Copa MX 1997

Lore & Background

Founded in 1906 as Unión Football Club, the club changed its name to Guadalajara Football Club in 1908, and then changed to its current name in 1923. Nicknamed Chivas, it was one of ten founding members of the first professional and national league in Mexico, named Liga Mayor (current Liga MX). Guadalajara is one of seven Mexican clubs that have never been relegated. Chivas is the only football club in Mexico that does not sign foreign or naturalized players unless they are of Mexican descent. The team has historically relied on home-grown (cantera) players and has been the launching pad of many internationally successful players, including Javier Hernández and Carlos Salcido, among others.

In Their Own Story

The floodlights hummed over the Estadio Jalisco, casting long shadows across the worn grass. Inside the tunnel, the locker room smelled of deep heat and old leather. A veteran captain ran his thumb over the crest on his jersey, feeling the raised thread of the 'C' and the 'G' stitched by hand. Around him, younger players tapped their thighs in rhythm, a nervous staccato that matched the thumping of the crowd beyond the concrete walls. The referee's whistle would come in three minutes. Three minutes to add another line to a history that already stretched back to 1906. He closed his eyes, heard the chant rising like a tide—'¡Chivas, Chivas, Chivas!'—and opened them again. The tunnel mouth glowed white. He stepped forward, and the noise swallowed the world whole.

Reader's Guide

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

Did You Know?

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