Club León

León

Full name	Club Social y Deportivo León
Nickname(s)	Esmeraldas (Emeralds) Panzas Verdes (Green Bellies)
Ground	Nou Camp, León, Guanajuato, Mexico (Capacity: 33,943[1])
Chairman	Jesús Martínez Patiño
Manager	Pedro Muñoz de la Torre
League	Liga de Ascenso
Bicentenario 2010	Runner-ups
Home colours Away colours Third colours
Current season

Club León, (simply known as León) is a Mexican professional football club based in the city of León, in the state of Guanajuato, Mexico. They currently play in the Liga De Ascenso formerly known as "Primera A", the second tier of football in Mexico since their relegation from the Primera Division (first tier) in 2002.

León has won the Primera División title five times, in 1948, 1949, 1952, 1956 and 1992. They became the first Mexican "Campeonísimo" (winner of the League and the México Cup in the same year) in 1949. In 1993 León was the CONCACAF Champions' Cup runner-up, losing the final match against Deportivo Saprissa, of Costa Rica, in one of the greatest upsets among the defeats in the club's history. They also qualified for the Champion's Cup in 1998, but were eliminated in the semi-final. The team has been a consistent contender for the Primera División A title since relegation from the Primera División in 2002; they have failed to obtain the promotion due to constant mediocre performances in the playoffs despite good appearances during the regular season. They are regular favourites to be champions of the Liga de Ascenso and return to the Primera Division. León is ranked 29th in the IFFHS Central and North America's best clubs of the 20th century,^[2] the only team in all the region ranked that highly but currently playing in the second division of a professional first division in CONCACAF.

History

The club's origins date back to the 1920s when a group of local businessman — Diego Mosqueda, Elías Sanromán, Pedro Calleja and David Villa — founded León Atlético. That first squad was made up of great players including Enrique Marín, Verulo Gómez, and Daniel González.

Until 1922 León Atlético only played friendly matches against Club Irapuato due to the lack of opponents and the close relationship both clubs had. That year new clubs including Nacional and Obrero were formed in order to establish an amateur league in the state of Guanajuato. León Atlético took home that first state championship in 1924 .

In 1928 Unión de Curtidores was established and quickly became a rival to León Atlético .Unión de Curtidores gained supporters around the city and became the city's most important club, bringing in big clubs from Mexico City for friendly matches, including Necaxa and Club America. Unión de Curtidores was made up great local players including Chueco Martínez, Manuel Tío Ramírez, Zenón Falcón and Tomás Medina. In 1943 Unión de Curtidores tried to join the Primera División de México which had just become professional. The club sent Antonio Morales to discover the requirements for joining the league that year. The club did not take part of the first tournament held in 1943, and for the 1944 tournament Unión de Curtidores and the Selección de Guanajuato merged in order to join the Primera División de México. This new club became known as Union León. The club started selling club stock shares in order to form a competitive club, as well as to pay for expenses. That first squad was made up of Marcial Ortiz, Raúl Varela, Alfonso Montemayor, Salvador Ramírez, Conrado Muñiz, Vicente Serrano, Pepe Cortes, and Palitos Ramírez, with Duilio Dobles and Joaquín Fuente as trainers.

1940s

Professional debut

The club made its official debut in the 1944-45 tournament on August 20, 1944 against Atlante F.C. who at that time was one of Mexico's imports club made up by great players Horacio Casarín, Vantolrá Ramos and Margarita Gutiérrez. The club would go on to lose s its first game with a score of 5-3, the club first goal was scored by Salvador Ramírez. That first year the club when on to finish with a record of 10 wins, 7 draws, 7 defeats for a toal of 27 points in 24 games.The following year a secound club from Guanajuato would join the Primera División de México, Club San Sebastián de León who was made up of former players from the old Unión de Curtidores and amateur clubs around the city.

