Football derbies in Mexico
The overshadowing rivalry of Mexican club football is not a derby in the strict sense of the word, but due to its existential importance for football in the country south of the Rio Grande, it should not be left unmentioned. After all, the meeting between America from the capital and Chivas from the country's second largest city has a similar status in Mexico as the meeting between Real Madrid and FC Barcelona in Spain .
In addition to this "remote duel", the five city derbies are described that have been regularly held in the Liga MX in recent decades : the Clásico Tapatío between Chivas and Atlas in Guadalajara, the Clásico Regiomontano in the greater Monterrey area between Rayados and Tigres and the derbies of the three big teams from the capital: the Clásico Joven between América and Cruz Azul, the Clásico Capitalino between América and Pumas and the Clásico Chilango between Cruz Azul and Pumas. In the last section, all other cities are presented that had two top division clubs at the same time in previous seasons.
The political capital of Mexico is also the country's football capital; because Mexico City was at no time with fewer than three, often even with up to five, clubs in the Primera División. The second most successful city in this regard is the country's second largest metropolitan area, Guadalajara. The city has always been represented in the top division with at least two clubs at the same time. In the late 1970s, Guadalajara was able to show five clubs in the first division at times and in the 1976/77 season even trumped the capital, which "only" had four first division teams in that season.
El Súper Clásico del Fútbol Mexicano
The main difference between the two most popular clubs in Mexico is that the Club Deportivo Guadalajara, which emerged from the working class, rarely had particularly financially strong patrons and focused its main focus on training its own offspring. In addition, the club, which was originally founded by a Belgian, has always only committed players born in Mexico and vehemently opposes the commitment of foreign professionals. Despite this restrictive policy and the lack of financial resources in the past, the club has become the record champion of the Primera División and the most popular club in Mexico with its eleven titles . The Club América is originally a club supported by the middle class of the Mexican capital, which has had an extremely financially strong sponsor since its "takeover" by the media giant Televisa in the 1950s. With the large amount of money, America signed a number of foreign, mainly Argentine and later also Brazilian players who did not always meet expectations. At the same time, the company's own promotion of young talent was at times severely neglected. This club policy earned the Club América the nickname "millonetas", which means something like "money bags". Club America is the second most successful club in the Primera División with ten championship titles and is also the second most popular among Mexican football fans.
El Clásico Tapatío
The rivalry in Guadalajara between Atlas Guadalajara and Deportivo Guadalajara is the most traditional city derby in Mexican professional football. After all, the first derby of this kind took place in 1918 and has been held almost every six months since then; apart from the three seasons that Atlas was not represented in the Primera División. Atlas was not created in Guadalajara, but in the suburb of San Pedro Tlaquepaque, south of it, and was considered an association of the aristocracy in its early days. Chivas originated in the working-class district of Mexicaltzingo south of the city center of Guadalajara and was perceived as a people's association from the start. The derbies were therefore marked by a strong social contrast and were carried out emotionally over the decades. In the 1950s, no meeting of the Mexican Primera División was as fiercely contested as the Clásico Tapatío . The following report by a reporter about a derby in 1957 is representative of many of their duels: The encounter between Guadalajara and Atlas, which was played as part of the Copa de Oro de Occidente cup tournament , was, like all Tapatío derbies, characterized by struggle, of Disputes on the pitch and in the stands, interference by coaches, evictions and the intervention of the police.
El Clásico Regiomontano
Before today's rivalry between CF Monterrey and UANL Tigres was born, there were derbies between CF Monterrey and CF Nuevo León in the three seasons between 1966/67 and 1968/69 . The first Erstligaderby between CF Monterrey and the Tigres took place in the 1974/75 season and has taken place every season since then - with the exception of the 1996/97 season, when the Tigres slipped into the second division.
The Rayados are native to Monterrey , while the Tigres homeland is in the suburb of San Nicolás de los Garza . Both associations are closely linked to a university : the CF Monterrey with the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM), the largest private university in Monterrey, on the premises of which is also its former Tecnológico stadium ; the Tigres with the state Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León , which houses its home ground, the Estadio Universitario .
