Mexican association football club
Football club
Tecos Fútbol Club (often referred to by its nickname "Tecos"[2]) is a Mexican professional football club associated with the Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara AC. It plays its home games in the Estadio 3 de Marzo (March 3 Stadium, named for the day the university was founded in 1935). The 30,015-seat facility is located in Zapopan, a municipality within the Guadalajara, Jalisco conurbation.
Previously named Club de Fútbol Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara, Estudiantes have won the national championship once and is the only team in Mexican football history to ascend from the two lower divisions and get the Championship (the other team that ascended from lower divisions was Oaxtepec, though it descended later). The club was runner-up in the Mexican League's Clausura 2005, after losing to Club América in the second game, 6–3.
On April 14, 2012 Estudiantes Tecos was relegated to Mexico's Liga de Ascenso after gaining the lowest percentage of points got in the last three years against Atlas and Querétaro. The last straw was a combination of a draw between Estudiantes and Puebla and a victory achieved by Atlas against Monterrey.
Estudiantes won the Clausura 2014 Ascenso MX championship, but lost the promotional final against Leones Negros. On May 22, 2014, Grupo Pachuca president, Jesús Martínez Patiño, announced Estudiantes Tecos would change its location and move to Zacatecas. On May 28, 2014, the move was confirmed and the club changed its name to Mineros de Zacatecas, and Estudiantes Tecos were dissolved.
After being dissolved, they still had a team in Mexico's Third Division, the Liga Premier de Ascenso, but were not allowed to be promoted into Ascenso MX because they were considered a subsidiary of Mineros de Zacatecas.
In August 2015, the Leaño family announced they had bought the image rights from Grupo Pachuca, thus, re-founding the club to play in the Tercera División, the fourth tier of Mexican football.
After the 2016–2017 season in the Tercera Division, Tecos F.C. managed a 4–2 victory against Tuzos Pachuca in a semi-finals match, which promoted them to the Segunda División despite losing to Sporting Canamy in a penalty shootout after a 2–2 final match.
History
The University was founded in 1935 and soon had a team to play amateur football until 1971 when they joined Federacion Mexicana de Futbol. They gained promotion to Liga de Ascenso in their second season after beating La Piedad 4–0 under the management of Guillermo Sepulveda; and two years later in the 1974–75 season, they were promoted to Primera División Mexicana by beating Irapuato in a promotion game under the management of Everardo Villaseñor.
First Years in the First Division
The club played its first Primera División Mexicana match on September 3, 1975 against Puebla F.C., a match which the club went on to lose 2–3. The club's first win was played against Atleticos Campesinos, with the match being played in the Jalisco Stadium. That year the club finished in second place and qualifying to its first liguilla playoff stage. In quarterfinals the club went up against Club América who eliminated the newly promoted club. The following year, the club finished 4th overall and once again qualified to the liguilla, but is once again, knocked out in quarterfinals, this time by Tigres de la UANL.
In the 1979-80 tournament the clubs invited to play a friendly tournament in Spain the Torneo Sol de Valencia which the club manages to win. The story being the complete opposite in their domestic league, where the club failed to qualify to the liguilla.
In the 1980–81 season, Tecos UAG achieved 20 games without losing and ended in the first position of the table creating a national record, but they were unable to get to the finals in the post-season round robin elimination.
In the 1986–87 season, Tecos UAG was shown as one of the biggest contenders of the tournament. Jose Luis Zalazar achieved the Goal Scoring Championship by making 21 goals, the most of them from penalty kicks. They reached the quarterfinals against Cruz Azul and they lost in the penalty shootout where Zalazar failed to score one of the shoots deciding the fate of the game.
1993-94 Championship
After some seasons where they faced bad seasons and others where they could not pass the quarterfinals in the Liguilla, the club hired manager Víctor Manuel Vucetich, known at the time for promoting clubs Potros Neza and León. Vucetich had also managed the last team to win the league title years before.
The squad was formed by players like Carlos Briones, Jorge Gabrich, Porfirio Jiménez, Osmar Donizette, Marcelo Gonçalvez and others. During the first part of the season they fought the top of the table with CD Guadalajara and at the end of the first part of the season, Guadalajara got the first place, but a consistent second part of the season, combined with a record input by goalkeeper Alan Cruz of having more time with his goal undefeated, made the Tecos reach the top of the table, beating CD Guadalajara in the last game and making them play the Repechaje against Atlético Morelia. At the end of the regular tournament Tecos made 51 points, scored 49 goals and only received 26 to be the best defense of the season.
In the Quarterfinals, Tecos beat a weak Atlético Morelia, scoring 3–0 in both games. In the semifinals, they met América. Tecos got the first win of 3–2 in the Azteca Stadium; in a dramatic game, América beat Tecos in the Estadio Tres de Marzo 2–1, but the goal from Edson Zwarich put the tie in the global score and Tecos was able to pass the finals in the top position.