In 1946 -47 the club signed well known players such as Adalberto López who went on to become the first Mexican goalscoring champion that year scoring 33 for the club. The club had its best year finishing runner up to Atlante F.C. who they would face in the last round on June 1, 1947 in the Estadio de los insurgentes now known as the Estadio Azul. That game ended in a 0-0 draw that would give Atlante the title with 42 points just one more than León who ended up with 41. That year the club had had a streak of 14 games without a loss with 11 wins and 3 draws.Another important player that year was Marcos Aurelio who scored 16 goals. This year is also remember for what happened on May 9, 1946 in a match the club played against Club America in Mexico City where the Argentine Florencio Caffarattti accidentally touched a down cable that fell behind the goalkeepers net after noticing what was happening Alfonso Montemayor rush and pull Florencio saving the player's life. After words Florencio Caffarattti would give a golden coin to Alfonso Montemayor which read "F. Caffaratti en agradecimiento a Montemayor" (F. Caffaratti is very grateful).

Back-to-back titles

In the 1947-48 the tournament was the most competitive till date. That year José Maria Casullo was in charge of the club whow would loss 7 games that year 2 of them by a large margin 4-0 against CD Oro and 5-1 against Club Atlas which would put in jeopardy the clubs coronation.After beating Atlante FC by one of the largest margin in clubs history 10-1 with 4 rounds left in the tormenting the club would go on to defeat contending clubs Puebla FC and Club America and tying in the last game against CD Oro that would eliminate Puebla FC and Club Atlas who ended up with 35 and ending with the same record as CD Oro. A championship match was held in Mexico City in the old Estadio de los insurgentes on June 28, 1947. León went on to win that game 2-0 the first goal scored by Pablo Pérez in the 51' and Jaime Moncada in the 74’. That year the club had a record of 15 victories, 7 draws, losing 7 games for a total of 36 points, also that year Adalberto López became the first player in the professional league to win back to back goalscoring titles scoring 36 that year. Marcos Aurelio also had a good tournament scoring 19 goals that year.

In the 1948-49 León became the first club since the professionalization of the league to win back-to-back league titles once again under the care of José Maria Casullo who had to overcome the departures of some of the clubs best players Ángel Fernández, and Marcos Aurelio.This year the clubs and one of the nation bets player made its debut on Antonio Carbajal with Real Club España on December 2, 1948. The title was decided in the second to last round after the club defeated Mexico City club Asturias F.C. 2-1 with 2 goals by Adalberto López and so pulling away from runner ups C.D. Guadalajara and Club Atlas who would go on to finishing 1 point behind León. That year the club became the first Campeonísimo after the club won that years Copa Mexico title on 3-0 against Atlante FC on August 14, 1949. Marcos Aurelio also won its 3rd consecutive Goalscoriung title that year after scoring 28 and becoming the first to achieve that task.

In the 1949-50 tournament the club finished third in the league with 31 points 8 points behind Club Deportivo Veracruz. Marcos Aurelio kept up his production scoring 29 goals finishing just 1 goals short from Julio Aparicio player from Club Deportivo Veracruz who scored 30.

1950s

In the 1950-51 tournament the club sales 2 of its best players, Adalberto López was sold to Club Atlas were he help the club win its first and only title to date.Eugenio Arenaza who had been the clubs goalkeeper since their first year wAs sold to Club America for 38 million pesos. That year the club signed Julio Ayllon who has just come from winning the title with Club Deportivo Veracruz and went on 2 score 10 goals that year. The club finished in 4th place with 26 points.