An atypical feature of the clásico regiomontano for other derbies in Mexico is that generally there are hardly any away fans to be seen at the derbies. However, this fact is not due to security concerns, but because both clubs have a high number of season tickets and therefore hardly any tickets are available for guest fans.
The big derbies in Mexico City
Of the three major clubs that are based in Mexico City today, Club America is without a doubt the most traditional. Because it was founded in 1916 and had to assert itself in the hotly contested derbies of the old Primera Fuerza against the city rivals at that time such as Atlante , Necaxa , Asturias and España , when its current city rivals were not even thought of. In the years after its inception, he provided the first team that consisted only of Mexican players. As an irony of history, it can be described that later, of all people, his arch rival from Guadalajara upheld the tradition of only signing Mexican players - and this policy made it the most popular club in the country - while America became the epitome of the club that stood out preferred to look around the foreign player market rather than the local one. While Atlante and Necaxa were considered local workers' associations and the Spanish teams of Asturias and España were perceived as representatives of the Spanish upper class, Club America, born from the middle class, was considered a cross-class association with Mexican roots.
In principle it crackled in all city derbies and as arch rivals those clubs had emerged that were on the same level in social terms. There were violent and rough derbies between the hard and combative playing Atlantistas and the more subtle and technical acting Necaxistas (see chapter below ). A lot of wind about the "Spanish Derbies" was already sparking weeks before the game. Asturias and España were bitter arch-rivals and the upcoming derby was a topic of conversation in the pubs and cafes, which are mostly frequented by Spaniards. The players of both teams exchanged all sorts of "niceties" in the run-up to the encounter and the supporters threatened each other with beatings. With the refusal to accept professional status, Necaxa missed the boat in 1943 and the derby with Atlante no longer had the same meaning as before in the 1950s when it took place again. The "Spanish Derby" came to a standstill when both teams withdrew from the Primera División in 1950. Therefore, the derby between the bourgeois America and Atlante as the representative of the socially disadvantaged in the 1950s was the most important duel in capital city football.
With the rise of the Club Universidad Nacional to the top division of Mexican club football in 1962, a new era began, which, however, was not to bear fruit until the 1970s. Because with the increasing sporting success, the following of the university club also increased. The social component of the rivalry has existed since that time mainly through the following opposites: the Pumas often delighted their mainly young fans with a refreshing style of play, while Club America is perceived by its numerous opponents as an encrusted civil servants' association and its team as an indiscriminately bought "mercenary group" .
The irrefutable enmity between the Pumas and America had come about in the 1984/85 season at the latest, when the two teams faced each other in the finals for the championship and America only won because of extremely questionable mistakes by the referee.
The CD Cruz Azul , an association of the cement factory of the same name, which was founded in the state of Hidalgo and which had already won two championship titles in the previous years and escaped the cramped conditions in Jasso in the summer of 1971 and moved into a new home in the capital, was not exactly welcome at either association . As soon as they arrived at their new location, the Cementeros - as they were called not only because of their affiliation with the cement factory, but also because of their unattractive but extremely effective defensive game - managed a title trick between 1972 and 1974, which further resentment, especially from the successful environment of Club América.
The rivalry between the successful Cruz Azul club, which had come to Mexico City, and the university club, which at that time was still in the shadow of sport, developed with the increasing success of the Pumas and especially through the finals in 1979 and 1981, which the two teams played against each other. The first match went to Cruz Azul, the second match was won by the Pumas.
