| Full name | Celaya Club de Fútbol, A.C. | |||
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| Nickname(s) | Toros (Bulls) Cajeteros (Cajeta-Makers) |
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| Founded | 1954 | |||
| Ground | Estadio Miguel Aleman, Celaya (Capacity: 29,333) |
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| Chairman | Alejandro Márquez | |||
| Manager | Miguel Fuentes | |||
| League | Liga de Ascenso | |||
| Clausura 2011 | Champions(promoted) | |||
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Celaya Club de Fútbol [1] is a Mexican football club from Celaya, Guanajuato. Founded on February 7, 1954, they were reactivated in winter 2003 after their city neighbour Atlético Celaya has lost its license to CF Cuernavaca Colibries and got the license to play in Primera División A through the moving of CF La Piedad to Celaya.
Celaya FC has played in Primera División de México from 1958 to 1961 and disappeared in the 1970s. After they have been reactivated, they have played in Primera División A (second level) and became a farm team of Querétaro FC. When this club was relegated after 2006-07 season, Celaya was absorbed and disappeared once more.
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The club was founded as Celaya Fútbol Club, A.C. in February 1954. Dr. Miguel Iriarte Montes was the first president of the club and registered the club in the Segunda División Profesional, which at that time it was the second most important league in Mexico. In only its second year of existence the club finished runner-up to C.F. Monterrey who achieved to promotion to the Primera División de México.
In 1957-58 the club achieved the promotion after winning the tournament in which the club was did not loss in their first 18 games. The clubs promotion was official on December 15, 1957 when the club defeated Nacional 2-1 under the management of the Argentine Florencio Caffaratti, and so the club took the place of relegated Tampico.
The club made its first division appearance on July 13, 1958 against América who defeated them 4-1. The first goal scored in the top division was by Felipe Negrete, although other people speculated that Mateo De la Tijera in a confusing play. The club struggled in its first games and did not win till the round 8 when they beat Zamora 3-2. The club managed to keep the category just by one point over last-place Cuautla FC. That year the club finished 13 in the league with 19 points only winning 4 games, Ranulfo Rosas was the club top scorer that year with 8 followed by Jones and Appicciafoco both with 5.
For the 1959-60 tournament the club showed little improvement, finishing 12th in the league with 12 points, leaving the relegation fight to Atletico Morelia and Club Deportivo Zamora. Ferreyra was that year's top scorer with 9 followed by Ortiz with 8 and Cabañas with 4. The club's mediocre play caught up to them in the 1960-61 tournament when after finishing last in the league with a record of 6 wins, 7 draws and losing 13 games for a total of 19 points is relegated to the second division. The club had started of the tournament red hot but could off when trainer Florencio Caffaratti left the club, which force Gabriel Uñate who fail to win a single game. The club was officially relegated on January 15, 1961 after a draw 0-0 against Tampico Madero. In that relegated squad Quaglia, J. Mercado and Ismael Ferreyra were the few players who had a good year scoring 7, 5, and 4 goals in order.
The club spend the 1960s in Second division where after 10 mediocre years the club finally folded in the 1970s. A few years later the club along with club Tecnológico de Celaya were brought back in order tot give the city of Celaya professional football. Club Celaya enrolled in the Tercera División de México were in the 1973-74 the club won the league. Club Celaya would go on to lose the 1975-76 Segunda División de México final to San Luis F.C. and Tecnológico de Celaya would later be relegated to Tercera División de México where they only play a few years before folding.
The club spent the 1980s playing on and off in the Segunda B before taking some time off and reappearing in Segunda A in 1991. From 1991 to 1993 2 clubs once again represented the city of Celeaya; club Celaya and Linces Celaya.
The club made its return in 1994 when the two second-division clubs Atlético Cuernavaca (Morelos) and Escuadra Celeste de Celaya (Guanajuato) merged. Another team, Atlético Español - not to be mixed up with the team of same name which was located in the capital city - was also merged at a later date.