Third league title

In the 1951-52 the club made up the Mexico national football team that went on to win its third Pan American Games that year under the management of then trainer Antonio López Herranz. The club signed new and former players Antonio Carbajal and the return of Marcos Aurelio, Sergio Bravo and Saturnino Martínez who were brought in to win the league title anything less would have been consider a failure. This year the club went head to head to the last round against C.D. Guadalajara who they defeated in their 2 matches that year with a score of 1-0 in both games. In the last round C.D. Guadalajara had a 1 point edge over León and would only have to tie with Puebla FC in order to crowned themselves that year.C.D. Guadalajara would go on to loss that match in an incredible game played in the old Parque El Mirador in Puebla after Puebla forward Guadalupe Velázquez scored the go ahed goal and Vicente Gonzalez blocked a penalty shot by Tomas Balcázar. The scene was set for León who needed a win over Atlante FC who they went on to beat 1-0 Leonel Boza scoring the only game of the match and giving León its third League title.The clubs records that year were 11 victories, 9 draws losing only 2 for a total of 31 points just a points ahead of C.D. Guadalajara who finished with 30.

In the 1952-53 tournament the club finished 3rd with 27 points.

In the 1953-54 tournament the club the club would live its worst tournament after finishing 8th with 21 points.

In the 1954-55 tournament the club finished 4th with 25 points after a complete restructure singing new players.This years also marks the first Derby against their cross town rivals Irapuato FC who had just been promoted from the Segunda División de México, that first game went to Irapuato FC with a final score of 1-0.

Fourth league title

In the 1955-56 tournament the league increase the number of clubs to 14. The club lost its first match that year against Club Atlas. The club had its best unbeaten streak starting in the round 3 to the 21 round with 12 wins 7 and 7 draws till they finally lost 1-0 against Club Deportivo Tampico. Everything seem to go the club's way till in the 24 round Marik, Martinolli and Marcos Aurelio were suspended which cause the club to tie with Zacatepec and to lose 2-0 against Puebla FC which would allow CD Oro to catch up and force a decisive game between the club that was held 2 months later due to the tour the club had schedule around Europe were they played friendlies against Asturias autonomous football team among other European club as well as a short tour around South America were they played Club Atlético Lanús. The club return to Mexico March on in that same month played the decisive game against CD Oro on March 25, 1947 in the Estadio Olímpico Universitario were they came out victorious with a 4-2 final score that would give the club its 4th league title.

In the 1956-57 tournament the club finished Runner up tied to Deportivo Toluca F.C. with 30 points each and 6 points behind the champions C.D. Guadalajara who took the title with 36.That year the club when undefeated at home the club also would go on to loss the Copa Mexico final against Zacatepec.

In the 1957-58 tournament he club finished in 5th place 10 points behind the second time league champion Zacatepec. This year the club would go on to win its second Copa Mexico against Zacatepec who had beat them the year before.

In the 1958-59 tournament the club came close to winning its 5th league title after finishing runner up to C.D. Guadalajara who they managed to beat with 4 rounds left to tie with 31 points but C.D. Guadalajara would go on to win 3 out of the last 4 matches fishing 2 points ahead. This year the club would go on to loss the Copa Mexico final against Zacatepec in a trailing 2-1.

In the 1958-59 tournament the club the club finished in 4th with 30 points. Carlos Alberto Etcheverry was the top goal scorer that year with 16.

1960s

In the 1960-61 tournament the club finished with 26 points in 5th place tied with Club America, Deportivo Madero and Zacatepec.

In the 1961-62 the club finished in tied for 5th place with cross town rival Irapuato FC both with 25 points.

In the 1962-63 the club finished tied for 8th place with Necaxa both with 25 poinst.

In the 1963-64 the club finished tied for 7th place with the clubs from Guadalajara CD Oro and Club Atlas the 3 of them with 25 points.

In the 1964-65 the club finished would ones again finish 7th in the league with 30 points.Barbosa was the top scorer that year with 10 goals.

In the 1965-66 the club finished 9th with 28 points, Luis Estrada was the top goalscorer that year with 9.

In the 1966-67 the club finished tied for 4th place with Necaxa both with 34 points 7 less than Deportivo Toluca F.C. who won its first league title .In this year the club played its first game in their new stadium the Estadio Nou Camp. The club invited the Brazilian top club Santos FC who at the time had Pele in its arsenal to play a friendly against Argentinian club River Plate that match ended in a 2-1 victory for the Brazilian club. León played its first official match on October 18, 1967 against Club America. The club would also win its third Copa Mexico title after beating C.D. Guadalajara 2-1 but would go on to loss the Campeón de Campeones cup against Deportivo Toluca F.C. 1-0 who had won the league title that year.

