Club Atlas

Atlas

Full name	Club Social y Deportivo Atlas de Guadalajara
Nickname(s)	Zorros (Foxes) Los Rojinegros (The Red-blacks) La Academia (The Academy)
Founded	August 15, 1916
Ground	Jalisco, Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico (Capacity: 56,700)
Chairman	Carlos Martin Del Campo
Manager	Juan Carlos Chávez
League	Primera División de México
Clausura 2011	10th (league)
Home colours Away colours Third colours
Current season

Club Social y Deportivo Atlas de Guadalajara is a Mexican football club. Atlas is one of three teams that play in Guadalajara, Mexico, along with Club Deportivo Guadalajara and Estudiantes Tecos in the Primera División de México. The club's home stadium is Estadio Jalisco in Guadalajara.

History

Club cardinals atlas was founded in a bar of Guadalajara, Mexico, where a few friends recalled their football experience at English college squads where they had spent the last few years. Alfonso and Juan José "Lico" Cortina, Pedro "Perico" and Carlos Fernández del Valle, the three Orendain brothers and Federico Collignon (who had studied in Berlin) finally decided in the summer of 1910 to set up a football team called "Club Atlas"^{[citation needed]} and founded it in Tlaquepaque, outside the city of Guadalajara.

The technical ability that the "Atlistas" employed - triangular passing and skillful dribbling to avoid opponents' tackles - was impressive and they quickly joined the elite in Mexican football. As a result, Atlas and Chivas, a fellow Guadalajara team, have a long history in the first division and the game between them is called the 'Clásico Tapatío'.

Youth Academy

Atlas has one the best youth academies in Mexico. In the last decade Atlas has developed and let many young players play more than any other team in Mexico. Many young players go in Atlas youth academy knowing that they'll have a strong possibility to play with the first team. Although Atlas has only won the league championship once, their academy has been famous for developing national idols who have played with the Mexico national football team in the past decade like Jared Borgetti, Daniel Osorno, José de Jesús Corona, Pável Pardo, Oswaldo Sánchez, Rafael Márquez, Juan Carlos Medina, Jorge Hernández, Mario Méndez, Miguel Zepeda, Jose Vaquero Lopez, Juan Pablo Rodriguez, Juan Pablo Garcia, Hugo Ayala, Jorge Torres Nilo, Edgar Ivan Pacheco, Andrés Guardado and many more. As of 2007, most teams in Mexico's Primera División have at least one player who started their career in Club Atlas.

Club Atlas had a golden age in the year 1998 with promising players such as Rafael Márquez, Daniel Osorno, Juan Pablo Rodriguez, Mario Méndez, Omar Briceño, and Miguel Zepeda. They lost the final to Toluca and next season became dominant 1st place overall but never claimed a title. Today many of the once young jewels of the team are on elite squads and play important roles.

International Competitions

Atlas has participated twice in Copa Libertadores. The first appearance been in the year 2000 when the team made it to the quarterfinals and lost to former cup champions Palmeiras. In 2008, Atlas had another chance participation in Copa Libertadores making it to the quarterfinals and losing to cup champions Boca Juniors. In June 2009 Atlas was chosen with other 3 teams from FMF to participate in the Superliga. The Superliga is a tournament that 4 teams from FMF and MLS participate. The winner receives the prize of $1 million.

Estadio Jalisco

Atlas currently plays in the stadium. Estadio Jalisco is the third largest stadium in Mexico and was constructed on January 31, 1960. It is a venue that has played host to historic matches and teams including Pelé's Brazil in 1970. In total, It was host for 8 games in the 1970 FIFA World Cup, 6 of which were from group stage matches, and two were quarter and semi-finals. Subsequently, the stadium was again host for 9 games in the 1986 FIFA World Cup, 6 of which were group stage matches, 1 was round of sixteen and the last 2 were quarter and semi-finals.

Fans

Atlas fans are collectively called La Fiel (the faithful) by themselves, but better known to the rest of the population as "Barra 51" ; La Barra 51 is the main organized supporter group. La Barra 51's name recalls Atlas' last and only championship in the Primera División de México in 1951. Through the team's struggling performance La Fiel has earned its name, supporting the team for 60 years without any major silverware.

