Deportivo Toluca F.C.

Deportivo Toluca

Full name	Deportivo Toluca Fútbol Club S.A. de C.V.
Nickname(s)	Diablos Rojos (Red Devils)
Short name	TOL
Founded	12 February 1917; 107 years ago (1917-02-12)
Ground	Estadio Nemesio Díez
Capacity	30,000
Owner	Valentín Díez Morodo
Chairman	Arturo Pérez Arredondo
Manager	Renato Paiva
League	Liga MX
Clausura 2023	Regular phase: 4th Final phase: Quarter-finals
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours Third colours
Current season

Deportivo Toluca Fútbol Club S.A. de C.V., commonly known as Club Deportivo Toluca, is a Mexican football club based in Toluca. The club plays in Liga MX, the top-flight of Mexican football from which they have never been relegated.The team was founded on February 12, 1917, by the brothers Manuel Blas and Francisco Juan Henkel Bros owners of the farm "La Huerta" located in Zinacantepec near of Toluca City.

Toluca has won the Mexican Primera División 10 times, making it the third most winning team, behind América (14) and Guadalajara (12). Besides this, the team has also won two Copa MX and two CONCACAF Champions League. In addition, Toluca won the Mexiquense State Championship 14 times. Despite being one of the oldest teams in Mexico, with more than 100 years of history, the professional era for Toluca began in 1950, 33 years after its foundation, becoming one of the founding teams of the Segunda División de México and the third team with the most seasons in Mexican First Division.

According to Mitofsky in 2022, Toluca is the seventh most popular team in Mexico with 3.0% preference with around 4.0 million fans.^[1] It is also recognized as one of the classic clubs by FIFA in CONCACAF along with América, Guadalajara, Club Universidad Nacional, Cruz Azul and Pachuca. Additionally, it is considered by the IFFHS World's Fifth Best Club Team of the Decade in CONCACAF for the first decade of the 21st century (2001–2010).

History

Early years

On 12 February 1917, the brothers Román Alday and Gerardo Ferrat alongside Filiberto Navas and Manuel Henkel created Deportivo Toluca Futbol Club. In 1950, the team joined the recently formed Segunda División de México advancing to Mexican Primera División in 1952-53 by having tied with Irapuato by three goals, two by Rubén Pichardo and one by that tournament's goal scorer Mateo de la Tijera having left one more match to play.

The Teams first official First Division game was against Atlante F.C., and Toluca won this by two goals to one.

The team won two consecutive championships in 1966-67 and 1967-68 under coach Ignacio Trelles. In 1974-75 Toluca won the championship one more time after 23 years, coached by Uruguayan Ricardo de León, Toluca played a style of game that was consistently criticized as ultra-defensive but won the championship by defeating León in the final-four mini-tournament 1–0, with the lone goal being scored by Ecuadorian Ítalo Estupiñan. This is the only time the Mexican Championship has been decided by a round-robin, two-legged, mini-tournament.

Enrique Meza era

In 1997 Enrique "Ojitos" Meza became the coach of the team, after reaching the finals of the Mexican league with Toros Neza. Toluca resurged, its tactical scheme was very offensive, which was very characteristic of its coach. It was not atypical to see scores like 5–3. The offensive idea suited perfectly the Paraguayan José Saturnino Cardozo, who became the best scorer of the league in four occasions.

On his second tournament with the team, Meza led Toluca to win the championship in the Verano 1998 tournament, the first one in twenty years. Finishing the regular season as leader of the tournament with 33 points, Toluca went on to beat Atlante and América in the quarterfinals and semifinals respectively. Toluca then faced Necaxa at the final.

After losing with the Hidrorrayos in the first leg of the final 1–2 at the Estadio Azteca, Necaxa scored two goals in the first two minutes of the second leg match at the Estadio Nemesio Díez, losing 1–4 at the aggregate score. Toluca then scored five goals with no answer from Necaxa, Taboada at 3', Abundis at 35' and 52', and Cardozo at 58' and 89'. Toluca won the final with a 6–3 aggregate score, winning its fourth title and the first seven titles in the short tournaments era.

For the Invierno 1998, Toluca finished second in the regular season behind Cruz Azul, but was eliminated in the Liguilla's first round, losing 2–3 in the aggregate score against Atlas, seeded 7th.

The next tournament, Verano 1999, Toluca finished as leader of the tournament again with a record of 12 wins, 3 draws and losing only 2 matches, against Santos Laguna and Atlas. The team defeated Necaxa and Santos Laguna in the quarterfinals and semifinals, respectively. Toluca went on to play the final against Atlas, second best team of the regular season.