In the 1967-68 the club finished in 5th place with 36 points 8 points shy of Deportivo Toluca F.C. who won its second consecutive title.

In the 1968-69 the club finished tied for 7th with Atlante F.C. both with 34 points.

In the 1969-70 the club finished tied for 6th place with Club America both with 31 points.'Luis Estrada and Sergio Anaya both scored 11 goals.

1970s

In the Mexico 70 tournament the club finished in 4th place with 33 led by former club leyend Antonio Carbajal,Sergio Anaya once again led the club with goals scoring 16 follow by Luis Estrada with 13.

In the 19070-71 tournament the club brought in new players Jorge Davino, Roberto Salomone and Juan Valiente who scored 10 goals that year led again by Antonio Carbajal who managed a 4th place with 38 points.The club would go on to win their 4th Copa Mexico title that year against Zacatepec in an exciting match that would be decided by a penalty shoot out where the club mnaged to win with a 10-9.

In the 19071-72 tournament the club finished in 6th place with 35 points and would go on to win its 5th Copa Mexico title against Puebla FC in a group round tournament along with Cruz Azul and C.D. Guadalajara, also that year the club would og on to win the Campeón de Campeones against Club America.

In the 1972-73 tournament the club started of the year under the care of Antonio Carbajal who was later replace by José Gomes Nogueira who led the club to a second place finishing behind Cruz Azul. That year the club played its first playoff facing Atlético Español where the cvlub managed to come out with the victory after a 0-0 draw in the first match, and a 3-3 in the second match which send the series in to a 3 and decisive game played in Puebla where the club finally won on a penalty shoot out. The final was played against Cruz Azul the first was played in León with a 0-0 draw, the second match was played in the Estadio Azteca with another scoreless draw which send the game to a third final game played once again in the Estadio Cuauhtémoc ibn the city of Puebla were Cruz Azul finally mange to win with a score of 2-0.

In the 1974-75 tournament the club finished 8th with 40 points and fail to qualify, Roberto Salomone was the top scorer that year in the club with 18.

In the 1975-76 tournament the club finished second in group 4 with 51 points and qualify to the playoffs where they face Club Universidad de Guadalajara who would go on to beat the club 6-0 in aggregated time.

In the 1976-77 tournament the club finished third in group 1 with 39 points and fail to qualify.Alberto Jorge was the clubs top scorer with 20 that year and Martin Cobrita Villanueva scored 12 this season .

In the 1977-78 tournament the club finished last in group 2 with 36 poinst ,Alberto Jorge was the to scorer with 15 ,and " Martin Cobrita Villanueva"' scorer with 6

In the 1978-79 tournament Antonio Carbajal return and led the club to a 4 place in group 2 with 31 points. Kalú had the most goals that year with 12 and ""Martin Cobrita Villanueva"" scorer with 6 again in this tournament"" Martin Cobrita Villanueva"" fractured his right neek in Cuauthemoc stadium and retired at 22 yrs.

In the 1979-80 tournament the club finished in last place in group 2 with 29 points failing once again to reach the playoffs.

1980s

In the 1980-81 tournament the club finished last in group 2 with a total of 3` points led by Alberto Resquin who was then replaced by Alberto Etcheverry halfway through the tournament.Concepción Rodríguez was that year's top goalscorer for the club.

In the 1981-82 tournament the club came close to losing the category having 4 trainers that year first Walter Ormeño followed by Salvador Enríquez who was replace by Agustín Santillán, who was replace by Arpad Fekete after 4 consecutive draws scoring 0 goals. Arpad Fekete managed to safe the club from relegation and leaving it up to Club Atlas and Tampico Madero to depute.

