How a cement cooperative built a football dynasty known as The Machine

Countries & Cities · Published 10 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: Founded by workers in a small town, Cruz Azul evolved from a company baseball team into a Mexican football powerhouse. Known as La Máquina for its relentless scoring, the club has navigated financial crises, decades-long title droughts, and even a kidnapping, all while maintaining its unique working-class identity.

The story of Cruz Azul began in 1927 in Jasso, Hidalgo, where the Cooperativa La Cruz Azul cement company operated. Initially, the cooperative planned to form a baseball team, but a dentist and athlete named Carlos Garcés López successfully lobbied for football instead. The club was formally established on 22 May 1927, and for years, it functioned as a regional team composed entirely of company employees. The club's survival was tested in 1931 during the Great Depression, when the cooperative faced bankruptcy and a hostile takeover attempt. Workers unionized to save their livelihoods, eventually gaining legal ownership of the plant in 1932. This collective ownership model remains a defining aspect of the club's history and its working-class ethos.

Professionalization arrived in the 1960s under the leadership of general manager Guillermo Álvarez Macías, who aimed to use the club to improve the standard of living for workers. After gaining official federation registration in 1961, the team earned promotion to the top flight in 1964. The club's golden era followed under manager Raúl Cárdenas, who led the team to a continental treble in the 1968–69 season. During this period, the team earned the nickname La Máquina, or The Machine, for its consistent, high-scoring performances. Cárdenas and later manager Ignacio Trelles secured seven league titles throughout the 1960s and 1970s, cementing the club's status as a dominant force in Mexican football.

Despite its success, the club has endured significant heartbreak. After a 17-year title drought ended in 1997, the club entered a period of recurring near-misses in finals between 2008 and 2013. This pattern of losing matches from winning positions became so notorious that the term cruzazulear was coined to describe the phenomenon, eventually being recognized by the Royal Spanish Academy in 2020. The club's resilience was tested further in 2005 when manager Rubén Omar Romano was kidnapped for 65 days. Today, Cruz Azul remains one of the Big Four of Mexican football, having never been relegated and continuing to compete at the highest levels of the sport.

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