Queretaro

Foundation

In 1949, the Federación Mexicana de Fútbol (FMF) proposed the idea of creating a "Segunda División" to expand interest in the game and to create a development program for the Primera División de México. Querétaro received an invitation to participate. Alfonso "Pachín" Niembro, then president of the Asociación Queretana de Fútbol, and Raúl Ayala, who represented Querétaro at the national level, with help from large numbers of locally based amateurs, decided to organize a tournament, the winner of which would represent the city of Querétaro in the new division. The tournament was won by a team named "Los Piratas", who became "Club Querétaro A.C." They joined Irapuato, Zacatepec, Toluca, Morelia and La Piedad as the founders of the Segunda División.

The team's official foundation is July 8, 1950. Later journalist Herrera "Periquín" Pozas bestowed the nickname of Gallos Blancos (White Roosters) based on the club's "willingness to fight for every ball" and their characteristic white uniforms. The team quickly developed a large local fanbase. Querétaro F.C. has come close to promotion on many occasions; one of the most memorable was in 1976 when they reached the Segunda División's Final and played against Atlante.

The Atletas Campesinos era

It was in the mid-70s when the foundation of Estudiantes de Querétaro took place. The team was composed mostly of students who wanted to gain a name in the Mexican league and became a good rival to Gallos Blancos, but in 1977, Armando Presa bought both teams and changed their name to Atletas Campesinos. This crop of young players with dreams of a future in professional football and very experienced players showed a notable improvement that year. But it was the next season when the team really soared, with a combination of experience and youth well stimulated economically; as the scores were better, the better they would be paid. Armando Presa decided that, although the team was heading in the right direction, it should be in the hands of a more experienced manager. The current manager, Antonio Ascencio, stepped down, and Antonio Carbajal took over the team.

It came the day back on June 22, 1980, when "Atletas Campesinos" would face Osos Grises at the Segunda División final game (Osos got a valuable tie at the Estadio Municipal, former ground of Querétaro's teams) which was the favorite team, but Campesinos gave a great surprise winning with a 2–1 score (goals made by Carlos Cerritos and Jorge Gaspar). Antonio Carbajal was carried off on the shoulders of the crowd, Antonio Ascencio and their boys wept of happiness. They could not believe it, finally they were the champions.

The Atletas Campesinos team got into the hearts of the people since they gave them a satisfaction that no team had done before: give to the city of Querétaro a Primera División team. The Atletas Campesinos were already at the maximum circuit with the idea of making a combination of a team with the best men already at the league and make a great campaign, but it didn't happen: the team started to lose their games and finally it was sold to the "Sindicato de Petroleros de Ciudad Madero". Then during the 1982–83 season, Querétaro lost the Atletas Campesinos team and it became the Tampico Madero team after being relocated to Tampico, Tamaulipas.

The UAQ Gallos Blancos era

In the early 1980s, it was given to the Autonomous University of Querétaro the team's rights of management and became the UAQ Gallos Blancos. This team became a "golden breed" of players like René Montalvo, Salvador "Zurdo" Ochoa and José de Jesús Torruco. In fact, the "UAQ Gallos Blancos" arrived to another Segunda División final in 1987, now against the Correcaminos UAT, but after playing the first game of the series at the Estadio Marte R. Gómez (with a 0–0 result), the team suffered an accident while returning from Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas to the city of Querétaro, where three very important players lost their lives. Even though the final match was moved a month, the team lost the series on a third match in the Estadio Azteca.

During the next days, the team became a youth/reserve squad of Cruz Azul, providing many players that later became Primera División football stars. Later, after many failures to get into the Primera División, the Autonomous University of Querétaro went into an economic crisis which caused it to sell the team to a north group of business men from Hermosillo, Sonora and in this way Querétaro lost again one of their teams.

The Cobras de Querétaro era

Later after the construction of the Estadio La Corregidora stadium in the middle 1980s, one of the most important Mexican TV broadcasters decided to manage a Segunda División team who received the name of "Cobras de Querétaro". This team obtained the Primera División category by the hand of Jorge "Coco" Gómez back in 1986, but they lasted only one season because at the end of the 86–87 season they went back to the Segunda División and the team was moved to Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua.

The Club Querétaro era

In 1988, another team was created in the city, named "Club Querétaro". Quickly became a fierce rival to the "UAQ Gallos Blancos". These two teams were playing on the Second Division. After many unsuccessful seasons, footballer José Antonio García bought the Tampico Madero franchise and relocated it to the city of Querétaro, putting it into the Corregidora stadium under the name of "Club Querétaro". During this season the team had one of the most remarkable roster which included Rubén Omar Romano, Sergio Bueno, Miguel Herrera, Sergio Almaguer and many more, all of them under the direction of Ricardo La Volpe.

The team made a modest season and was sold to a group of business men from Querétaro (Vázquez Mellado family) who, despite all of their efforts, lost their category and in 1994 and finally went back into the Segunda División. Then in 1994, because of the problems of Antonio Peláez Pier with the administration of the Estadio Tamaulipas, the Tampico Madero team was moved to the city of Querétaro under the name of T.M. Gallos Blancos but that same season the team was relegated to the Segunda División under the hand of José Camacho and Juan de Dios Castillo.