Atlas

Atlas Futbol Club (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈatlas ˈfuðβol ˈkluβ]) is a Mexican football club. It plays home matches at the Estadio Jalisco, Guadalajara, Jalisco.

History

Club Atlas was founded in a bar in Guadalajara, Mexico, where a few friends recalled their football experience at the Ampleforth College where they had spent the last few years. Alfonso and Juan Jose "Lico" Cortina, Pedro "Perico" and Carlos Fernandez del Valle, the three Orendain brothers and Federico Collignon (who had studied in Berlin) finally decided in 1916 to set up a football team called "Club Atlas" and founded it in Guadalajara.

The technical ability that the "Atlistas" employed – triangular passing and skillful dribbling to avoid opponents' tackles – was impressive and they quickly joined the elite in Mexican football. As a result, Atlas and Chivas, a fellow Guadalajara team, have a long history in the first division and the game between them is called the 'Clasico Tapatio'.

Club Atlas had a golden age in the late 1990s under the management of Ricardo La Volpe, with promising players such as Rafael Marquez, Daniel Osorno, Juan Pablo Rodriguez, Pavel Pardo, Mario Mendez, Omar Briceno, Miguel Zepeda, and Cesar Andrade, but even though they had a team with enormous talent and reached the Verano 1999 final, they couldn't conquer the title and lost against Deportivo Toluca F.C. in a match defined by penalties.

This page also has a version in other languages :  Атлас (russian)