All merging clubs have brought a piece of their old identity into the new formed club: from Atlético Cuernavaca were taken the name to the new club (although its name is also identical with former Atlético Español), from Celeste de Celaya were taken their light blue colors and from Atlético Español the mascot, the bull, which has also given the new team their nickname toros (bulls).
Atlético Celaya has taken the second-division position of their predecessors and has immediately reached the top-level. The first year in Primera División after winning the 1994-1995 Liga de Ascenso tournament where they managed to beat C.F. Pachuca. Prior to the 1995-96 tournament the club brought in former Real Madrid greats Emilio Butragueño and Hugo Sánchez who led the club to the Final with a record of 14 wins, 10 draws losing only 10 for a total of 52 points, qualifying for the quarterfinals for the first time in club history. The club defeated C.F. Monterrey i quarters, the first math was played in Monterrey where after 90 minutes of play the match ended in a 2-2 draw. The second match was played in Celaya where the clubs once again tied this with a score of 0-0.In semifinals the clubs faced Tiburones Rojos de Veracruz, the first match was held in veracruz were Celaya managed to take a 1-0 series advantage.The second game was played in celaya were after 90 minutes Celaya had score 5 goals and was on its way to its first Final in the Primera División de México.In the final the club faced Necaxa who had beating Tigres de la UANL quarterfinals and Club America in semifinals.The first match was played in Celaya were the clubs drew a 1-1 draw.The second game was played in Mexico city in the legendary Estadio Azteca where after 90 minutes the clubs tied once aging this time with a score of 0-0.In a controversial decision the league decided not to play extra time or a penalty shoot out and awarded Necaxa the title for thr away goal scored in the city of Celaya.
In 1996, the league decided to split the season into two championships. This measure was done to generate additional revenues to finance the F.M.F.'s lower divisions. The league holds two tournaments per year, originally called invierno (winter) and verano (summer), now changed to apertura (opening - running from August to December) and clausura (closing - running from January to May). The change was done to correspond with FIFA's world footballing calendar, which "opens" in July/August and "closes" in April/May of the next year. So throughout the footballing world, the action lasts about ten months. In Europe, where tournaments are played as one single championship throughout the year, there is only one champion per year. In the case of Mexico, Argentina and other countries in South America, a new champion is crowned about every five months, or two per year. In the 1996-97 tournament with the heartbreak of losing in a unfair decision the club when out to have a bad year finishing last in group 4 with a record of 5 wins 2 draws losing 10 for a total of 17 points.
But from now on the club rather find itself in lower regions of the table. They had also financial problems which lead to the sale of their first-division-license to an industrialist from Morelos in winter 2002/03. He has formed a new team with the name Colibríes de Morelos but it disappeared as fast as it once appeared. At the same time when Atlético Celaya has disappeared, their older city neighbor Club Celaya was reactivated again when CF La Piedad moved to Celaya. This clubwasamde up by well none players Mauro Nestor Gerk, Antonio Lomelí, Felife Robles, Luis Fernando "Scoponi" Sandoval, Marcos García Nascimento, David Pacheco and Josemir Lujambio but it wasn't long before the club folded yet again 2004.
The club was ones again revived in 2007 when the city and First division club Querétaro F.C. came to an aggrandizement where Celaya would be Queretaros Primera A affiliate. The clubs first year back was good qualifying to the playoffs but in a controversial decision the club was eliminated by the federation after aligning an invalidated player.The club was later sold due to the fact the Querétaro F.C. had been relegated from The first division which did allowed to clubs to be operated by the same owner. The club has been playing in the Segunda División de México since 2008. In the 2010 Apertura the club defeated Tampico madero in the final and was crowned the champion in Tamaulipas.
The club's original colors in the 1950s were red and white. In the late 1980s early 1900s the club started using black and white with a topical v shape across the chest for home games and a black stripe shirt for away games, which they still use to this date.
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1997 Home
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1997 Away
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2002 - home
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Away 2007
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Home 2009
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Home 2010
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Away 2011
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Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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