Copa México

Copa México

The Copa México trophy.
Founded	1907
Region	Mexico
Number of teams	69
Current champions	Cruz Azul (1997)
Most successful club	Asturias (8 titles)

The Copa México was a Mexican football cup competition that existed from 1907 to 1997. It consisted of both professional and amateur stages. It was the first official tournament that included teams from different parts of Mexico, and it was an important and prestigious tournament, especially during its earlier years of existence.

The original purpose of the competition was to determine a national champion, thus distinguishing it from the local league championship. Its format was different from the local leagues as well, as it employed direct elimination and culminated in a final that received much more fanfare than the local leagues. However, the goals of the Copa México were never realized due to a number of factors, including the distances and costs of travel, the timing of the tournament, and the enmity between regional leagues.

Despite early optimism about the Copa México, it lost its prestige over the years as it endured constant changes in format and even being placed on hiatus by the Mexican Football Federation, which occurred twice (the first between 1976 and 1988 and the second between 1992 and 1994). After the 1997 edition of the tournament, it was ended permanently.

History

Copa Tower (1907–1919)

The Copa México began in 1907 with the donation of the trophy by Reginald Tower, who was at the time the English ambassador to Mexico. For this reason, it was originally called the Copa Tower. At first, the tournament only included clubs from Mexico City and the surrounding areas. Pachuca won the inaugural tournament, in 1908, by defeating Reforma AC in the final. In 1919, Real España won the cup for the third year straight and were allowed to keep the trophy permanently. In all, the Copa Tower was contested 11 times, with Real España winning it four times in all, the best performance of the period.

Copa Eliminatoria (1919–1932)

In 1920, the tournament took place for the first time with a new trophy, the Copa Eliminatoria. It was contested six times between the years 1920 and 1926. Asturias F.C. won it three times during this period (consecutively from 1922–1924), the highest total of any team during this period.

Copa México (1932–1997)

Amateur Period (1932–1943)

After the foundation of the Federación Mexicana de Fútbol in 1927, a new trophy, named the Copa México, was donated in 1932. Following a six-year hiatus, the cup was contested again during the 1932–33 season. This time, the competition also received official support of President Lázaro Cárdenas. The first Copa México was won by Necaxa in a tournament of historical importance due to the adoption of new rules. This marked the beginning of an 11-year period that is referred to in retrospect as the Amateur Period. Once again, Asturias F.C. dominated the championship, winning it a record 5 times during this period.

Professional Period (1943–1997)

In 1943 the Professional Period of the Copa México began, a period that would last until the competition's termination in 1997. At first, it was played among teams from the Liga Mayor, the present-day Primera Division de Mexico. In 1950, it was enlarged to also include the teams of the Segunda División de México. However, it was not held during the 1956–57, 1963–64, 1994–95, or 1995–96 seasons.

Year-by-year results

Copa Tower (1907–1919)

Year Champion Score Runner-up 1907–08 Pachuca AC 4–0 Reforma AC 1908–09 Reforma AC 3–2 México FC 1909–10 Reforma AC 3–1 Asturias 1910–11 British Club 2–1 España 1911–12 Pachuca AC 4–0 Reforma AC 1912–13 Was not played[1] 1913–14 México FC 3–0 Asturias 1914–15 Club España 4–2 Asturias 1915–16 Rovers FC 3–1 Club España 1916–17 Club España 5–1 México FC 1917–18 Club España 3–1 Pachuca AC 1918–19 Club España 3–0 Asturias

Copa Eliminatoria (1919–1932)

Year Champion Score Runner-up 1919–20 Was not played[2] 1920–21 México FC 4–2 Pachuca 1921–22 Asturias 4–1 España 1922–23 Asturias 3–0 España 1923–24 Asturias 5–3 Reforma AC 1924–25 Necaxa 3–2 Asturias 1925–26 Necaxa 4–2 España 1926–32 Was not played

Copa México (1932–1997)

Amateur Period (1932–1943)

Year Champion Score Runner-up 1932–33 Necaxa 3–1 Germania 1933–34 Asturias 4–1 América 1934–35 Was not played 1935–36 Necaxa 2–1 Asturias 1936–37 Asturias 5–3 América 1937–38 América 3–1 España 1938–39 Asturias 4–3 España 1939–40 Asturias 1–0 Necaxa 1940–41 Asturias 4–2 Necaxa 1941–42 Atlante 3–0 Asturias 1942–43 Moctezuma 3–1 América

Professional Period (1943–1997)

