Club Tijuana

Tijuana

Full name	Club Tijuana Xoloitzcuintles de Caliente
Nickname(s)	TJ. Xolos El Xolaje La Jauría Xoloitzcuintles Los Perros Aztecas (The Aztec Dogs)
Founded	January 10, 2007 (2007-01-10)
Ground	Estadio Caliente Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico
Ground Capacity	21,000
Owner	Grupo Caliente
Chairman	Jorge Hank Inzunza
Manager	César Farías
League	Liga MX
Apertura 2013	10th Liguilla: DNQ
Website	Club home page
Home colours Away colours
Current season

The Club Tijuana Xoloitzcuintles de Caliente, commonly referred to as Xolos de Tijuana, or simply Xolos, is a Mexican association football team from Tijuana, Mexico. It was founded in January 2007. The colors that identify the club are red and black. On December 2, 2012, Xolos became champions of the Liga MX.

History

The club is the latest in a long line of league teams in the city of Tijuana. Gallos Caliente was instituted in the summer of 2006, not long after the city's last club, Dorados, were relegated to the Segunda División de México.

The team's name was later changed to Club Tijuana Xoloitzcuintles De Caliente. Team owner Jorge Hank Rhon announced the construction of the Estadio Caliente, a new stadium with a capacity for 33,333 people near Grupo Caliente's Agua Caliente Racetrack.

Jorge Alberto Hank, the 28-year old son of Jorge Hank Rhon, is the President of the team.

They became the Apertura 2010 champions after defeating Veracruz 3-0 in a two-legged series.

The team advanced to the Primera División de México with a win at home over Irapuato, 2-1 on May 21, 2011.^[1]

Jorge Alberto Hank and Gog Murguia Fernandez, the vice president, became the youngest executives in the history of Mexican professional football to be at the head of a club in the Primera División de México.

The First Title

The team obtained its first title in the Apertura 2010 tournament, after having finished as general leader during the regular tournament, which gave them the direct pass to semi-finals. In semi-finals the Xolos faced Albinegros de Orizaba. In both semifinal legs, the Xolos and Albinegros finished 0-0, with the global marker 0-0 too. The position that the Xolos had during the regular tournament permitted them to pass to the final against the Tiburones Rojos de Veracruz. In the first leg the "Xolos" surprised and won 0-2 in the Estadio Luis de la Fuente in Veracruz, while in their field they won again 1-0 and this way Tijuana obtained half a ticket towards the Mexican football maximum circuit, the Primera División Mexicana.^[2][3]

Promotion to the Primera División Mexicana

The final of the Clausura 2011 of the Liga de Ascenso was between Tijuana and Irapuato. The first leg was played on Wednesday May 11 in Tijuana's stadium. The game finished 1-1. The second leg played was in Irapuato, in the Estadio Sergio León Chavez. Irapuato won the game 1-0, being crowned champion of the Clausura 2011 afterwards. With the Tijuana having won the Apertura 2010 title, the Promotion Final was going to be, yet again, Tijuana vs Irapuato. The first leg was played in Irapuato on Wednesday May 18 and it remained 0-0, with the second leg deciding what team was going to be promoted to the Primera División Mexicana (now known as Liga MX).^[4] Played in Tijuana's Estadio Caliente, the second leg saw the Club Tijuana being crowned champion of the Promotion Final with a result of 2-1. Thus Tijuana replaced the Necaxa as the new Primera Division Team in Mexico.^[5]

The Tijuana Xoloitzcuintles played their first game in Mexico's Primera Division "We've just started".

Primera Debut

Kicking off their inaugural season in the Primera Division, Tijuana signed José Sand,^[6] Leandro Augusto, Fernando Arce, Egidio Arévalo^[7] and Dayro Moreno would move to Tijuana for a fee of US$ 3.5 m.^[8] during summer 2011.

Tijuana opened the 2011-12 season with a 2-1 home loss to Morelia. American Joe Corona scored the club's first top-flight goal in the defeat. They would earn their first victory as a top-flight club in a 3-1 victory at Santos Laguna on August 6; however, after five consecutive home matches without a victory manager Joaquin del Olmo was sacked and replaced by Antonio Mohamed.

After having finished the 2011 Apertura with just three wins against nine draws and five losses, Tijuana would have more success in the 2012 Clasura. Behind the league's top defense (allowing just eleven goals in 17 matches), Tijuana finished with seven wins and seven draws against just three defeats and earned their first playoff berth in the top flight, where they would fall to CF Monterrey.