Current squad

For recent transfers, see List of Mexican Football Transfers Summer 2011.

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 Miguel Pinto 2 DF Ricardo Jiménez 3 DF Néstor Vidrio 4 MF Luis Robles 5 DF Jonathan Lacerda (on loan from Santos Laguna) 6 MF Francisco Torres (on loan from Santos Laguna) 7 FW Flavio Santos 8 MF Lucas Ayala (on loan from Tigres UANL) 10 MF Jesús Meza 11 MF Gastón Puerari 12 DF Daniel Arreola 14 FW Mauricio Romero Alvizu 15 DF Alfredo González Tahuilán (on loan from Tigres UANL)

No. Position Player 16 MF Alonso Zamora 17 FW Georgie Welcome (on loan from CD Motagua) 18 DF Jesús Arturo Paganoni 19 MF Saúl Villalobos 20 DF Hugo Isaác Rodríguez 21 GK Alejandro Gallardo 22 MF Guillermo Rojas (on loan from Jaguares de Chiapas) 23 MF Ricardo Bocanegra 24 GK José Francisco Canales 28 FW Jahir Barraza 31 MF Jonathan Piña 36 MF Efrén Mendoza

Out on loan: 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 - MF Carlos Alberto Gutiérrez (on loan to HNK Rijeka) - FW Hebert Alférez (on loan to HNK Rijeka)

No. Position Player - FW Luis Delgadillo (on loan to HNK Rijeka)

Current Technical Staff

Position	Staff
Manager	Juan Carlos Chávez
Assistant Manager	Ernesto De La Rosa
Physical fitness coach	Diego Rousse
Team Doctor	Rubén Cruz
Massage Therapist	Guillermo López
Utilityman	Rubén Herrera
Goalkeepers coach	Raúl Morales

Last updated: 18 April 2010
Source: F.C. Atlas Official Website

Honors

• Primera División de México: 1

1950-51

• Copa México: 4

1945-46, 1949-50, 1961-62, 1967-68

• Campeón de Campeones: 4

1945-46, 1949-50, 1950-51, 1961-62

• Segunda División de México: 3

1954-55, 1971-72, 1978-79

• Amateur Era Occidental League Championships: 5

1917-21, 1935-36

Friendly International Tournaments

• Copa Marlboro: 1

1990

• Copa Cuadrangular: 1

2010

Notable players

José Rafael Albrecht Jorge Almirón Eduardo Berizzo Eduardo Bustos Montoya José Luis Calderón Luis Carniglia Hugo Norberto Castillo (El Misionero) Diego Cocca Diego Colotto Darío Franco Fabricio Fuentes Ricardo Lunari Bruno Marioni Diego Rivarola Emanuel Villa Coutinho Robert Pedro Araya Toro

Ismael Fuentes Reinaldo Navia Rodrigo Valenzuela Edwin Cubero Jorge Solís Jaime Rodríguez Martín Machón Carlo Costly Wilmer Velásquez Hugo Ayala Lucas Ayala Jared Borgetti Dárvin Chávez Juan Carlos Chávez José de Jesús Corona Jaime Durán Luis Flores Juan Pablo García

Andrés Guardado Jorge Hernández Pedro Hernández Manuel Lapuente Adalberto "Dumbo" López Rafael Márquez Juan Carlos Medina Mario Méndez Daniel Osorno Edgar Iván Pacheco Pável Pardo Manuel Pérez José Manuel Rivera Juan Pablo Rodríguez Oswaldo Sánchez Jorge Torres Nilo Juan Carlos Valenzuela

Martín Vásquez Néstor Vidrio Miguel Ángel Zepeda Jorge Achucarro Lucas Barrios Ariel Bogado Denis Caniza Hugo Kiesse Héctor Chumpitaz Juan Pajuelo Miroslav Cermelj Jorge Bava Carlos María Morales Robert Siboldi Gonzalo Vargas

Notable coaches

Ricardo Lavolpe Eduardo Valdatii Marcelo Bielsa

Ruben Omar Romano Pedro García Carlos Reinoso

External links

• (Spanish) Official site
• (Spanish) Primera División
• (Spanish) Atlas Dicussion Forum