Almeyda.
Less than six weeks later, Chivas also won their first league title at their own stadium after more than a decade without success, thus claiming the double in the 2017 Clausura for the first time since 1970. The 2-1 win over UANL Tigres was achieved by the following team on 28 May 2017: Rodolfo Cota - Oswaldo Alanís, Carlos Salcido, Jair Pereira, Edwin Hernández - Néstor Calderón (59. Carlos Fierro), José Juan Vázquez, Orbelín Pineda (90.+3 Ángel Zaldívar), Rodolfo Pizarro - Jesús Sánchez, Alan Pulido. Pulido and Vázquez scored for Chivas.
As Mexican champions, Chivas once again played in the CONCACAF Champions League, winning it for the second time in the club's history in 2018. The recent successes have been closely linked to Argentine coach Matías Almeyda, who kept the promise he made when signing the club in September 2015 to "revive the sleeping giant".
After almost three years and several titles, Almeyda announced his departure from Chivas in June 2018. According to him, this was due to various differences with the management, which had announced a "financial consolidation" and transferred key players such as goalkeeper Rodolfo Cota, defender Oswaldo Alanís and striker Rodolfo Pizarro to other clubs against the coach's wishes.
Less than 24 hours after Almeyda parted ways, former Paraguayan striker José Saturnino Cardozo was signed as his replacement.
