Full name | Cruz Azul Fútbol Club, A.C. |
---|---|
Founded | 22 May 1927 |
Ground |
Estadio Azul Benito Juárez, Mexico City, Mexico |
Capacity | 33,000 |
Owner | Cooperativa Cemento Cruz Azul |
Chairman | Guillermo Álvarez Cuevas |
Manager | Paco Jémez |
League | Liga MX |
Apertura 2016 | 14th |
Website | Club home page |
Cruz Azul b, A.C, or simply Cruz Azul (pronounced: [kɾus aˈsul], "Blue Cross"), is a Mexican football club that plays in the top division of Mexican football, Liga MX.
The team was originally based in the town of Jasso (now part of the "city cooperative" Ciudad Cooperativa Cruz Azul), south of Tula de Allende in the state of Hidalgo. The team moved to Mexico City in 1971 to play at the Estadio Azteca. Its current home venue is the Estadio Azul, located in the southwestern part of Mexico City in the Colonia Ciudad de los Deportes, adjacent the Nápoles neighborhood. Its headquarters are in La Noria, a suburb within Xochimilco in the southern part of Mexico City. Cruz Azul will return to the Estadio Azteca in 2018.
Cruz Azul has been the Primera División champions 8 times, trailing Toluca's 10, C.D. Guadalajara's and Club América's 12. Cruz Azul's six titles makes it the second most successful club in the history of the CONCACAF Champions League, the most prestigious international club competition in North American football, trailing Mexico City rivals, Club America. Cruz Azul was also the first CONCACAF team to reach the final of the Copa Libertadores, the most prestigious club competition in South American football (which has invited top Liga MX clubs since 1998), losing on penalties to Argentine football giants Boca Juniors in 2001. In the 1968–69 season, Cruz Azul became the first CONCACAF club (and fifth worldwide club) to complete a rare Continental Treble, winning the Mexican Primera División championship, the Copa México national tournament, and the CONCACAF Champions League.