After two thrilling matches, a 3–3 draw on the first leg at Estadio Jalisco and a 2–2 tie on the second leg at the Estadio Nemesio Díez, the championship was defined in penalties; Toluca won 5–4.

With Enrique Meza as coach, Toluca won the championship three times in a period of three years. Meza left the team in October 2000 to manage Mexico national football team.

Golden era in short tournaments

In the Invierno 2001 tournament Ricardo La Volpe became the coach of Toluca. He, along with Cardozo and Vicente Sánchez had one of the most successful and exciting teams in years. However, La Volpe left Toluca with a few weeks left in the season, but without him, they still won their 7th title.

At the end of the Apertura 2005 tournament, the team became champions again, beating Monterrey by an aggregate of 6–3, after the questionable decisions of Mexican referee Marco Rodriguez "El Chiquidracula", who expelled three players from Monterrey on their first foul committed.

In Apertura 2006, they tied in the first leg (1-1) but suffered a loss in the Estadio Nemesio Díez (2-1) against Guadalajara.

In the Clausura 2007 tournament, Toluca had one of their worst seasons, finishing in last place. In the Copa Libertadores 2007, they made it to the round of 16, where they were subsequently eliminated by Cúcuta Deportivo from Colombia. Following the elimination from both tournaments, Gallego resigned from his position stating the need for a year off as his reason for resigning from Club Toluca. José Pekerman, former coach of the Argentine national team, was appointed as head coach of Club Toluca on May 30, 2007.

Club Toluca failed to qualify for the 2008 Copa Libertadores. On the Apertura 2008, Toluca had a weak start under their new coach, Jose Manuel "El Chepo" De La Torre, on one point going on a four-game streak of only draws. On the last five games of the regular season, they reversed the tying streak, making 13 points out of a possible 15, ending the regular season in 2nd place overall with 27 points and thus advancing to the playoffs. Their goalkeeper Hernan Cristante set a record by not allowing any goals for 773 minutes.

Toluca would go on to win the Bicentenario 2010 tournament by beating Santos Laguna in a dramatic penalty shoot-out, earning them the tenth cup win, the same amount as Club América. Besides winning the domestic title ten times, Toluca has also been the Runner-Up of the Mexican domestic tournament six times. On the Apertura 2012, Toluca finished first place and therefore earned a place for the Copa Libertadores. On the Ligullia of the Apertura 2012, Toluca went all the way to the final and lose to Club Tijuana 4-1 aggregate. On the Cluasura 2013, Toluca finished 13th and did not qualify for the Ligullia. At the end of that season then coach Enrique Meza resigned his job. The next day Toluca contacted its top scorer former player José Cardozo as its new head coach.

The decade without titles

On May 31, 2016, José Luis Real is presented as director of sports development and a new project is presented as technical director, headed by Hernán Cristante, who would arrive with another reference of the club such as Enrique Alfaro together with Joaquín Velázquez as his technical assistants, during the process, Antonio Naelso was to end his successful career within the club, then he managed to bring the goalkeeper on loan Luis García as the only transfer, with a solid base within the club after the losses of Richard Ortiz, Christian Cueva, Heriberto Vidales and Lucas Lobos at the end of the contract, and Liborio Sánchez, Christian Pérez, Mario Quezada, Nicolás Saucedo and Omar Arellano who ended their loan, other players were Daniel González and Héctor Acosta who were loaned to Chiapas and Alebrijes in the same order, were not incorporated into the current team and their loans to other teams were renewed Chivas and Venados F.C. respectively, while the team was in the preseason, David Rangel joined the coaching staff who will achieve as a player of the institution to be captain and champion in the years 1998, 1999, and 2000 with Enrique Alfaro and with Hernán Cristante in 1999 and 2000, while in 2005 he also won the title with Sinha.

For the part of foreign player transfers for the Apertura 2016, an old acquaintance would arrive again, who was champion at the club in 2010, the Chilean Osvaldo González, plus the Brazilian Maikon Leite who previously in 2014 played in Mexico for Atlas FC; other transfers were Rodrigo Gómez , Pablo Barrientos, Antonio Pedroza, and Jesús Méndez.