The final was against Santos Laguna, another team that, after surviving relegation several seasons, got reinforced with good players and achieved its first final game. The first game, played on April 27, 1994 was a very rough game that ended 1-0 for Santos in the Corona Stadium in Torreón, that goal was a penalty shot scored by Daniel Guzmán.
The second and final game was played on April 30, 1994, in the Tres de Marzo Stadium. The game was also noted for its aggressiveness, but Tecos was able to beat Santos 1–0 in the normal time due to an own goal by Jesús Gómez, making the global score to tie and forcing the game to overtime, during which Osmar Donizette make a wild run with the ball over Santos defense and scored a goal to break the tie and give Tecos UAG the title.
Irregular years (1994-2005)
After getting the championship Tecos tried to keep the most of the players that helped to get the championship, unfortunately some of them, like Jorge Gabrich and Porfirio Jimenez retired, others were transferred to other teams like Javier Hernandez Gutierrez and others began to lose the quality shown on the previous season like Osmar Donizzette and Edson Zwarich. Finally, Victor Manuel Vucetich resigned his position and this was taken by Luis Fernando Tena.
And with this began a long story of irregular seasons were Tecos UAG barely got qualification. In 1997, the offensive line reinforced with Serbian Zdenko Muf and, later in 1999 with Sebastian Abreu, an Uruguayan player that got himself the last best scorer award for a player from Tecos, and Adolfo Bautista. With these three players Tecos tried to go back to the first places but in 1998 they were eliminated in quarterfinals by Atlas (Verano 98) and Necaxa (Invierno 98). In Invierno 99 they lost again the quarterfinals again against Atlas.
After Invierno 99, the team began to lose positions and the percentage of points in three tournaments began to drop. Tecos survived relegation in 2003. After the Clausura tournament, they scored 7 points by winning one game and losing 14, but Colibríes de Cuernavaca (formerly Atlético Celaya) was relegated instead.
In 1999, Juan Carlos Leaño, the son the team's owner, debuted as a defender in the club's first team.
In Apertura 2002, Tecos managed to get on the second place of group 2, but was easily eliminated by Monarcas 7–2 in quarterfinals round. Their top scorer was Reinaldo Navia with 9 goals. This tournament helped Tecos to survive the Clausura 2003 session when they scored 7 points and finished at the bottom of the table.
In Apertura 2003, Tecos acquired Eliomar Marcon who scored 10 goals in that season, helping the team to reach the repechaje round in that tournament, only to be defeated there by Cruz Azul. The next season, Tecos only made 18 points and was on the last positions of the table, the next season, the relegation was beginning to feel close when they shared the last place of the tournament with Cruz Azul and Dorados with 16 points.
Clausura 2005
For Clausura 2005 tournament, Tecos formed another good squad with Daniel Guzman as the trainer, and reinforced the squad with players with Daniel Ludueña and Juan Pablo Rodriguez.
This season was one of the best for Tecos in terms of goal effectiveness, as long as Ludueña and Eliomar Marcon were able to reach the top 10 scorers table. Tecos was able to reach the fourth position in the table and, even though they were third in their group, they qualified for the Liguilla.
In the quarterfinals they beat Necaxa in two games 4–1. In the semifinals they confronted the top team of the tournament, Monarcas Morelia, in the first game in Zapopan. Tecos won the game 1-0 and then were able to retain their advantage by getting a tie 1–1 in the Morelos Stadium, eliminating the leader.
In the finals against América, Tecos were close to get a big advantage in Zapopan, but in the last minutes a penalty allowed América to get the tie 1-1. Finally, Tecos lost in the Azteca Stadium, 6–3.
For Apertura 2005, Tecos lost some of their score power, but managed to get again to the Liguilla where they were eliminated by Monterrey in the quarterfinal round. In Clausura 2006, Tecos made 21 points that were not enough to reach the Liguilla.
After Daniel Ludueña was transferred to Santos, Tecos lost its score power and, even with the help of Hugo Droguett they began to drown in the position table in the 2007–2008 season.
2009 renovation project
In 2009 a renovation plan was released, where a name and logo change for the club were proposed. This plan was supported by Mexican chairman José Antonio Leaño and family (the club owners), and Juan José Frangie, chairman, who previously worked with C.D. Guadalajara. On May 25, 2009 the project was officially released. The first change was the name; C.F. U.A.G. (Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara) turned into C.F. Estudiantes, The reason as to the name change was as to update the club's image, resulting in an aesthetic make-over to reference South American team monikers.[citation needed] The new colors are now wine and yellow, formerly a white and red theme. The new uniform and project have been in use since Clausura 2009.
After the rename and also a relocation of their time schedule allowing them to play on Friday nights (in order to attract more people from Guadalajara to see their games), Estudiantes had a good season in the Apertura 2009 enough to pull them in the InterLiga, where they were able to get the pass to the 2010 Copa Libertadores, but they were unable to pass the qualification round after being beaten by Juan Aurich team 4–1.
