Club Deportivo Guadalajara (Chivas)

Club Deportivo Guadalajara played the championship final of the Clausura 2004 after eliminating Atlante and Toluca (2-1 on aggregate). However, Chivas fell 5-4 on penalty kicks, 1-1 on aggregate versus UNAM Pumas. The team coached by Hans Westerhoff finished the regular season with a 10-5-4 record, 34 points in 19 games.

While known for their policy of only fielding Mexican players, Chivas has had in fact a number of foreign coaches. One of their most recent coaches was Oscar Ruggeri (winter 2001- winter 02), one of the most famous Argentine players of all time. Chivas also won its first title under the Uruguayan, Donaldo Ross (1957).

During the "Campeonismo" period of 1950's and 60's Chivas often hosted Pentagonal tournaments which often included two foreign teams and three Mexican teams. On one occasion in 1961, Chivas won the tournament over the mighty Santos which featured Pele. In 1958 they won a pentagonal tournament by beating both Botafogo, which boasted a number of legends such as Garrincha y Didi and River Plate, which featured legends such as Amadeo Carrizo.

Chivas plays their matches at what is known as "Estadio Jalisco" in Guadalajara. The stadium was built in 1960 and holds approximately 70,000. Chivas shares the stadium with fellow Guadalajara club, Atlas. The stadium was part of the 1970 and 1986 World Cups and is considered a home away from home for Brazil as they played the majority of their games there during both World Cups.

Chivas won their last title during the 1997 summer season over Toros Neza in the finals. The team was known as "Super Chivas" and contained a number of well-known Mexican players at the time such as Ramon Ramirez, Luis Garcia, Manuel Martinez, Claudio Suarez and their coach was Ricardo Tuca Ferreti. The team had a record of 9-1-7.

Chivas won their ninth title in 1986-87 defeating Cruz Azul in the final by an aggregate of 4-2. The record that year was 21-6-13 and what is particularly notable is that one of their main stars was their current coach Eduardo "Yayo" de la Torre. Yayo registered a total number of 19 goals that year to lead the team.

City of Guadalajara: With 3 million people, Guadalajara, Jalisco is the second largest Mexican city. It's a city famous for its culture, business, technology, history and beauty. Many of the aspects most authentic of Mexican culture come from the city and various neighboring areas. For example, Mariachi music was born in Guadalajara and is considered the official Mexican music. Furthermore, the alcohol Tequila was created in a little town known as Tequila that lies outside the city.

Guadalajara is the home to three First Division soccer clubs. Chivas, the most popular and famous of the three, but there is also Atlas, considered by many to play some of the most attractive and exiting soccer in the league and La Universidad Autonoma de Guadalajara (UAG) which is normally known as Tecos.

Mexican League- 20 teams make up upcoming Apertura 2003 season to begin in August:

Group 1- Pumas, America, Atlante, Monarcas, Tecos, Dorados
Group 2- Chivas, Tigres, Toluca, Cruz Azul, Atlas, Puebla
Group 3- Jaguares, Pachuca, Santos, Necaxa, Veracruz, Monterrey

The First Division in Mexico is known as "la Primera". Each team plays every other team once for a total of 19 matches. Within each year, two separate seasons are played. The First is now called "el Apertura" after being called "el Verano" and the second is "el Clausura" instead of its former name "el Invierno." "El Apertura" lasts from August through November while "el Clausura" runs from January to May. The name was first changed in 2002 at the start of "el Apertura."

Relegation is slightly more complicated than in many other national leagues around the world. The team with the combined worst record over the last three years is relegated.

The twenty teams are split up into 4 different groups of 5 every season. The groups are organized according to the final position of each team in the past season. The top two teams in each group advance to the playoffs which are known as "la Liguilla." However if a third place team has a better record than one of the second place teams, those teams play a two-game playoff series with the winner gaining entry to the playoffs.