Club Universidad Nacional

This article is about the men's professional association football team. For the women's team associated to the same club, see Club Universidad Nacional (women). For the American football team, see Pumas CU.
Club Universidad Nacional
Full nameClub Universidad Nacional, A.C.[1]
Nickname(s)Pumas
Universitarios (Collegiates)
Universidad (University)
Auriazules (Gold-and-Blues)[2]
Los de Pedregal (The Guys from Pedregal)[3]
Founded2 August 1954; 70 years ago (1954-08-02)
as Club Deportivo Universidad[4][5]
GroundEstadio Olímpico Universitario
Capacity58,445[6]
ChairmanLuis Raúl González Pérez
ManagerGustavo Lema
LeagueLiga MX
Clausura 2024Regular phase: 8th
Final phase: Quarter-finals
Websitehttp://www.pumas.mx/
Current season

Club Universidad Nacional, A.C., more commonly referred to as Pumas UNAM, is a professional football club based in Mexico City, Mexico. The club competes in the Liga MX, the top division in the Mexican football league system. They were founded in 1954 and play their home games at Estadio Olímpico Universitario, which seats over 72,000 spectators.

The club was founded as an amateur club of UNAM college students and later developed into a professional team. The Pumas are one of the most popular clubs in Mexico and considered to be one of the Cuatro Grandes of Mexican football, alongside Cruz Azul, Guadalajara, and Club América.[7][8]

Domestically, Pumas UNAM has won 11 trophies: 7 Liga MX, 1 Copa MX, the Campeón de Campeones twice, as well as 1 Segunda División de México. In international club football, the club has won 3 CONCACAF Champions Cups[9] and 1 Copa Interamericana.[10] The club has a long-standing rivalry with Club América in the derbi capitalino.[11]

The team is also known for its youth development system, which has produced international players such as Hugo Sánchez, Manuel Negrete, Luis Flores, Miguel España, Claudio Suárez, Luis García, Alberto García Aspe, David Patiño, Jorge Campos, Braulio Luna, Gerardo Torrado, Francisco Fonseca, Efraín Juárez, Héctor Moreno, Pablo Barrera, Israel Castro, Eduardo Herrera and Jesús Gallardo.

  1. ^ Nacional, Club Universidad. "El Club Universidad Nacional, informa". Pumas.mx. Archived from the original on 2020-11-09. Retrieved 2020-07-08.
  2. ^ "Pumas sign Erick". www.sportingnews.com. 25 January 2018.
  3. ^ "Pumas: ¿qué fue de la vida de Saúl Berjón?". 5 August 2020.
  4. ^ "Club Universidad, 61 años de historia" (in Spanish). Retrieved 22 July 2020.
  5. ^ "Pumas MX". www.facebook.com. Archived from the original on 2022-02-26.
  6. ^ "LIGA MX - Página Oficial de la Liga Mexicana del Fútbol Profesional". ligamx.net.
  7. ^ "How to watch Liga MX: A beginner's guide". ESPN.com. July 18, 2018.
  8. ^ "Liga MX 101: The terms you need to know". ESPN.com. January 17, 2018.
  9. ^ "About". Concacaf. 2021-03-07. Retrieved 2022-04-13.
  10. ^ "Palmarés". Archived from the original on 2022-11-26. Retrieved 2020-08-09.
  11. ^ "Pumas vs. America: What you need to know". 16 March 2017.