Copa MX 2003

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 bus pulls into the stadium parking lot and the noise hits before the doors even open — a wall of red and white, drums pounding, the chant rolling like a wave off the concrete. A young midfielder, still in his warm-up kit, presses his forehead against the glass and whispers, "We've got to be ready for this." The captain claps him on the back, says nothing, just points toward the tunnel. Inside, the pitch glow is sharp under the floodlights, the grass freshly cut, the smell of chalk and cut grass mixing with the roar. The opposing team is already lining up, and you can see them glancing at the stands. They know. Everyone knows what it means to play in front of the Chivería on a night like this. The referee checks his watch. The silence that falls over forty thousand throats lasts exactly three seconds. Then the ball is kicked, and the night belongs to the red and white.

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. 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.

Did You Know?

• The club was founded by Edgar Everaert, who arrived in Mexico in 1906.
• Guadalajara won its first professional league championship in 1956, led by Salvador Reyes.
• The team was nicknamed 'Chivas Locas' (Crazy Goats) during a game against Tampico in the 1948–49 season.
• El Campeonísimo was the only team in Mexico's football history to win four league championships in a row, during the 1958–59, 1959–60, 1960–61, and 1961–62 seasons.