Year	Champion	Score	Runner-up	Manager
1943-44	España	6–2	Atlante	Rodolfo Muñoz
1944–45	Puebla	6–4	América	Eduardo Morilla
1945-46	Atlas	5–4	Atlante	Eduardo Valdatti
1946–47	Moctezuma	4–3	CD Oro	Julio Kaiser
1947–48	Veracruz	3–1	Guadalajara	Joaquin Urquiaga
1948–49	León	3–0	Atlante	Jose Maria Casullo
1949–50	Atlas	3–1	Veracruz	Eduardo Valdatti
1950–51	Atlante	1–0	Guadalajara	Octavio Vial
1951–52	Atlante	2–0	Puebla	Gregorio Blasco
1952–53	Puebla	4–1	León	Isidro Langara
1953–54	América	1–1 (3–2)1	Guadalajara	Octavio Vial
1954–55	América	1–0	Guadalajara	Octavio Vial
1955–56	Toluca	2–1	Irapuato	Fernando Marcos
1956–57	Zacatepec	2–1	León	Ignacio Trelles
1957–58	León	5–2	Zacatepec	Antonio López Herranz
1958–59	Zacatepec	2–1	León	Ignacio Trelles
1959–60	Necaxa	2–2 (10–9)1	Tampico	Donald Ross
1960–61	Tampico	1–0	Toluca	Nicolas Palma
1961–62	Atlas	3–3 1–0	Tampico	Jose Carlos Bauer
1962–63	Guadalajara	2–1	Atlante	Javier De la Torre
1963–64	América	1–1 (5–4)1	Monterrey	Alejandro Scopelli
1964–65	América	4–0	Morelia	Alejandro Scopelli
1965–66	Necaxa	3–3 1–0	León	Miguel Marin*
1966–67	León	2–1	Guadalajara	Luis Grill
1967–68	Atlas	2–1	Veracruz	Javier Novello
1968–69	Cruz Azul	2–1	Monterrey	Raúl Cardenas
1969–70	Guadalajara	3–2 2–1	Torreón	Javier De la Torre
1970–71	León	0–0 (10–9)1	Zacatepec	Antonio Carbajal
1971–72	León	Group2	Puebla	Antonio Carbajal
1973–74	América	2–1 1–1	Cruz Azul	Jose Antonio Roca
1974–75	U.N.A.M.	Group2	U. de Guadalajara	Arpad Fekete
1975–76	U.A.N.L.	2–0 1–2	América	Claudio Lostanau
1987–88	Puebla	0–0 1–13	Cruz Azul	Hugo Fernandez
1988–89	Toluca	2–0 1–1	U. de Guadalajara	Hector Sanabria
1989–90	Puebla F.C.	4–1 0–2	U.A.N.L.	Manuel Lapuente
1990–91	U de Guadalajara	1–0 0–0	América	Alberto Guerra
1991–92	Monterrey	4–2	Ciudad Juárez	Miguel Mejia Baron
1994-95	Necaxa	2–0	Veracruz	Manuel Lapuente
1995–96	U.A.N.L.	1–1 1–0	Atlas	Victor Manuel Vucetich
1996–97	Cruz Azul	2–0	Toros Neza	Victor Manuel Vucetich

1: On penalties
2: Group Round (In 1971–72 the 4 teams were León, Puebla, Guadalajara, and Cruz Azul)
3: On away goals

Champions

Amateur Era Champions

CLUB CHAMPION Asturias 8 RC España 4 Necaxa 4 Pachuca 2 Reforma AC 2 México FC 2 British FC 1 Rovers FC 1 Club América 1 CF Atlante 1 Moctezuma 1

Professional Era Champions and Runners-up

CLUB CHAMPION RUNNER-UP León 5 4 Club América 5 3 Puebla FC 4 2 Atlas 4 1 Necaxa 3 0 Guadalajara 2 5 Atlante 2 4 Zacatepec 2 2 Cruz Azul 2 2 Toluca 2 1 Tigres U.A.N.L. 2 1 Veracruz 1 3 Tampico Madero 1 2 U. de Guadalajara 1 2 Monterrey 1 2 RC España 1 0 Moctezuma 1 0 Pumas U.N.A.M. 1 0 CD Oro 0 1 CD Irapuato 0 1 Morelia 0 1 Torreón 0 1 Cobras Ciudad Juárez 0 1 Toros Neza 0 1

Mexico - All-Time Table Cup Tournament

Includes all results since 1942-43 (first professional Cup Tournament) to 1996-97 Three points per victory since 1995