Historic city derbies
This section lists all other cities that were represented in the Primera División with two clubs at the same time in the past:
Leon
In León there were city derbies between the Club León and the Club San Sebastián for six years between 1945/46 and 1950/51 . Of the total of twelve matches, Club León was able to win eight, the other four games ended in a draw. The goal balance of 37:13 also speaks clearly for Club León. After the descent of San Sebastián, it was not until the rise of Unión de Curtidores , UC for short, before there were more city derbies in León. The Club León and Unión de Curtidores faced each other in the eight seasons between 1974/75 and 1980/81 and 1983/84. Of the total of 16 point game derbies that they contested in the top division, León was five times successful, while UC won three games. The remaining eight games ended in a draw. The goal balance also speaks for León with 24:21. It is interesting that Club León's home record is absolutely balanced (six draws, a 3-2 win and a 0-1 defeat), while they have a clear advantage away from home. The highest-scoring game was their very first encounter in the 1974/75 season, which ended 4-4. The highest victories were each 3-0 and both came about at home rights of the UC (in favor of UC in the 1976/77 season and for León in the 1983/84 season). In addition, both teams met one more time in the championship finals 1974/75, where UC kept the upper hand 1-0 and 0-0. More details on the bitter rivalry between León and UC can be found in the two club articles.
Orizaba
Two of the ten founding members of the Primera División came from the tranquil industrial city of Orizaba , which is on the way from the port city of Veracruz to the capital. In the six seasons between 1943/44 and 1948/49, the Asociación Deportiva Orizabeña (successor to the Orizaba Athletic Club, founded in 1898 by mainly Scottish textile workers, which went down in 1903 as Mexico's first champion in the country's football history) and the 1932 of employees of the Moctezuma Brewery founded UD Moctezuma de Orizaba for local supremacy in the former "Manchester of Mexico". From the total of twelve league derbies that they contested in the top division, Moctezuma emerged victorious seven times, while ADO could only win three games (the remaining two ended in a draw). The goal difference of 27:16 and the consistently better placement in the first four seasons (1943/44 to 1946/47) with a total of six derby wins from eight games prove the superiority of Moctezuma, at least initially. Only in the 1947/48 season did ADO win both derbies and at the end of the season it was just as ahead of Moctezuma as in the last joint season 1948/49. Since the withdrawal of both teams from the first division (ADO in 1949 because of financial problems and Moctezuma in 1950 because of association disputes), top-level football in Orizaba has become a thing of the past. While the ADO's successor team as Albinegros de Orizaba is at least occasionally represented in the second division , Moctezuma's team has long ceased to exist.
The following players were active for both clubs (incomplete): Honorio Arteaga , Luis Aussín, Rafael Contreras , Justo Couto, Martín Cuburu , Walter Meneses , Daniel Muñoz , Julio Pisapia .
Puebla
After acquiring the license from CF Oaxtepec , a newly formed team under the name Ángeles de Puebla was represented in the four seasons between 1984/85 and 1987/88 as the second club in the city of Puebla next to the established Puebla FC in the Primera División. However, he never succeeded in breaking out of the overpowering shadow of his traditional neighbor and so the club's board decided to withdraw from the league and sold his license in 1988 to Club Santos Laguna , which has since become a fixture in Mexican football . Because both teams did not meet in the special tournaments of the 1985/86 season, which were held because of the preparation for the 1986 World Cup , there were only six league derbies, of which Ángeles did not win a single one. Puebla was able to prevail three times and the comparison ended in a draw just as often. It is interesting that Puebla FC won all three “home games” (3: 1, 4: 0 and 2: 0), while all games in which Ángeles enjoyed home rights ended in a draw (twice 1: 1 and most recently 3: 3) .
At the end of the 2016/17 season , Lobos de la BUAP won the promotion final against Dorados de Sinaloa and was thus represented in the top division of Mexico for the first time in the 2017/18 season . The Lobos not only won the first derby against Puebla FC in its stadium 1-0, but also finished the 2017 Apertura championship in tenth place ahead of their established city rivals, who only finished 15th. But the tide turned in the 2018 Clausura . This time the Puebla FC also won 1-0, while the Lobos finished the tournament in last place.
San Luis Potosí
The Club Atlético Potosino from the city of San Luis Potosí was founded in 1972 and was only supposed to form the substructure for the local neighbor Club San Luis , which at that time belonged to the Primera División. But already after two years the unexpected came: While Club San Luis was relegated to the second division at the end of the 1973/74 season, Club Atlético Potosino succeeded in promotion. Because the Potosinos were able to stay in the first division for 15 years and Club San Luis returned to the House of Lords two years later, in the 1976/77 season there was the only time in the Mexican Primera División for city derbies between two clubs from San Luis Potosi. Here the Club San Luis retained the upper hand in the direct duels (with 1: 1 and 2: 0), but had to leave the first division again because the first division eligibility for the coming season had been sold to the CD Tampico .
