Liga MX 1986

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.

In Their Own Story

The floodlights at Estadio Jalisco hummed to life on a warm April evening. The horseshoe-shaped stands were a sea of white and red, the Chivería packed shoulder to shoulder, scarves draped over railings, drums pounding a rhythm that rattled the concrete. On the pitch, the Diablos Rojos moved with the kind of collective fluency that only comes from months of shared training, shared frustration, shared belief. A midfielder threaded a diagonal ball that split three defenders; the winger cut inside, drew the last man, and slipped it to the striker who was already in space. The net bulged. The stadium detonated. Somewhere in the upper tier, a father lifted his daughter onto his shoulders and she screamed the club's name into the night air. The scoreboard read Chivas, and for that moment, the whole of Guadalajara was one heartbeat.

Reader's Guide

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, Carlos Vela and Carlos Salcido, among others.

Did You Know?

• 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.
• The club 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.