Estadio Akron (2006)

Lore & Background

Founded in 1906 as Unión Football Club, the club adopted its current name, Club Deportivo Guadalajara, in 1908. Nicknamed Chivas, it was one of ten founding members of the first professional national league in Mexico, Liga Mayor (current Liga MX). Guadalajara is one of seven Mexican clubs that have never been relegated. The club is the only one in Mexico that does not sign foreign or naturalized players unless they are of Mexican descent, historically relying on home-grown players.

In Their Own Story

The floodlights hummed to life one by one, painting the grass in bands of white and gold. In the lower tier, a boy pressed his forehead against the cool concrete of the barrier, his small hands gripping the railing, watching the Rojiblanco shirts jog out in a loose line. His grandfather sat three rows back, eyes half-closed, lips moving in a silent prayer he'd been saying since 1943. The old Estadio Jalisco was already a memory; the demolition crews had finished their work months ago. But this—this bowl of seats, this smell of cut grass and cheap beer, this wall of red and white that stretched all the way around—this was the future. The referee's whistle split the night air, and forty-nine thousand voices became one, a single living thing roaring from the concrete and the steel. The boy didn't understand yet that he would spend the rest of his life coming back to this exact spot, to this exact feeling, and that the stadium would outlast him but the roar would not.

Reader's Guide

Domestically, Guadalajara has won twelve Liga MX titles, four Copa MX titles, seven Campeón de Campeones, and one Supercopa MX. It holds the league record for the longest winning streak at the start of a season, with eight consecutive wins in the Bicentenario 2010. Internationally, it has won two CONCACAF Champions Cup/Champions League titles and finished as runners-up in the 2010 Copa Libertadores.

Did You Know?

• According to a 2016 study, Guadalajara was the most popular Mexican club, with 44.2% of supporters in the country.
• In 2020, Forbes estimated the club was the most valuable in the league, ranking sixth in the Americas, worth approximately $311.5 million.
• The club's nickname 'Chivas' originated from the name 'Chivas Locas' (Crazy Goats) given during a 1948–49 game against Tampico, initially an insult but later adopted due to popularity.