Copa MX 2013

Lore & Background

Founded in 1927 in Jasso, Hidalgo, as Club Deportivo, Social y Cultural Cruz Azul, A.C., the club relocated to Mexico City in 1971. It was renamed Cruz Azul Fútbol Club, A.C. in 2012, before adopting its current name in 2022. The club achieved a continental treble in 1969, becoming the first CONCACAF club to do so, and later the first club worldwide to win the continental treble twice.

In Their Own Story

The bus pulled into the stadium parking lot and the noise hit before the players even killed the engine. Not the polite applause of a midweek league fixture—this was a roar, a low, sustained animal sound that vibrated through the chassis and into the soles of their boots. The captain grabbed the trophy bag, felt the weight of it through the leather, and looked at the man sitting across from him. No speech. Just a nod. They laced up, walked through the tunnel, and the noise swallowed them whole. The pitch was a rectangle of green under white halogen glare, the goal nets shimmering like frozen water. Blue scarves formed a river on the stands, and somewhere in that river, a father was holding his son on his shoulders so the kid could see the pitch. The whistle blew. The first touch was a back-pass, calm as breathing. And then the game opened, and the night belonged to the blue.

Reader's Guide

The Copa MX was suspended after the 1996–97 season and revived in the 2012–13 season. The 2013 Copa MX (Apertura 2013) featured a group stage followed by a knockout phase. The competition was discontinued after the Clausura 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic and restructuring.

Did You Know?

• Cruz Azul is one of only seven Mexican clubs to have never been relegated from the top flight.
• The club holds the record for most league runner-up finishes (12).
• Cruz Azul was the first CONCACAF club to reach the final of the Copa Libertadores.