On 22 May 1927 the workers of a cement factory in Jasso, Hidalgo, founded a team of their own. Cruz Azul turns 100 years old on 22 May 2027 and celebrates its century as one of the biggest clubs in Mexico.

Football instead of baseball

The workers of the La Cruz Azul cement company wanted to play a sport and were torn between baseball and football. According to Spanish Wikipedia, they were won over to football by the dentist Carlos Garcés, who looked after the factory's staff.

In 1931 the company became a cooperative owned by the workers themselves. In 1953 Guillermo Álvarez Macías took charge of it, and he remains the president with the most titles in the club's history.

The Blue Cross

The name means "Blue Cross" and comes from the cooperative and the town, which was renamed Ciudad Cooperativa Cruz Azul. The blue cross on the badge shows exactly this link to the factory.

In 1997 the badge became circular and gained a star for every league title. The stars were removed in 2022, when the club took its current name.

From white to sky blue

Sources disagree about the first shirt. English Wikipedia speaks of a white shirt with blue vertical stripes, while TUDN describes an all-white kit in the amateur years.

Blue became the main colour later, and the light sky blue of the 1960s gave rise to the nickname "Los Celestes". The classic formula was a blue shirt with white shorts, while the away kit is traditionally white.

From 1992 sponsors arrived, along with frequent changes of design. The shirt was made in turn by Azul Sport, Fila, Umbro, Under Armour and Joma.

Why they call it "The Machine"

In the late 1960s and the 1970s Cruz Azul swept everything before it. That is when the nickname La Máquina, "the Machine", was born, but its origin is not certain.

One version links it to the team's efficient, relentless play and to the train that carried the cement in Jasso. Another credits sports commentator Ángel Fernández, who started calling the team that, and the fans adopted it.

Titles, the Azteca and legends

Cruz Azul won its first league title in 1968/69 and three in a row from 1972 to 1974. From 1971 to 1996 it played at the Estadio Azteca and then at the Estadio Azul, and with seven titles it shares the record in the CONCACAF Champions Cup.

After 1997 came 23 years without a league title and lost finals, so many that Mexicans coined the verb "cruzazulear", meaning to throw away something you had already won. The curse was broken in 2021 against Santos Laguna, and in May 2026 the 10th league title arrived against Pumas.

Argentine goalkeeper Miguel Marín was the team's rock in the 1970s. Carlos Hermosillo left in 1998 as the all-time top scorer with 198 goals, and Octavio Muciño, Horacio López Salgado and Christian Giménez are legends too.

Celebrate with us

From the cement workers of Jasso to a packed Azteca, Cruz Azul completes a whole century. It is a story of glory, pain and great comebacks that deserves a shirt in sky blue.

Happy birthday, Cruz Azul, and a happy second century! May the Machine keep running at full speed.

See our collectible jerseys at sportarena.gr.

Photo: Kick-off of Cruz Azul v Pachuca at Estadio Hidalgo – Nan.P.182, Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.