Club León


Club León, also known as León, is a Mexican professional football club based in León, Guanajuato, Mexico.
León won titles including the Liga MX México Primera División title seven times in 1948, 1949, 1952, 1956, 1992; Apertura in 2013; and Clausura in 2014. It became the first Mexican campeonísimo by winning the League and the México Cup in 1949. León was the CONCACAF Champions' Cup runner-up in 1993. It is the only second Liga MX team to win back-to-back championships in short tournaments.
The club qualified for the Champion's Cup in 1998 until it was eliminated in the semi-final. The team has been a consistent contender for the Primera División since 2002. It failed to reach the Primera División due to a series of mediocre performances in the playoffs despite good plays during the regular season until the 2012 Clausura tournament. Ten years later, León reached the Primera División after defeating Correcaminos UAT. In the Apertura 2013, it won the championship by defeating América with a score of 5–1 which earned it its sixth championship star. In Clausura 2014, it became champion for the second year in a row by defeating Pachuca with 4–3, giving it its seventh championship star and the title of "bicampeones". In recent years, Club Leon has attracted a non-Spanish speaking football fanbase and managed to secure new Spanish-language broadcast partnerships with Fox Sports Latinoamérica in Mexico and Telemundo Deportes in the U.S. Since 2016, Univision Deportes holds the U.S. broadcasting rights to León home games.
León is ranked No. 29 in the IFFHS Central and North America's best clubs of the 20th century.

History

The club was created from an application by Unión de Curtidores which merged with Selección de Guanajuato. With the money raised, the directive hired Marcial Ortiz, Raul Varela, Alfonso Montemayor, Salvador Ramírez, Conrado Muniz, Vicente Serrano, Pepe Cortes, "Sticks" Ramírez, Elpidio Sánchez, and Joaquín Source Duillo Dobles. It participated in the Liga Mayor's second season. The team comprised Argentinian players and Miguel Rugilo that served as coach and goalkeeper holder. Battaglia played defense plus two fronts; Marcos Aurelio scored 14 goals with Ángel Fernández. The team debuted at Patria Stadium on August 20, 1944, against Atlante and lost by a score of 5–3.
In the 1945–46 season another team appeared in the city: the San Sebastián de León. They placed fourth out of 16 teams with 30 games, 17 wins, 4 draws, 9 losses for 38 points. Their top scorer, with 24 goals, Alberto Mendoza.
In the 1946–47 season notable players joined, one of whom was Adalberto Lopez, who scored 33 goals. In general, the team had a great campaign being runner-up with 41 points and maintained a fourteen-game winning streak. Another important element was Marcos Aurelio, who highlighted with 16 goals. A match against Atlante was scheduled place in Mexico City on June 1, 1947, in the Stadium Insurgentes which took place in León, but had to switch venues due to an epidemic of foot-and-mouth disease afflicting the Bajío region
In a match against Club America on May 9, 1946, Florencio Caffaratti accidentally touched an electrical wire after scoring a goal. Alfonso Montemayor rescued him. Subsequently, Caffaratti gave a gold coin to Montemayor with the inscription: "In appreciation of Montemayor by F. Caffaratti."

1947–48

When José María Casullo coached Club León, the greens lost seven times, three of them against Atlas Gold. The team tied at 36 points with the Jalisco Gold at first place. Jalisco Gold broke the tie with a score of 2–0.

1948–49

Club León defeated Asturias 2–0 with goals by Adalberto López to prevent a tie with Atlas and Guadalajara who remained a point, and Leon became the first to win the tournament campeonísimo cup after defeating Atlante 3–0 on August 14, 1949.

1951–52

Club León switched coaches to Antonio López Herranz. Antonio Carbajal joined the team with the return of Marcos Aurelio, Sergio Bravo, and Saturnino Martínez. The team played against a Guadalajara team coached by José María Casullo. León won both games of the year with scores of 1–0. In the penultimate round, León lost to Guadalajara by 1 point.
In the following season, the team remained in third place at 27 points. For the 1953–54 season it finished eighth with 21 points.

1955–56

The season's roster increased to 14 teams. León won the best streak in club history with 12 wins and 7 draws before losing against Tampico. The final game was played at the University Olympic Stadium Mexico City, where León defeated Gold and Toluca.
In 1956–57 León lost to Guadalajara. In 1957–58 they reached fifth place but won the Cup title.

1960s

León remained in fifth place in the 1960–61 season with 26 points, fifth place in 1961–62 with 25 points, ninth place in 1962–63 with 25 points, ninth place in 1963–64 with 25 points, seventh place in 1964–65 with 30 points, ninth place in 1965–66 with 28 points, fifth place in 1966–67 with 34 points, fifth place in 1967–68 with 35 points, seventh place in 1968–69 with 31 points, and seventh place in 1969–70 with 31 points.