Deportivo Toluca found themselves playing at home at the Estadio Universitario Alberto "Chivo" Córdoba, because Estadio Nemesio Díez was undergoing remodeling work for the next celebration of 100 years. Starting Clausura 2017, Estadio Nemesio Díez fully ready, Rodrigo Salinas, Gabriel Hauche, Efraín Velarde, and Rubens Sambueza arrived as transfers. In that tournament they reached the semifinals where they were eliminated by Club Deportivo Guadalajara, which ultimately became the champion. Later in the Apertura 2017 tournament they reached the quarterfinals as fifth place, being defeated by Monarcas Morelia. By 2018, there were surprising transfers of Luis Quiñones, Leonel Lopez and Angel Reyna. They reached the final of the Copa MX, being defeated by Club Necaxa. While in the league tournament Toluca was the general leader, dramatically eliminating Morelia in the quarterfinals, in the semifinals they beat Club Tijuana and in the final they faced Santos Laguna, a team they had already beaten in the late years 2000 and 2010. This time the "laguneros" were the champions with an aggregate score of 3–2.

For Apertura 2018, Toluca signed William da Silva, Adolfo Dominguez, Amaury Escoto, Richard Ruiz, Luis Ángel Mendoza, Héctor Acosta, Fernando Tobio and the return of Enrique Triverio, during the tournament he spent all 17 days in Liguilla positions, to culminate 7th. In the quarterfinals they faced America, who would ultimately be champion, being eliminated by a 5-4 aggregate. In the following tournament Cristante is kept, in his first two matches the team remains as Super Leader, but then there was a streak of 6 games without a win, 5 losses and a draw. In which Cristante was dismissed and his replacement was Ricardo La Volpe who began his second stage, during the La Volpe stage there was improvement, but it was not possible to qualify for the league.

During the 2019 Apertura, La Volpe remained in the technical direction, but his results did not improve, having his worst results since 2001. La Volpe resigned in the absence of a day to complete and the team finished in third to last position with 17 points.

For the 2020 Clausura, the tournament was temporarily suspended as of March 15, and after having decided to play the matches on matchday 10 behind closed doors, all as a consequence of the health contingency due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico. The postponement of the contest reached a critical point, until on May 22, 2020, the Liga MX Extraordinary Assembly decreed the end of the tournament before its regular date, leaving the competition without a champion. Toluca finished the tournament in the 15th position, product of 2 wins, 4 draws and 4 losses, obtaining 10 points.

For the Guardianes 2020 and 2021 tournaments, Toluca finished in the 11th position, so it had to play reclassification to a single game, facing Tigres, losing 2–1 in Monterrey, with this result, Toluca ended its participation in the tournament. For the next tournament, Toluca finished again in the eleventh position, again playing reclassification to a single match, this time they faced the current champion León, being a complicated match, again visitor due to their position in the table, they won in a round of penalties, after drawing 2–2 in regular time, winning on penalties 2–4, accessing the quarterfinals, facing Cruz Azul, In a fairly disputed match, round trip ended in the Aztec stadium, losing 4–3 in favor of Cruz Azul and in this way Toluca culminated its participation in the tournament, highlighting the individual scoring championship of Toluqueño player Alexis Canelo with 11 annotations.

For the Apertura 2021 tournament, Toluca made a more remarkable performance than the previous tournaments, culminating in position number 6, playing reclassification again, but this time locally, although it did not help much, since Toluca was defeated by Pumas with a score 1–2 in the match at the Nemesio Diez, culminating again in a reclassification match.

Sponsorship

Kit manufacturers and sponsors

Period Sponsor 1980 - 1990 Adidas 1990 - 1991 Cruzeiro Q 1991 - 1992 Eder do Brasil 1993 - 1994 Umbro 1994 - 1998 Corona Sport 1999 - 2000 Diadora 2000 - 2010 Atletica 2010 - 2023 Under Armour 2023 - New Balance

Period Sponsor 1993 - 2000 Victoria 2001 - 2020 Banamex 2021 - Roshfrans

Additional club sponsors and partners

• Aeroméxico
• Caliente
• Corona
• Coca-Cola
• Mercedes-Benz

Personnel

Management

Position	Staff
Sporting Chairman	Arturo Pérez Arredondo
Sports Vice President	Santiago San Román
Corporate Vice President	Francisco Suinaga
Sports Management	Sinha
Director of academy	Israel López

Coaching staff

Position	Staff
Manager	Renato Paiva
Assistant managers	Nuno Campos
	Francisco Gamboa
Goalkeeper coach	César Lozano
Fitness coaches	Carlos Barros
	Roberto Rojas
Physiotherapists	Miguel Reyes
	Carlos Placeres
	Adrián Sánchez
	Alfredo Morales
Team doctor	Adolfo Martínez

Players

First-team squad

As of 1 January 2024

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Reserve teams

Deportivo Toluca F.C. (Liga TDP)

Reserve team that plays in the Liga TDP, the fourth level of the Mexican league system.