Relegation
The 2010–2011 seasons shown very poor results for Estudiantes and began in the third worst place of the relegation percentage table just behind Atlas and recently ascended Tijuana. The Apertura 2011 was hard for the three teams and Estudiantes retained its position at the end of that tournament, but a renovation in Tijuana squad and Atlas solid defense during the Clausura 2012 pulled Estudiantes to the last position. Estudiantes lost its position in Mexico's Primera División when Atlas defeated Monterrey 1–0 in Jalisco Stadium, while Tecos draw 1–1 to Puebla in Tres de Marzo stadium, pulling an disadvantage of 7 points with only 2 games (6 points) to play. Last game of Tecos on Primera División was against Querétaro that ended in a draw 1-1.
Sale of Equipment
The Autonomous University of Guadalajara confirmed the sale of Estudiantes Tecos to Grupo Pachuca; Further, it was clarified that the school would still take the student club for Clausura 2013.
"Grupo Pachuca will take operation in May 2013 The Autonomous University of Guadalajara wishes the best of luck to Grupo Pachuca and hopes that this new phase of the team is full of victories and championships", was announced.
Disappearance of Team
On May 22, 2014, the president of Grupo Pachuca, Jesús Martínez Patiño announced that the Club Deportivo Estudiantes Tecos would move from Jalisco to Zacatecas, this happened because there was an agreement with the Zacatecas government to send a professional football team there.
By not getting back Tecos to Liga Bancomer MX, on May 28, 2014, the change of venue and name was confirmed, giving birth to Mineros de Zacatecas.
The reserve team that played in Segunda División de Mexico stayed in Zapopan. In July, it was made official that Estudiantes Tecos would play for the 2014–15 Season in Liga Premier de Ascenso in Group 1 using the shield and uniform of the former Estudiantes Tecos CF.
After 2014–15 Season, Estudiantes Tecos moved the reserve team to Zacatecas and dissolved, too.
Re-founding (New Era)
In August 2015, the Leaño family announced they had bought the image rights from Grupo Pachuca, thus, re-founding the club to play in the Tercera División, the fourth tier of Mexican football. The previous owner, Antonio Leaño and his son Juan Carlos Leaño, estimate that the club's goal is to reach the Ascenso MX and/or the 1st Division within 5–6 years.
In the 2016–17 season, under the leadership of Rodrigo 'El Pony' Ruiz, the team managed to promote to the Segunda División after reaching the final by defeating Tuzos Pachuca in the semi-finals 4–2. In the final, Tecos faced Sporting Canamy, tying 2-2 after 120 minutes of playing. In the penalty shootout, however, Sporting Canamy would be crowned champion.
Subsequently, Tecos requested the annulment of the result of the final arguing the use of players over the age limit allowed by the regulation, known in Mexico as (Cachirules). On June 19, 2017, the disciplinary commission accepted the request of Tecos to find evidence of alteration of the birth certificate of a Canamy player, in this way Tecos was proclaimed champion of the Third Division, achieving his promotion to the Second Division Serie A.[3][4]
When Tecos UAG ascended to the First Division, Guadalajara was unexpectedly saturated with soccer teams with five teams playing in the First Division (Guadalajara, Atlas, Tecos, Universidad de Guadalajara and Jalisco). This number was eventually reduced to three due to the relegation of Jalisco and Atlas for one season.
Initially Tecos biggest rival was the Universidad de Guadalajara. This rivalry was based on the fact that both teams represent universities in the same city, with U.A.G. being a private university and U. de G. a public university. The U. de G. team was more popular than Tecos and also sometimes more successful by reaching the finals more times than U.A.G. and even winning a Mexico Cup. Unfortunately, the U. de G. never won a regular season while Tecos did. Tragically, the U. de G. lost their franchise due to economic issues that lead to the team being sold to FEMEXFUT in 1994.
Tecos tried to maintain the popularity it received after their championship but bad campaigns, combined with the success of Chivas in 1997 and the popularity boost that Atlas got at the end of the nineties resulted in Tecos keeping a low profile compared to the other teams in the city.
In the last years of Tecos' stay in the Primera, the team tried to create a rivalry with both Atlas and Guadalajara, but it never was taken seriously due to Tecos' lack of fan support. Unofficially, the rivalry with Atlas was called "El clasico de la avenida Patria" (Patria avenue derby) and "El clasico de Zapopan" (The Zapopan Derby) due to both teams having their clubs located on the same avenue in Zapopan.
In the history of the team, Tecos distinguished itself from other teams as it was the only team in the League that did not have a barra brava and instead a student supporters squad, called "Los Reprovados"( The Undergraduates). In the first years of the club, U.A.G. students were allowed to enter the stadium to see most games for free. However, the cheerleading squad was distinguished to keep standing and making noise all the time they were in the stadium unaware of the results and by respecting fellow animation squads.