In the 1982-83 tournament the club brought in Ricardo faccio who after starting the year with a record of 0 wins 3 draws and 6 losses is replaced with Sergio Anaya who only coached two games before being replaced by former trainer Gomes Nogueira who finally got a victory in the 12 round.Ruben Omar Romano scored 11 goals followed by Zizinho with 10 goals and Víctor Rangel with 9.

In the 1983-84 tournament the club signed top goal scorer Evanivaldo Castro, he made his debut against Tampico Madero in a 3-3 draw where he score a goal and missed a penalty shot. The club did not improve much that year finishing last in group 4 with a total of 32 points by means of 11 wins, 10 draws and 17 losses. The Brazilian Evanivaldo Castro was that year top scorer with 18.

In the 1984-85 tournament the club managed to qualify to the playoffs after finishing 2nd in group 1 with 42 points by means of 17 wins, 12 draws and 9 losses. The club faced Club Universidad de Guadalajara who they defeated in penalty shoots after a 2-2 in aggregated time. In semifinals the club was eliminated by Club Universidad Nacional 5-3 in aggregated time. Evanivaldo Castro managed to win the goalscoring title that year with 23.

For the 1985-86 tournament the league has 2 small tournament due to the 1986 World Cup that was taking place in Mexico that year.In the first which was called the Prod 85 only 8 games where play with the club only obtaining 7 points finishing 15th in the league. The second tournament was named Mexico 86 where after 18 games played the club Finnish last in group 1 with 13 points.

First relegation

For the 1986-87 tournament Jorge Davino was the trainer where in after 19 round he only managed to gain 10 points which caused his replacement. Pedro García came in the 21 round but there was nothing he could have done to avoid relegation that year, making this the first in the 43 years of existence. That year numbers where 12 victories, 8 draws, 20 defeats 42 goals score allowing 57 for a total of 32 points 1 more than Cobras de Ciudad Juárez who had 31 and was also relegated that year. The club would go on to play in the second division for the remainder for the for the next couple years, until the 1989-90 tournament where they managed to obtain promotion after defeating Inter de Tijuana in the final that year led by Víctor Manuel Vucetich.

Previous sponsors

Year	Manufacturer	Main Sponsor	Other Sponsors
1986-87	Le Coq Sportif
1988-93	Pony	Coca Cola
1993 -95	Adidas	Coca Cola
1996-97	Umbro	Coca Cola	Sol Gigante Pegaso Bimbo
1997-01	Atletica	Resistol	Sol Tele-Ver
2002-03	Kappa	Resistol	Sol Tele-Ver
2004-08	Garcis	Caja Popular Mexicana	3 hermanos Corona
2008–present	Pirma	Caja Popular Mexicana	3 hermanos Corona

First kit evolution

1944

1970

1992

1995

2001

2002

2003

2005

2008

2009

Historic Badges

The club's badge originally used the city coat of arms, which has a Lion. In the mid 1950s the club created a more European style badge, similar to ones they use in Spain, containing a circle with the lion in the middle and a crown on top. In 1964 then owner Don Roberto Solís decided to celebrate the club's 20 year anniversary by having the supporters design a new badge. The crest that was selected had a lion head next to a football with the club's name at top and the initials A.C. at the bottom. In the early 1980s the club modernized the crest, adding the club's championship stars at the bottom. In the early 2000s the crest was modernized once again, this time changing the A.C. to F.C.

