Cruz Azul

Full name	Club Deportivo Social y Cultural Cruz Azul A.C.
Nickname	Cementeros (Cement Workers)
Founded	1927
Ground	Estadio Azul, Mexico City, DF, Mexico
Capacity	39,000
Chairman	Guillermo Álvarez Cuevas
Manager	Rubén Omar Romano
League	Mexican First Division
Apertura 2004	16th - Did not qualify
Home colours 　 Away colours

Club Deportivo Social y Cultural Cruz Azul, also known as Deportivo Cruz Azul or simply Cruz Azul, is a Mexican professional football club. Cruz Azul plays in the Primera División de México and its home venue is the Estadio Azul, located in the south of Mexico City. The team moved in there in 1996, after playing many seasons at the Estadio Azteca.

Honours

Professional Era

• League Championships: 8
  • 1968-69, México 70, 1971-72, 1972-73, 1973-74, 1978-79, 1979-80, Invierno 1997
• League Runner-Up: 6
  • 1969-70, 1980-81, 1986-87, 1988-89, 1994-95, Invierno 1999
• CONCACAF Champions' Cup: 5
  • 1969, 1970, 1971, 1996, 1997

History

It was founded as an amateur team on May 22nd, 1927 by the workers of the cement company "La Cruz Azul S.A.", located on the town of Jasso, Hidalgo.

Guillermo Álvarez Macías and Carlos Garcés were the main figures behind the creation effort and the quick success of the team, which frequently represented the state of Hidalgo in national amateur tournaments.

From 1927 to 1960, the amateur team played many times in Mexico City, against the reserve squads of established professional teams such as Club América, Necaxa, Atlante, Asturias and Marte. Considering the increasing success of the team, the new administration of the cement company (which changed its name to "Cooperativa Cruz Azul") decided in 1960 to build a stadium in Jasso, the Estadio 10 de Marzo, and officially registered the team on the professional ascent division (Segunda División) for the 1960-61 season.

By 1964, under the Hungarian coach Jorge Marik, the team won the Segunda División championship, earning the right to play the following season in the highest circuit of profesional football in Mexico, the Primera División.

That first season ended with an eighth place finish and increased hopes for the future. Just 4 years later, Cruz Azul won its first league tournament, under coach Raúl Cárdenas.

Cruz Azul became the most succesful Mexican team of the 70's, winning the league tournament 6 times between 1970 and 1980, four of them under Raul Cárdenas, and the last two with Ignacio Trelles at the helm. Such dominance earned them the nickname La Máquina (The Locomotive), which is still used as the unofficial nickname of the team.

1997 brought the team its eighth and most recent championship during the Invierno 1997 tournament, under coach Luis Fernando Tena.

In 2001, Cruz Azul was invited to a tournament between some Mexican and Venezuelan teams. The two best teams of this tournament earned the right to play in the Copa Libertadores, a tournament of the all the best teams of South America. Cruz Azul not only qualified for the Copa Libertadores in its first try, but reached the final match by defeating established Brazilian and Argentinian teams such as Sao Caetano, Rosario Central and CA River Plate. In the final match, played against the Argentinian club Boca Juniors, Cruz Azul lost at home the first leg 1-0, but came back to win the second leg with the same score, at Boca's stadium La Bombonera. Until then, no team had ever won a Copa Libertadores final match there. After the overtime due to the tie, the championship was decided by penalty kicks, where the more experienced Boca Juniors prevailed. Still, Cruz Azul surprised everybody with the unprecedented feat of reaching the final on their first try and as an invitee.

Current Roster

External links

• Official site (http://www.cruz-azul.com.mx/)
• Primera División (http://www.femexfut.org.mx/PrimeraDivision/)