Deportivo Iztacalco

Los Valedores de Iztacalco

Full name	Deportivo Iztacalco, AC
Nickname(s)	Los Valedores (The Defenders)
Founded	August 20, 2007
Ground	Estadio San Bernardino, Texcoco, Edo. Mexico (Capacity: Unknown)
Chairman	Ángel Morales "El Magnate"
Manager	Vicente "Lavolpin" Jiménez
League	Tercera Division
Home colours Away colours

Deportivo Iztacalco, nicknamed Los Valedores is a professional Mexican football club. They currently play in the Group V of the Mexican Third Division. In the 2006-2007 season they inherited the spot from Club Santa Cruz, which was the worst team in the 2007 Clausura tournament with zero points in 15 matches and a -40 difference in the amount of goals scored and received.

History

Most of the players come from Club San Andres, team which won a spot to play in the Mexican Third Division after winning an amateur championship supported by the Federacíón Mexicana de Futbol and organized by Ángel Morales, owner of several Third Division franchises.

The Deportivo Iztacalco acquired the nickname "Los Valedores" starting from Round 3 in the 2007 Apertura tournament, when TV Azteca dedicated a space for the first time in its evening program Los Protagonistas, presenting it as the worst professional football team in Mexico and whose direction was in charge of TV Azteca's reporter Barak Fever.

Although their training camps are located in Iztacalco, Mexico City, Los Valedores de Iztacalco dispute their local matches at Estadio San Bernardino, known as "El Muro de los Sueños" ("The Wall of Dreams"), located in the town of San Bernardino, in the municipality of Texcoco, Mexico State.

Thanks to their constant appearances on TV Azteca, the team got a huge popularity on national Television, becoming the most famous team from Third Division.

First Season

For the Apertura 2007 and Clausura 2008 tournaments, the Mexican Football Federation placed Deportivo Iztacalco in Group VII of the Third Division. Los Valedores lost their first seven games. On September 26, 2007 gained their first point in the Round 8 after 1-1 tie against Mineros del Real Hidalgo, despite having lost later in the penalty kicks.

October 12, 2007 is considered the most important date in the history of the club as they got their first victory ever, In the 12th week of the tournament, the referee gave them a default win since the opposing team never showed up at the field.

The Deportivo Iztacalco ended the 2007 Apertura tournament with 4 points, product of a victory (achieved because the opposing team did not show up for the match), a draw and 12 losses. Los Valedores ended in the last position of Group VII and in the general position 202 among 204 clubs that integrate the Third Division.

On December 11, 2007 Los Valedores had a match against a representative team from Los Protagonistas, which was the program on "TV Azteca" that transmitted the Valedores games on Television, this team was formed by former professional players like Luis Garcia, Jorge Campos, Francisco Gabriel de Anda, Roberto Medina and Careca. The match was held at the Deportivo Xochimilco Stadium and with a controversial refereeing from Gilberto Alcala. The match ended 1-0 in favour of the Los Protagonistas team.

2007 Tryouts

At the end of the 2007 Apertura season, the team conducted tryouts were more than 700 candidates attended. Only 5 were selected, Diego "El Gato" Reynoso (goalkeeper), Guillermo "RBD" Guzmán (defender), Carlos "Piwi" Godínez and Anibal "Robinho" Cruz (midfielder) and Giovanni "Guardadito" Pérez (striker).

2008-2009

In the middle of 2008 League Season, Valedores conducted the 2nd tryouts where more than 3000 candidates attended. 9 players were selected (Check out 2008 League squad changes). In fact, the director of football operations changed more than half of the team roster, this because of the poor performance reflected in the past seasons. At the present time, Valedores have 36 points (25 more than Apertura 2007) and still have more than 10 remaining matches to play.

The Deportivo Iztacalco has a big rivalry with the Atlético Xochimilco, a team that acquired some of the players that got laid off by "Valedores". In 2008, they had their first match against the Xochimilco team. The match ended up 2-1 in favour of "Valedores".

After another successful National Tour, TV Azteca decided to terminate the Valedores de Iztacalco project. This made a few of the "Valedores" players abandon the team.

External links

• (Spanish) Official Site