Where is the Atlas soccer team from and what is its history?

Atlas Football Club is a Mexican professional soccer team based in Guadalajara, the capital of the state of Jalisco. Atlas competes in Liga MX, the highest category of Mexican football. This team is one of the oldest in the country since it was founded on August 15, 1916.

More Liga MX News:

Thanks to Alexis Vega, Chivas will have a new coach after the Clásico Tapatío

Juan José Cortina, founder of Atlas FC

At the end of the 19th century, Mexico was a country in full development and offered unparalleled opportunities to foreign investors, especially those from Europe. In this context, Manuel Cortina, a Spaniard interested in developing his economy in the Aztec nation, settled in the city of Guadalajara, where he had his firstborn son, Juan José Cortina.

Born in Tapatío, Juan José was sent to study in England at a very young age. Cortina spent much of his childhood and youth there, but what most marked the Mexican during his stay in the old continent was a recently created sport, but quite popular in the United Kingdom: soccer.

Throughout the 12 years he spent in England, Juan José practiced soccer almost religiously. But after the death of his father, the young Cortina returned to Mexico to receive his inheritance and become a landowner. However, what occupied him most was to bring his greatest passion back to the land of his birth.

With this in mind, 'Lico', as he was nicknamed, organized several of his friends, who had also returned from England, to hold several meetings at Café Rimans. At these meetings, they talked about creating a soccer club that would practice the sport with the same technique and tactics used in Europe, since, at that time, all the teams in the city and, practically, in the country, played soccer in a very rudimentary and disorganized way.

After several talks, on August 15, 1916, the same Café Rimans witnessed how Juan José and his companions made official the foundation of Club Atlas.

The first league title

On April 22, 1951, at Oblatos Park in Guadalajara, Atlas became the first League champion from the state of Jalisco. This feat has never been replicated by any other ‘Atlista’ team, but, at the time, no one could take away the joy of the players and the ‘Rojinegros’ fans.

As a result of their league championship, Atlas earned the right to play the Campeón de Campeones against the winner of the Copa, Atlante. The match, played at the Ciudad de los Deportes Olympic Stadium, ended with a score of 1 - 0 in favor of the Zorros, who won their third title of this kind. The only goal of the match was scored by Edmundo Manzotti.

Atlas and its first relegation

Three years after being crowned, Atlas suffered the first relegation of its history in the 1953-54 season. The tragedy was consummated on the last matchday of the tournament, after Los Tapatíos lost 1 - 0 to Tampico, culminating in a tournament in which the club was only able to score 18 points. The disastrous season came as a surprise, as in previous years the Rojinegros had established themselves as one of the strongest teams in Mexico.

Nonetheless, Atlas returned to the First Division a year later. In the 1954-55 season, Atlas had a total of 39 points and won the championship in the silver division, which guaranteed their return to the top flight of Mexican soccer.

70 years later Atlas wins second league title

In May 2019, Grupo Orlegi, a Mexican business group, with activities in sports and entertainment, real estate development, agribusiness, and insurance brokerage; took possession of the club as owner, this with the commitment to apply the best practices in the industry and exercise all its experience in the creation of structure, infrastructure, and processes, thus the Rojinegros began a path towards its short, medium and long term goals.

Grupo Orlegi acquired Atlas FC, convinced of being able to transform a team rich in fans, history, and tradition, which is located in a truly relevant location for the country, such as the state of Jalisco and especially the Guadalajara Metropolitan Area and its neighboring municipalities.

Grupo Orlegi led Atlas FC in the Apertura 2021 tournament to the championship by defeating León on penalties after a 1-1 draw on aggregate. Julio Furch scored the final penalty to return Atlas to glory.

Atlas FC transformed its history to conquer its tenth title of the professional era, adding 4 Copa MX, 4 Campeón de Campeones, and after two years of Orlegi Sports at the helm of the Rojinegra institution, the second title of the maximum circuit of Mexican football was achieved.

More Liga MX News:

The coach that will convince André-Pierre Gignac to arrive in Club América with him