Champions

Xolos would continue their strong defense in the 2012-13 Liga MX season. In the 2012 Apertura, Xolos allowed joint-fewest goals with 15 while finishing tied atop the table with Toluca. Seeded #2 in the playoffs, they would avenge the previous season's defeat to Monterrey before ralling from a 2-0 deficit against León in the semifinals. They would win the Liguilla over Toluca with a 4-1 aggregrate victory, achieving the title in the shortest time after promotion to the top flight in Mexican history.^[9]

Xolos would falter in the Clausura, finishing in 10th place, two points outside of Liguilla qualification. However, invited to Copa Libertadores, Tijuana would make a run to the quarterfinals before falling to Atlético Mineiro.

Stadium

The Estadio Caliente, a multi-use stadium in Tijuana, Baja California, was officially inaugurated on November 11, 2007, in a game between Club Tijuana vs Pumas Morelos. The attendance was 13,333, the stadium capacity at the time. In July 2009, the capacity was increased to 16,000. Stadium owner Jorge Hank Rhon's main reason for constructing the stadium was his wish to have a professional football club in the city. Because the Mexican Football Federation says that teams participating in the First Division must have a stadium with a capacity over 15,000, Club Tijuana officially became qualified for promotion to the Primera División de México when the capacity was increased. The construction of the stadium was planned in two parts. The first part finished the ground and lower sections of the stadium. In the second phase, the stadiums capacity was increased.^[10] Club Xoloitzcuintles added 4,000 seats to its home field of Estadio Caliente, pushing its capacity to 20,000, according to the team’s management. The team also remodeled the players’ dressing rooms and resurfaced the dirt parking lot with a stone surface. Among the construction projects is the installation of stadium lights, which should not be an issue.^[11]

A view inside Tijuana stadium.

Institutional vision

What first seemed to be a hobby to the football aficionado Jorge Hank, has now been projected as a business and institution with many ambitions by his son Jorgealberto Hank Inzunza, President of Club Tijuana. The president has announced several times in press conferences that the project is far bigger than a stadium and a First Division team. The institutional plan involves football schools and clinics throughout the region, including San Diego and Los Angeles, professional football training, talent recruitment squads; 1st, 2nd, and 3rd division affiliates; foundations and green campaigns, and a heavily invested commercial complex.

Finances and ownership

Controversy surrounded the lease, because the team would have ties to a company whose major business is that of betting on sports events, including football. The case was presented to high authorities in the Mexican Football Federation, where it was ruled that no action would be taken against Xoloitzcuintles De Caliente or its parent company.

Kit manufacturers and shirt sponsors

Players

First-team squad

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 2 DF Édgar Castillo 3 DF Javier Gandolfi (captain) 4 DF Hernán Pellerano 8 MF Fernando Arce 9 FW Hérculez Gomez 10 FW Fidel Martínez 11 MF Juan de Dios Hernández 13 GK Cirilo Saucedo 15 MF Joe Corona 16 MF Cristian Pellerano 17 FW Jaime Ayoví 18 FW Darío Benedetto 19 GK Adrián Zermeño 20 FW Daniel Márquez (on loan from América) 22 DF Juan Carlos Núñez

No. Position Player 23 MF Richard Ruiz 24 DF Greg Garza 25 GK Sergio Vega 38 DF Óliver Ortiz 39 DF Carlos Rubio 42 MF Javier Güemez 44 MF Alejandro Guido 47 MF Paul Arriola 54 DF Elio Castro 63 DF Luis Trujillo 64 MF Esteban Rodríguez 67 MF Édgar Villegas 70 FW Alberto García 72 MF Manuel Herrera 76 DF Marco Villanueva

For recent transfers, see List of Mexican football transfers winter 2013–14.

Personnel

Current technical staff

Management

Notable players

Raúl Enríquez, the Xolos top scorer of the moment

Most First Division Goals Scored

Rank	Name	Nationality	Goals
1	Duvier Riascos		20
2	José Sand		12
3	Fidel Martínez		11
4	Alfredo Moreno		8
5	Pablo César Aguilar		7

Most goals scored

Rank	Name	Nationality	Goals
1	Raul Enriquez		75
2	Duvier Riascos		23
3	Mauro Gerk		20
4	Fidel Martínez		18

Managers

Honours

Domestic Competitions

• Liga MX:1

Apertura 2012

• Liga de Ascenso:1

Apertura 2010

• Promotional Final:1

Campeón de Ascenso 2010-2011

Friendly Competitions

• San Diego Clasico :3

2011, 2012, 2013

Los Angeles Clasico December 2013

References

External links

• Official Club Tijuana Site
• Official US Site
• Primera División