Liga MX 2017

Lore & Background

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. Domestically, CD Guadalajara is one of the most successful Mexican clubs, winning twelve Liga MX titles, four Copa MX titles, and seven Campeón de Campeones, 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.

In Their Own Story

The floodlights hummed to life over a half-empty bowl in Zapopan. It was a Tuesday in November, Apertura 2017, and the scoreboard read 0-0 in the 78th minute. A Chivas midfielder, boots caked in the red clay of the Jalisco soil, stared up at the upper tier where a single banner read: "NO TE VAMOS A OLVIDAR, REBAÑO." He wiped sweat from his brow, felt the weight of 111 years of expectation in his shoulders, and turned back to the centre circle. The crowd was small—too small for a club of this magnitude—but the few thousand voices that filled the night air carried a particular quality: not the roar of a title night, but the low, grinding, unbreakable hum of a people who had decided, long ago, that they would not let go. He took the ball on his chest, looked up the pitch, and played it forward. The season would end in silence. But the silence, he knew, was not the end. It was the breath before the next song.

Reader's Guide

The club's history includes the amateur era (1908–1943), during which Guadalajara won 13 amateur titles. In the professional era, the team experienced early struggles but later achieved great success during 'El Campeonísimo' (1955–1970), winning seven league championships, two cups, three CONCACAF titles and seven Champion of Champions titles. It 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. The club later faced a difficult period known as 'Las Chivas Flacas' (1971–1983), followed by a recovery beginning in the 1982–83 season.

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 Locas' (Crazy Goats) was first used during a game against Tampico in the 1948–49 season, initially as an insult but later adopted due to the team's popularity.