Torreón
Before Santos Laguna became a fixture in Mexican football, CF Laguna and CF Torreón vied for supremacy in Torreón . They spent five seasons together in the Primera División between 1969/70 and 1973/74 and faced each other in ten point games. CF Laguna won six times and the two opponents were drawn twice and CF Torreón won twice. The goal balance of 13: 9 also sees the CF Laguna at an advantage. Despite his only two successes, the CF Torreón was able to book the highest derby win in his favor with 4-0 in the 1973/74 season. Another interesting aspect is that in all eight derby wins, the losing team could not score a goal.
More rivalries
Atlante vs Necaxa
For several years now, both clubs have been based in cities that are far apart: Necaxa in Aguascalientes, around 400 kilometers as the crow flies northwest of Mexico City, and Atlante in the seaside resort of Cancún on the Caribbean Sea in the far east of Mexico.
But until the beginning of the 21st century, both clubs were still based in the Mexican capital and had a much older rivalry than the animosities between today's major clubs from Mexico City, America, Pumas and Cruz Azul, which only began to develop in the 1960s. Both associations were characterized by a different social status: Atlante was considered from the beginning as a representative of the working class and was known by the nickname Los Prietitos (dt. The dark-skinned ), while Necaxa was considered an association of employees. In the 1930s and early 1940s, both clubs had the largest following in the capital.
Their rivalry arose in the 1927/28 season, when Club Atlante was first represented in the capital league, in which Club Necaxa had been involved since 1923/24. The first derby between the two teams was played on October 9, 1927 and ended 2-2, although the successes of both teams in the late 1920s were still within narrow limits. This changed in the 1931/32 season, when both teams finished tied at the top of the table. Thus play-offs were necessary, which the Club Atlante in Parque Necaxa of the opponent could still decide for itself and brought in its first championship title. But in the further course of the 1930s the Club Necaxa not only dominated Atlante, but also largely the capital league, which it won a total of four times in 1933, 1935, 1937 and 1938 and was nicknamed Los Once Hermanos ( The eleven brothers ) acquired. In the 1940/41 season Atlante secured his second championship title. But when the Mexican professional league was introduced in the 1943/44 season , the Club Necaxa waived its participation and only took this step seven years later for the 1950/51 season . But the old classic had lost its radiance and never achieved the importance it had in the days of amateur football. After Club Necaxa was acquired by Spanish businessmen in 1971 and renamed Atlético Español, the old derby had completely and irretrievably lost its former magic.
Horacio Casarín , one of the best Mexican football players of all time, began his career at Club Necaxa in 1936 and was instrumental in winning the championship titles of 1937 and 1938. Therefore, it was a double shock for the Necaxa fans when Casarín joined the Once team in 1942 Hermanos left and, of all things, hired at the then city rival Atlante, with whom he won another championship title in 1947.
Atlante vs León
After the old rival Necaxa disappeared, a new rivalry soon developed for Club Atlante in the early years of professional football with a club located around 325 kilometers away as the crow flies. Because when the redesigned Club León was accepted into the Liga Mayor for the 1944/45 season , it started with a brilliant 5-3 home win in Parque Patria against Atlante in its first first division season. This humiliation angered General José Manuel Núñez Ochoa, who had headed Club Atlante since 1935. When the two clubs two years later at the end of the 1946/47 season delivered a head-to-head race for the championship and met on the penultimate matchday, the influential Núñez had the game scheduled in León moved to the capital, which he did León took the home right and favored his own club. Reason for this decision was rampant at that time in León Aphthe ban in Leon epidemic that brought by General Núñez influenced health authority to the decision, all the sports events. The Liga Mayor, also influenced by Núñez, then decided to move the game to the capital, where Atlante was based at the time. Club León protested against this decision, but ultimately had to submit and could not get beyond a goalless draw on foreign territory, whereby Club Atlante retained its lead of three points (at that time the two-point rule still applied ) and only One outstanding game each from Atlante and León was prematurely champions.
