Toluca W

Foundation and early years (1917–1950)

Deportivo Toluca Fútbol Club S.A. de C.V., known as Toluca FC, is based in Toluca, State of Mexico. The club was founded on 12 February 1917 by a group of businessmen and local sports enthusiasts. It developed from two amateur football teams (La Huerta and Xinantécatl) linked to the Henkel Bross family, German Mexicans who were based in Toluca. La Huerta drew players from a family-owned hacienda, and Xinantécatl drew workers for the Toluca–Tenango and San Juan Railways and a utility company owned by the family. Between 1915 and 1917, both sides competed in friendly matches under the guidance of physical education coach Filiberto Navas Valdés which attracted local attention. Brothers Gerardo and Román Ferrat Alday, owners of the La Valenciana clothing business, formed their own side in 1917 to compete with Henkel's teams. After talks by the Ferrat brothers, brothers Francisco and Manuel Henkel Bross, Navas Valdés and other organizers, they established the club and called it Club Deportivo Toluca (CDT).

Several other company-sponsored teams then emerged in Toluca. The club organized a local competition in 1918 with La Huerta, Xinantécatl, Unión and Anahuác, which Toluca won. Toluca hosted Real España, a Mexico City football club, in their first match against outside opposition the following year. It remained the dominant club in the region for several years, although rivals emerged to challenge them. Prominent local player Fernando Barreto organized a succession of sides which aimed to defeat Toluca, beginning with Águila. When Águila failed to defeat Toluca and was dissolved, Barreto founded Cuauhtémoc; it was followed by Reforma, which finally defeated Toluca in 1923. Achieving his goal, Barreto dissolved Reforma, and many of the amateur players from these sides joined Toluca by 1925.

Other clubs emerged across Mexico during the 1920s, including Industrial, Triángulo Verde, Constancia, and Necaxa. Facing limited local competition, Toluca sought matches against outside clubs, which included Irapuato, Guadalajara, América, and ADO Orizaba. Among the era's prominent players were the trio of Barreto, Ricardo Barraza and Vicente Téllez and the emerging Benito Contreras, who had come up through the club's ranks. Jesús Piña was the club's leading player by 1930 and Barreto, retired from playing, moved into a management role.

Toluca's first recorded international match was in 1935 against Costa Rican club La Libertad, a 2–0 home defeat. Toluca defeated the Basque Country national football team during their tour of Mexico two years later, when the Basque side also faced several local clubs and the Mexico national team. In the 1937 and 1938 national amateur tournaments, the State of Mexico team largely consisted of Toluca players. The club shifted their focus to local and inter-state competitions by 1943, appointing Samuel Martínez García to their management. Martínez García sought more involvement in the Reserve Tournament, organized in Mexico City, to expose the team to stiffer competition. Toluca won the championship in 1945, with Héctor Barraza their leading player. The club unsuccessfully tried to establish the Segunda División (Mexico's second-tier football league) two years later, but the league was not formally constituted until 1950.

Professional entry and promotion (1950–1960)

On 18 January 1950, thirty-three years after its founding, Toluca joined the newly-established Segunda División for the 1950–51 season as part of the expansion of professional football in Mexico. The other founding clubs were Irapuato, Zamora, Pachuca, Querétaro, Morelia, and Zacatepec. Toluca won the Segunda División title in the 1952–53 season under Spanish coach Tomás Fábregas, earning promotion to the Primera División (Mexico's top-tier league). The title was secured on 18 January 1953 after a 3–3 draw with Irapuato at the Estadio Revolución in which Toluca came from three goals down. Toluca finished the season with 35 points, three ahead of second-place Veracruz. Toluca's striker Mateo de la Tijera ended the season as the tournament's top scorer with 22 goals.

Toluca made its Primera División debut on 9 August 1953 with a 2–1 victory against Atlante. The club has never been relegated since their promation, establishing one of the longest uninterrupted tenures in the top tier of Mexican football. Toluca opened their home stadium, then known as Campo Patria and now as Nemesio Diez Stadium, with a 1–4 loss in an 8 August 1954 exhibition match against Yugoslavia's Dinamo Zagreb. They won their first title in the 1955–56 Copa México, defeating Irapuato 2–1 in the 27 May 1956 final at the Estadio Olímpico Ciudad de los Deportes. In the 1956 Campeón de Campeones super sup, Toluca lost 2–1 to league champions León.