• 

  1944-1954
• 

  1955-1963
• 

  1964-1980
• 

  1980-2000

ClubRecords

All time goal leaders

N°	Name	Goals
1	Adalberto Lopez	126
2	Roberto Salomone	96
3	Marcos Aurelio	91
4	Luis Estrada	91
5	Milton Queiroz da Paixao "Tita"	88
6	Oswaldo Martinoli	77
7	Sergio Anaya	55
8	Alberto Jorge	51
9	Luis Luna	48
10	Evanivaldo Castro "Cabinho"	44

Goal scoring Champions

N°	Name	Tournament	Goals
1	Adalberto López	1947-1948	26
2	Adalberto López	1948-1949	28
3	Luis Estrada	1968-1969	24
4	Sergio Anaya	México 70	24
5	Evanivaldo Castro "Cabinho"	1984-1985	23
6	Everaldo Begines	Verano 2000	14
7	Héctor "YAYA" Álvarez	Invierno 2002 Primera A	17
8	Mauricio Romero Alvizu	Apertura 2007 Primera A	14
9	Freddy Bareiro	Clausura 2008 Primera A	17
10	Carlos Casartelli	Bicentenario 2010 Liga de Ascenso	11
11	Blas Pérez	Clausura 2011 Liga de Ascenso	14

Club Honors

• Primera División de México: 5

1947-48, 1948-49, 1951-52, 1955-56, 1991-92

• Primera División A: 3

Clausura 2003, Clausura 2004, Clausura 2008

• Segunda División: 1

1989-90

• Campeonísimo: 1

1948-49

• Cup Champion: 5

1948-49, 1957-58, 1966-67, 1970-71, 1971-72, 1972-73

• Campeón de Campeones: 4

1947-48, 1955-56, 1970-71, 1971-72, 1972-73

• CONCACAF Champions' Cup: 0

Runner-up: 1993

Current roster

As of October 29, 2011.^[3] Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Alfonso Blanco (on loan from CF Pachuca) 2 DF Iván Pineda 3 DF Daniel Amador 4 DF Oscar Mascorro (on loan from Club San Luis) 5 DF Daniel Duarte 6 MF Marco Vidal 7 DF Edwin Hernández 8 MF Lorenzo Ramírez (on loan from Dorados de Sinaloa) 9 FW Eder Pacheco 10 MF Luis Montes (on loan from CF Pachuca) 11 FW Luis Nieves 12 DF Mario Ruíz 13 DF Fernando Salazar (on loan from Monarcas Morelia)

No. Position Player 15 MF Edwin Santibáñez 17 MF Gregorio Torres 18 FW Eder Cruz 19 FW Gustavo Ramírez 22 FW Sebastián Maz 23 FW Julián Benítez 24 GK Esteban Paredes 26 MF Julio Ceja 27 MF Carlos Peña 28 MF Pablo Aja (on loan from Puebla F.C.) 30 MF Alejandro Corona 31 GK Édgar Hernández (on loan from CF Pachuca) 35 DF Ignacio González 57 MF Luis Delgado

Notable players

Rafael Albrecht Hector Alvarez Patricio Pérez Marcos Aurelio Osvaldo Batocletti Antonio Battaglia Carlos Casartelli Ángel Comizzo Jorge Davino Alberto "Tito" Etcheverry Luis Islas Oscar Nova Miguel Rugilo Roberto Salomone

Cabinho Leandro Augusto Tita Edgardo Fuentes Sebastián González Rodrigo Valenzuela Hernán Medford Cristian Castillo Jaime Rodríguez [[flagicon|El Salvador}} Rodolfo Zelaya Everaldo Begines Antonio Carbajal Rafael "Chepe" Chávez Luis Estrada Teo Gonzalez Adalberto Lopez

Sigifredo Mercado Guillermo Muñoz Jaime Ordiales Mauricio Romero Alvizu Martin Villanueva Cirilo Saucedo Carlos Turrubiates Guido Alvarenga Denis Caniza Eugenio Arenaza Marcelo Balboa Eric Wynalda

References

1. ^ www.clubleon-fc.com
2. ^ "Central and North America's club of the Century". International Federation of Football History & Statistics. http://www.iffhs.de/?32b0cfd380ff73117fe2c0bf23c17e23a09e33b17f7370eff3702bb1c2bbb6e20f83617f23808f16. Retrieved 2009-10-08. 
3. ^ http://www.clubleon-fc.com/jugadores.html

Full list published by IFFHS on 8 October 2009

External links

• Official website (Spanish)