Club León did not have to wait long for the revenge: on September 21, 1947, the Esmeraldas came to Mexico City with the recommendation of two wins from two games in order to complete their away game at Club Atlante (two defeats from two games) . After 81 minutes, León was 10-0 ahead, the goal by Rafael Meza in the 84th minute for the hosts to make the final score of 1:10 was nothing. The seasons 1947/48 and 1948/49 ended the Club León as champions, while Atlante completed both seasons on the penultimate place in the table.
El Clásico del Sur
There has been a long-standing aversion between the cities of Puebla and Veracruz , east of Mexico City , that predates football. At least older than the two clubs concerned, CD Veracruz and Puebla FC , which were only formed in 1943 and 1944 respectively. Because the residents of the two cities are said to have a diametrically opposed lifestyle and character traits. Accordingly, the typical Poblano is considered to be someone who does his work diligently and almost perfectionistically, but is also a little arrogant on the other hand. The Jarocho, on the other hand, is known for his zest for life and rough language, but is also considered a little lazy. Because of the industry based in Puebla, many Veracruzanos have moved there in search of a good job. When they work together, the Poblano thinks that the Veracruzano is not doing its job properly and, conversely, the Jarocho doesn't like the Poblano because of its superiority complex. In football, this rivalry has repeatedly shown its downside, for example when there were riots and arrests, opposing fan buses were pelted with stones and injured people were to be complained about.
When the Mexican professional league was introduced in the 1943/44 season , the CD Veracruz, newly created through a merger, was one of the founding members. Puebla FC, which was launched a year later, entered the league in the following season 1944/45 , immediately left the CD Veracruz behind and not only became runner-up but also cup winners . The Tiburones Rojos more than made up for this early success of the Camoteros and in the next five years they were twice champions and once cup winners. But after that the CD Veracruz could not record any more successes, rose from the first division in 1952 and received no license after the second division season 1952/53 due to high debts. Just a few years later, Puebla FC suffered a similar fate when they had to withdraw from gaming due to over-indebtedness.
It was only in the 1960s that both clubs managed to return to professional football and for the first time in the 1970/71 season they faced each other again in a point game. At the latest since the relegation of CD Veracruz at the end of the 1978/79 season , Puebla FC has taken supremacy over a longer period of time, winning twice the championship (1983 and 1990), once the CONCACAF Champions' Cup (1991) and several times Cup. In 1984 the CD Veracruz went bankrupt again and did not return to the first division until 1989, when - as in its later comeback in 2013 - it had taken over the license of an economically weaker club.
El Clásico del Centro
As between Puebla and Veracruz in southern Mexico, there is also a great rivalry between the cities of Querétaro and San Luis Potosí in central Mexico. This rivalry does not leave football untouched either and has traditionally been lived out between Querétaro FC and San Luis FC as the most important representatives of the respective federal state ( Querétaro and San Luis Potosí ).
A significant climax of the rivalry was the second division season 2004/05, in which both teams aimed for an immediate return to the first division and their respective role as favorites were fair to the extent that San Luis FC won the Apertura championship in 2004 and Querétaro FC won the Clausura championship 2005 won. Because only one team is promoted per season in Mexico, the promoted team is determined in an overall season finale in which the champions of Apertura and Clausura face each other. Here, San Luis prevailed, while Querétaro had to wait another year to return to the top division.
Since the dissolution of San Luis FC in the summer of 2013 and the subsequent establishment of Atlético San Luis (due to the different league affiliations so far only in the Mexican cup competition ), encounters between this club and Querétaro FC have been referred to as Clásico del Centro .
El Clásico del Bajío
Another cross-city rivalry is the Clásico del Bajío , the traditional derby in the Mexican state of Guanajuato , which is held between Club León and CD Irapuato , some 60 kilometers away .
