Cruz Azul W

1927–1961: Formation and amateur years

Cruz Azul originated at the cement works of the Compañía Manufacturera de Cemento Portland La Cruz Azul in Jasso, Hidalgo, the predecessor of Cooperativa La Cruz Azul. The works dated to 1881, when the British businessman Henry Gibbon established a lime factory at the site. In 1925, the company planned to form a baseball team, reflecting the sport's popularity in the area. Carlos Garcés López, a dentist employed by the company, argued for football instead. A former América player, he had been part of Mexico's squad in the national team's first official matches in 1923 and was in the squad for the 1928 Olympics. After sustained lobbying, the company held a referendum on 22 March 1927 in which football was chosen. A football pitch replaced the baseball diamond, and the team was formally established on 22 May 1927, with Garcés López as its first manager. In its early years, the team played regional tournaments in which all of its players were company workers.

In 1931, during the Great Depression, falling demand for cement pushed the company toward bankruptcy, and on 1 March 1931 it was sold to the cement firm La Tolteca. A group of 192 workers organised and sued the company's executives to stop the transfer of the property, which was scheduled for 15 October 1931. The Hidalgo state government ruled in the workers' favour, and they took control of the plant on 2 November 1931, agreeing to repay its cost over ten years. On 21 May 1932, the governor of Hidalgo, Bartolomé Vargas Lugo, decreed the 192 workers collective owners of the plant by expropriation, and on 29 January 1934 the company was reconstituted as the Cooperativa Manufacturera de Cemento Portland La Cruz Azul, S.C.L. When the debt was settled in 1941, the club organised a celebratory match against Real España, which ended 0–0. Commentators have linked the club's origins in a workers' cooperative to its working-class image.

The team won the Hidalgo amateur league title repeatedly between 1932 and 1943, and on eight occasions represented the state in national amateur tournaments. From the mid-1930s to the late 1940s, it regularly travelled to Mexico City to play the reserve teams of Atlante, Necaxa, Marte and Real España at Parque Necaxa. By 1937, the club had a considerable following in both Hidalgo and Mexico City. Guillermo Álvarez Macías, later the head of the cooperative, played as a midfielder for the team in this period.

On 10 December 1953, the cooperative's general assembly put Álvarez Macías in charge of the company. Employed by the company since childhood, he had begun as an automotive mechanic and spent more than two decades rising through its ranks. He planned to turn the cooperative's settlement into a functioning town, with the aim of modernising it and raising the standard of living of workers and their families. He invested in cultural and recreational activities and in the football club, whose proceeds were used to improve the worker-players' living conditions.

In 1958, club captain Luis Velázquez Hernández represented the club before the Mexican Football Federation in a bid for official membership. In Mexico City he met Paulino Sánchez, who had ties to prominent football figures, and the two met Joaquín Soria Terrazas and Ignacio Trelles to discuss admitting the club. Sánchez argued in the club's favour, citing its record in amateur and reserve tournaments; Álvarez Macías, who believed the club was not ready for professional football, was displeased by the move.

To prepare for membership, Sánchez became the club's head manager. Federation rules required member clubs to have a reserve team, so Cruz Azul bought Lafayette, a financially troubled club from Colonia Moctezuma, in a deal completed in 1960. Plans for a stadium meeting federation standards were drawn up in 1960, and Estadio 10 de Diciembre was built between 1961 and 1963.