World Cup players

The following players have represented their country at the World Cup whilst playing for Toluca:

Olympic players

The following players have represented their country at the Summer Olympic Games whilst playing for Toluca:

Honours

National

Amateur

International

Managers

Date	Name
1958–59	Gaspar Rubio
1965–66	Árpád Fekete
1966–72	Ignacio Trelles
1974–75	Ricardo de León
1975–76	Carlito Peters
1976–77	José Gomes Nogueira
1977	José Vela
1977–82	Jorge Marik
1982–84	José Antonio Roca
1984–85	José Luis Estrada
1986	Árpád Fekete
1986–87	Roberto Matosas
1987–88	Ignacio Jáuregui
1988–89	Héctor Sanabria
1989–91	Raúl Cárdenas
1991–92	Mario Velarde
1992–93	José Vantolrá
1993–94	Roberto Silva Parada
1994–95	José Pascuttini
1995	Luis Garisto
1996	Miguel Ángel López
1996–97	Juan Manuel Álvarez Álvarez
1997-2000	Enrique Meza
2000	Ricardo Ferrero
2001	Héctor Hugo Eugui
2001-2002	Ricardo Lavolpe
2002	Wilson Graniolatti
2002	Alberto Jorge
2003-2004	Ricardo Ferretti
2005	Pablo Luna
2005-2007	Américo Gallego
2007-2008	José Pekerman
2008-2010	José Manuel de la Torre
2011	Sergio Lugo
2011	Héctor Eugui
2013-2016	José Cardozo
2016-2019	Hernán Cristante
2019	Ricardo La Volpe
2019-2020	José Manuel de la Torre
2020	Carlos Adrián Morales
2021-2023	Ignacio Ambriz
2023	Carlos María Morales
2023-	Renato Paiva

Records

Historical dates

Top goalscorers in a season

Primera División

Player Tournament Goals Amaury Epaminondas Mexican Primera División 1966-67 21 Vicente Pereda Mexican Primera División 1969-70 20 José Cardozo Verano 1998 10 José Cardozo Verano 1999 15 José Cardozo Apertura 2002 29 José Cardozo Clausura 2003 21 Bruno Marioni Apertura 2006 11 Héctor Mancilla Apertura 2008 11 Héctor Mancilla Clausura 2009 14 Iván Alonso Apertura 2011 11 Iván Alonso Clausura 2012 14 Pablo Velázquez Apertura 2013 12 Alexis Canelo Clausura 2021 11

Copa México

Player Tournament Goals Carlos Carús Temporada 1960–61 7 Vicente Pereda Temporada 1966–67 5 Francisco Linares Temporada 1967–68 7 Jesús Romero Temporada 1969–70 4 Edgar Benítez Copa México Apertura 2012 5 Alexis Canelo Copa México Clausura 2018 7 Kevin Castañeda 2019–20 7

Segunda División

Player Tournament Goals Mateo de la Tijera Liga de Ascenso de México 1952–53 22

Appearances and Goals

Position	Player	Period	Games	Goals
1	Sinha	1999–2017	524	59
2	Antonio Ríos	2009–2021	424	14
3	Carlos Esquivel	2005–2019	423	43
4	Hernán Cristante	1993–2010	419	1
5	Paulo da Silva	2003–2017	383	34
6	José Cardozo	1995–2005	332	249
7	Alfredo Talavera	2010–2020	326	1
8	Vicente Pereda	1960–1975	322	119
9	Edgar Dueñas	2004–2015	307	16
10	José Abundis	1992–2004	270	69
11	Isaac Brizuela	2009–2014	269	13
12	Juan Paz	1978–1985	256	60
13	Vicente Sánchez	2001–2007	242	85
14	Israel López	2001–2007	228	26
15	Enrique Alfaro	1994–2002	226	31
16	David Rangel	1996–2002	204	2
17	Osvaldo González	2010–2019	173	9
18	Francisco Gamboa	2005–2016	138	1
19	Antonio Taboada	1996–2000	131	4
20	Martín Romagnoli	2008–2012	169	1

References

External links

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