Posición	Equipo	JJ	G	E	P	GF	GC	DIF	PTS
1	Guadalajara	217	98	47	72	385	296	89	253
2	América	209	92	55	62	348	294	54	244
3	León	181	84	34	63	308	263	45	206
4	Toluca	169	78	42	49	261	209	52	203
5	Atlas	184	70	39	75	307	307	0	186
6	Atlante	184	73	32	79	275	294	-19	182
7	Cruz Azul	124	61	28	35	192	142	50	162
8	Necaxa	146	60	34	52	244	219	25	161
9	Puebla	136	55	39	42	233	201	32	152
10	Monterrey	139	58	31	50	219	208	11	149
11	Zacatepec	120	46	29	45	185	175	10	125
12	Veracruz	126	50	21	55	205	206	-1	121
13	U.N.A.M.	111	38	29	44	157	161	-4	111
14	Irapuato	107	36	27	44	157	171	-14	102
15	Oro	114	37	27	50	184	203	-19	101
16	Tampico	81	32	21	28	143	146	-3	87
17	Morelia	93	31	19	43	118	151	-33	86
18	U.A.N.L.	64	22	20	21	100	95	5	77
19	U de G	56	29	16	11	92	57	35	74
20	U.A.G.	52	21	10	21	84	75	9	58
21	Laguna	40	15	8	17	48	66	-18	38
22	Pachuca	36	11	10	15	47	55	-8	35
23	Atlético Español	30	15	4	11	62	50	12	34
24	Marte	51	11	12	28	77	121	-44	35
25	Santos Laguna	38	11	12	15	44	54	-10	34
26	Cobras	29	11	6	12	30	37	-7	28
27	Jalisco	26	10	7	9	38	37	1	27
28	Toros Neza	15	9	1	5	22	15	7	26
29	San Luis	20	9	2	9	33	32	1	25
30	U.A.T.	35	11	7	17	40	52	-12	25
31	Moctezuma	21	10	2	9	46	49	-3	22
32	Potosino	24	7	8	9	27	36	-9	22
33	La Piedad	24	6	6	12	27	47	-20	22
34	España	19	10	1	8	55	41	14	21
35	Torreón	23	7	7	9	25	23	2	21
36	Cruz Azul Hidalgo	11	4	2	5	12	18	-6	14
37	Nacional	20	5	4	11	26	34	-8	14
38	Celaya	23	3	6	14	22	52	-30	14
39	Tampico Madero	13	6	1	6	20	19	1	13
40	Curtidores	14	4	5	5	20	24	-4	13
41	Nuevo León	18	4	5	9	21	30	-9	13
42	Tigrillos	7	2	2	3	7	10	-3	12
43	A.D.O.	15	6	0	9	24	35	-11	12
44	Asturias	17	6	0	11	40	50	-10	12
45	Ciudad Madero	23	2	7	14	20	54	-34	11
46	San Francisco	11	4	1	6	13	17	-4	10
47	Tijuana	9	3	1	5	7	12	-5	10
48	Poza Rica	6	4	1	1	11	8	3	9
49	Saltillo	8	3	0	5	8	10	-2	9
50	Querétaro	14	2	3	9	13	24	-11	7
51	Zamora	14	1	4	9	20	40	-20	6
52	Bachilleres	3	2	1	0	7	3	4	5
53	Cuautla	8	2	1	5	11	20	-9	5
54	Gallos Blancos	3	1	2	0	5	3	2	4
55	Acapulco	10	1	1	9	5	22	-17	3
56	Orizaba	4	1	1	2	5	4	1	3
57	Yucatán	4	1	1	2	3	5	-2	3
58	Angeles	4	1	1	2	6	9	-3	3
59	Hermosillo	7	0	1	6	7	19	-12	3
60	Xalapa	2	1	0	1	2	4	-2	2
61	Tabasco	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	1
62	Neza	2	0	1	1	3	4	-1	1
63	Cancún	2	0	1	1	0	1	-1	1
64	Texcoco	2	0	1	1	1	6	-5	1
65	Tepic	4	0	1	3	5	11	-6	1
66	U.A.Queretaro	1	0	0	1	1	2	-1	0
67	Aguascalientes	1	0	0	1	0	1	-1	0
68	Ciudad Victoria	2	0	0	2	0	3	-3	0
69	San Sebastian	6	0	0	6	7	21	-14	0

References

1. ^ Some sources say that the Copa Tower was played in 1912–1913 and the champions were Rovers FC
2. ^ Some sources say that Germania FV won the cup in 1919