1970s

For the Mexico 70 Tourney, there were two technical changes: the starter Argentine Luis Grill was replaced, but was reinstated after Antonio Carbajal left, as a result, left with 33 points to fourth overall Sergio Anaya new stand becomes scorer the contest with 16 touchdowns, while Luis Estrada mark 13 goals. 1970–71 players arrive, Jorge Davino, Roberto Salomone and Juan Valiente who scored ten goals, the club was led by Carbajal and ranked fourth with 38 points.
In 1972–73, initiate driven A. Carbajal was replaced by Rafael Albrecht that served as player and coach. The final game was against Cruz Azul.
In 1973–74 the team failed to qualify at fifth place with 40 points.

First relegation

In 1986–87 Jorge Davino scored 10 points in 19 days.

1990s

The Esmeraldas returned to the Primera División for the 1990–91 season and were coached by Victor Manuel Vucetich, who debuted in the top flight and led the entire tournament. He led the club in sixth place with 41 points but did not qualify to be third in group 3, and Martin Uribe Francisco Peña highlighted with 13 and 12 goals.

Second relegation

Robert Zermeno cost the team and landed them in last place with 19 points.

Liga de Ascenso

After relegation, the club was sold to Argentine businessman Carlos Ahumada.

Return to Primera División

Uruguayan-Argentinian Gustavo Matosas began leading León on January 7, 2012, after being hired in September 2011. During the Apertura 2011 campaign, he could not have a presence off the bench or be registered as coach because he had coached Querétaro in the same tournament.
Matosas' 10 wins, 4 draws, and 0 defeats in 14 regular season dates, resulted in an ERA of 70.83% and the overall leader, helping them earn a direct qualification to semi-finals of the play-offs. In the semi-finals, they faced Correcaminos UAT and won 1–0 in the second match before facing the BUAP in the final. On May 5, 2012, Leon was crowned undefeated champion of the Clausura by an aggregate score of 7–3 and the right to play again in the Final de Ascenso.
León struggled for their fourth final for promotion after losing against Irapuato in 2003, Dorados de Sinaloa in 2005, and Indios de Ciudad Juárez in 2008.
Club León won the Clausura 2014 and became the second team in Mexico's history to win two consecutive league titles.
In the Clausura 2019 tournament, Club León qualified for the playoffs as the first-place team after an incredible winning streak of 12 games, which had never been accomplished by another first division club in Mexico. León reached the finals after beating Tijuana and America in the quarter-finals and semi-finals, respectively, but was defeated by Tigres 1-0.

Stadium

is a football stadium in León, Guanajuato, Mexico. The stadium hosts Club León and some lower division teams and subsidiaries. It is also used for special events such as presentations and musicals.
Construction of the stadium started on August 18, 1965, and at the end of 1966, the finished building that would house Los Esmeraldas was completed.
On February 1, 1967, the stadium was inaugurated with a match between Santos of Brazil and River Plate of Argentina; it ended with a 2–1 victory for Santos.
Estadio León has hosted 2 World Cups: the first was 1970 FIFA World Cup, with guests like West Germany, Peru, Bulgaria and Morocco, as well as hosting the quarterfinal game between West Germany and England; and the 1986 FIFA World Cup. the stadium hosted group matches featuring the Soviet Union, France, Hungary and Canada, as well as a second-round match between the USSR and Belgium.
On March 8, 2017, judiciary officials of the city of León determined that ownership of Estadio Leon is the property of previous Club Leon owners Zermeño Reyes and Héctor González.
The stadium is planned to become a historical stadium with parts of the stadium being converted into a museum. Talks are in place to start building a new stadium in León for the future team though there is no set date.

Rivalries

The oldest rival of Club León is Unión de Curtidores, a rivalry which began as both teams reside in León, Guanajuato. Unión de Curtidores was founded in 1928, and during its early years, was the dominant team in León. When they joined the Liga Mayor in 1943, part of the team merged with Selección de Guanajuato and took the name of Unión-León, which later became Club León.
Despite the rivalry against Los Curtidores being the oldest in León, the prominent one today is against Irapuato, who also appeared in the Clásico del Bajio, which has been fought in both the Primera División and the Primera División A.
Another rivalry is with Pachuca C.F., mainly because of similar owners for the two clubs. On July 11, 2018, Club León and Pachuca met in a friendly match played in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, at Miller Park, home of the Milwaukee Brewers. Pachuca won the match 3–1 in front of 18,321 fans.

Honors

Domestic

;Liga MX
;Ascenso MX
;Copa MX
;Campeón de Campeones
;eLiga MX
;Copa León
;Torneo Cuna del Fútbol Mexicano
;Copa Telcel
;Trofeo Joan Gamper

First-team squad

Out on loan

Reserve teams

Top Goal Scorers

Managers