Club León

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Leon
Club logo
Basic data
Surname Club León
Seat Leon , Mexico
founding 1944
Colours Green white
Website clubleon.mx
First soccer team
Head coach Ignacio Ambríz
Venue Estadio León
Places 33,943
league League MX
Clausura 2019 Semifinals
home
Away

The Club Leon is a Mexican football club from Leon in the state of Guanajuato .

Club León has won the Mexican championship and the cup several times . The greatest international success was reaching the finals in the 1993 CONCACAF Champions Cup , which was lost to Deportivo Saprissa .

It is played in the Estadio León , better known under its unofficial name Estadio Nou Camp , with a capacity of 33,943 spectators.

history

The history of the formation of the club is extremely unusual and at the same time reveals why it was always hostile to its most important and older city rival, Unión de Curtidores .

Because this club had acquired a good reputation at regional level, the city of León applied for a team for the second season of the young professional league. This team should consist of selected players from all over Guanajuato and focus on players from UC and join the professional league under the name Union-León. After this team had suffered severe defeats in the 1944 cup tournament against the first division clubs Atlas and CD Guadalajara , the football officials in León deviated from their original plan. Professional conditions were immediately created and several Argentine players were signed. In this way the Club León was created, which began playing in the Primera División in 1944/45.

The newly founded (or from the perspective of the old UC fans "artificially created") club had hit the bull's eye with its purchasing policy and found the right mix for the newly formed team. Because the climber ended the first season in the professional league with a remarkable fourth place. In the next few years, the club relied on legionaries from Argentina and also signed Mexico's future goalkeeper legend Antonio Carbajal , who was the first player to take part in five World Cup tournaments (between 1950 and 1966). The team increased every year. After a third place in the 1945/46 season and the runner-up in 1947, the first championship title followed in 1948, which was even defended in 1949. Two more championships followed in 1952 and 1956. There is therefore no doubt that León was the top team in Mexico that decade (the late 1940s and early 1950s).

In the 1960s and 1970s, León was almost constantly in the middle of the table, and more often in the upper half. The two seasons 1972/73 and 1974/75 were positively outstanding, when León was able to secure the runner-up in each case.

The championship final battle in the 1974/75 season was of the greatest explosiveness. That year it was played in group matches after the actual season, for which the four best-placed teams had qualified. The spicy thing about it: Unión de Curtidores - the club whose first division place was "stolen" by Club León at the time - was promoted to the Primera División in 1974 (for the first time ever) and qualified for the finals straight away. As a result, there were four crackling city derbies that season, almost reminiscent of a civil war ; both in the stands and on the lawn. For Club Unión de Curtidores, which has become a sporting underdog since the founding of Club León, it was ultimately a great satisfaction to have at least spoiled the championship for its unloved rival. Because León could not prevail in the derbies against UC (0: 1 and 0: 0) and missed winning the title because of a single point in the final account against Toluca , which in turn won both games against UC.

In the 1980s, the club got into serious financial turmoil, which resulted in player sales and layoffs. It was a gradual process that led to decline in 1987. It took three years before the rise again succeeded. In the 1990s, the club occasionally continued its successful past and won its fifth championship title in 1992. In the subsequent CONCACAF Champions Cup, León advanced to the final, where they lost to Deportivo Saprissa . In the domestic championship round, they qualified for the semi-finals, but failed there against the eventual champions Atlante .

The last runner-up so far dates from the 1997/98 season. In the Apertura, León had qualified as the team with the highest points of this round for the play-offs, in which they beat Toros Neza (0: 1 and 6: 3) and Club America (0: 1 and 3: 1) . But in the finals against Cruz Azul they were somewhat unfortunate to be defeated by a "golden goal" after regular time had ended 0-0 (first leg 1-1).

After another relegation at the end of the 2001/02 season, León spent ten years in the second division before making the long-awaited return to the football club at the end of the 2011/12 season . In the 2013/14 season , León won the Mexican championship in both the Apertura and the Clausura.

The championship teams

The six championship titles in the club's history were won by the following players:

successes

The "best team of all time"

The Mexican sports newspaper Récord has identified the following “dream team” of Club León with the most important players in the history of the Esmeraldas (the years in brackets describe the club membership):

Antonio Carbajal (1950–1956) - Guadalupe Castañeda (1990–1993), Antonio Battaglia (1944–1952), Héctor Santoyo (1972–1975), Jorge Marik (1955–1956) - Jorge "Tarzán" Davino (1970–1974) , Rafael “Chepe” Chávez (1969–1975), Manuel “Pachuco” López (1960s) - Milton “Tita” Queiroz (1990–1994), Adalberto “Dumbo” López (1946–1950), Concepción Rodríguez (1976–1984 ).

player

Trainer

Web links

References and comments

  1. ^ The Mexican season 1943/44 at RSSSF
  2. ↑ Felicidades Leòn ... 65 Años (Spanish; article from August 20, 2009)
  3. ↑ a b Only players who have completed at least one mission in the championship season are named.
  4. ↑ Récord: Te presentamos el 11 ideal histórico del León (Spanish; article from September 1, 2012)