The football rivalry between the cities of León and Irapuato dates back to the 1920s and is closely associated with the football enthusiast Diego Mosqueda. Mosqueda founded an association in Irapuato in 1911 under the name Club Mutualista Irapuatense . When he later moved to León, he also founded an association there. Established in 1920, León Atlético was the first football club in the weaving town and is unofficially regarded as the predecessor of the professional club Club León , created in 1944 . Because there was initially a lack of opponents in their own city, Mosqueda, who still had good contacts to Irapuato, organized a series of friendly matches between León Atlético and teams from Irapuato. In the early 1930s, the Guanajuato State Championship was held for the first time, which was initially dominated by teams from Irapuato. In the 1934/35 season, a club from León won the championship for the first time and thus broke the hitherto existing supremacy of the clubs from Irapuato.
Since then, there has been a rivalry between the two cities and their sporting representatives, which has not infrequently led to violent riots by the hostile fan camps and continues to do so. In order to prevent riots between its own fans and those of arch rivals Club León from the start, the CD Irapuato board decided not to give away tickets to away fans for the explosive derby on the last day of the 2010/11 season . But the lack of opposing fans only meant that the aggression that existed in connection with this derby was ultimately reduced in their own ranks.
El Clásico Tamaulipeco
In the state of Tamaulipas there is a rivalry between Tampico-Madero FC , which represents the two neighboring port cities of Tampico and Ciudad Madero , and the UAT Correcaminos from Ciudad Victoria, which is around 250 km northwest .
Between 1987 and 1990 this encounter was held annually in the Primera División and again in the 1994/95 season, in which both clubs were last represented together in the top Mexican division. After the joint relegation to the second division, there were only occasional clashes because Tampico-Madero FC only played in the third division for long periods. Since the 2016/17 season , both clubs have again been represented in the second division , to which the Correcaminos have been part since 1995.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Greco Sotelo: El oficio de las canchas (1950-1970), Editorial Clío, ISBN 970-663-024-4 , pp 52f and 67th
- ↑ Greco Sotelo: El oficio de las canchas (1950-1970) , Editorial Clío, p.27
- ↑ Greco Sotelo: El oficio de las canchas (1950-1970) , Editorial Clío, p 65
- ↑ ( Page no longer available , search in web archives: Der clásico regiomontano at FIFA.com ) (English)
- ↑ Greco Sotelo: El oficio de las canchas (1950-1970) , Editorial Clío, S. 64th
- ↑ Carlos Calderón Cardoso: Por amor a la camiseta (1933–1950), Editorial Clío, México 1998, p. 22f ISBN 970-663-023-6
- ↑ For more information on the incidents surrounding this final and other aspects of their rivalry, see the article on the UNAM Pumas .
- ↑ Entry to the results via the tables of the Mexican league at RSSSF
- ^ Atlante-Necaxa, el verdadero clásico del futbol mexicano (Spanish; article from April 25, 2016)
- ^ Mexico - List of Final Tables at RSSSF
- ^ The 1944/45 Mexican season on RSSSF
- ↑ José Ángel Parra (El Universal): De 'prietos' a gendarmes (Spanish; article of April 19, 2006)
- ^ The Mexican season 1946/47 at RSSSF
- ↑ Greco Sotelo: El oficio de las canchas (1950-1970) , Editorial Clío, Mexico City, 1998 (segunda edición), ISBN 970-663-024-4 , pp 64f
- ^ The 1947/48 Mexican season on RSSSF
- ↑ J. Arturo Armas (Vavel.com): Clásico del Sur: El partido que se juega en las tribunas (Spanish; article from January 31, 2014)
- ↑ Juan Cid y Mulet: Libro de Oro del Fútbol Mexicano , B. Costa-Amic, Mexico City, 1960/61, pp. 199ff and 423 ff.
- ↑ Definen Irapuato y León liderato en Liga de Ascenso (Spanish; article from April 19, 2011)
- ↑ Violencia en el Irapuato vs León (video of the derby from April 23, 2011)