Asturias F.C. (currently Centro Asturiano de México) was a

sports club A sports club or sporting club, sometimes an athletics club or sports society or sports association, is a group of people formed for the purpose of playing sports. Sports clubs range from organisations whose members play together, unpaid, and ...

located in

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

, established in 1918. The squad played in the Liga Mexicana de Football Amateur Association, the first and main league prior to the professionalisation and development of the

Primera División de México The Liga MX, officially known as the Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional Association football, football division in Mexico, holding 2 tournaments per year. The league is considered the strongest in North America, and amo ...

in 1943. Asturias would overcome Real Club España, club along which were known as the "foreign legion (Legión extranjera)" in the 1943–44 season after finishing with a similar record. The first final in the Mexican professional league was won by Asturias after beating R.C. España by 4–1 and thus becoming the first champion in the professional era. The club was managed by Ernesto Pauler. Besides having the honour of being the first champion in the professional league, Asturias also holds the record for most

Copa Mexico The Copa MX (formerly called Copa Tower Monterrey, Copa Eliminatoria, Copa México and Copa Corona MX (for sponsorship reasons)) was a Mexican football cup competition that was established in 1907. After a lengthy hiatus that began in 1997, it wa ...

wins with 8.

History

The club was established as "Club Asturias" on 7 February 1918 when a group of Asturian immigrants made up by José Menéndez Aleu, Ángel H. Díaz and Antonio Martínez got together and decided to establish a football club that would represent their Asturian heritage.Historia
on Club's website The main goal was to unite all the

Spaniards Spaniards, or Spanish people, are a Romance peoples, Romance ethnic group native to Spain. Within Spain, there are a number of National and regional identity in Spain, national and regional ethnic identities that reflect the country's complex Hist ...

who had emigrated from Asturias to

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, and so imitatively the club enrolled into the

Primera Fuerza The Liga Mexicana de Fútbol Amateur Association, known as the Primera Fuerza, was an amateur football league founded in Mexico in 1902 with five clubs: " Orizaba A.C.", " Pachuca A.C.", " Reforma A.C.", "Mexico Cricket Club" and " British Club". ...

but the league would only admit the club if they beat

Germania Germania ( ; ), also called Magna Germania (English: ''Great Germania''), Germania Libera (English: ''Free Germania''), or Germanic Barbaricum to distinguish it from the Roman province of the same name, was a large historical region in north- ...

, América and Tigres. They managed to beat Germania by 3–0, Tigres by 1–0 but only drew 3–3 against América, so the club would not be allowed to join the league. The club decided to form its own league calling it "Unión Nacional de Association Foot-Ball". The league would be played in the Campo Asturias which was constructed in the Paseo de la Reforma of

. The league would not charge any fee to watch the games, which encouraged locals to attend this league and not the

. With this problem in hand the

changed its mind and allowed the club to take part in the upcoming 1919 tournament. In 1920 the club hired

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

former player Gerald Brown and the club managed to wins its first tournament by winning the 1920 Copa Covadonga. In 1921 the club changed its name to "Sección Deportiva del Centro Asturiano". Asturias1927

This club would go on to win important cups like the Copa Centenario in 1921. The club would also win the most

in its history before being dissolved in 1996 winning a total of eight, one more than

Necaxa Impulsora del Deportivo Necaxa S.A. de C.V. (); often simply known as Necaxa, is a Mexican professional football club in Liga MX based in the city of Aguascalientes. It plays in the Estadio Victoria. History Foundation (Light and Power Comp ...

. This club also had the honour of being the first champion in the professional era after financing the 1943–44 tournament tied with Real Club España, where a decisive game had to play in the Asturias Park where the club defeated Real Club España 4–1. The club would go on to play a few more years in the league, finishing no better than fifth until after the 1949–50 tournament along with Real Club España and

Moctezuma de Orizaba Moctezuma de Orizaba was a Mexican football team that played in the '' Liga Mexicana de Football Amateur Association'' prior to the professionalization and development of the Mexican first division. The club was based in the city of Orizaba and ...

retired from the league due to differences with the Federation.

(México), an old

member who didn't accept professionalism in 1943, re-joined to fill the vacant place.

Primera Fuerza campaigns

These are all the Statistics from the club's participation in the

from 1919–1943 except for the 1921–22 and the 1930–31 tournament which was not held, also the 1934–35 which is missing. After the 1942–43 tournament the league became professional and changed its name to the Liga Mayor.

Primera División de México

After this season, Asturias, Real Club España and

retired from the league due to differences with the Federation.

(México), an old

member which didn't accept professionalism in 1943, re-joined for next season.

Honours

* Liga Mexicana de Football Amateur (2): 1922–23, 1938–39 *

Copa México The Copa MX (formerly called Copa Tower Monterrey, Copa Eliminatoria, Copa México and Copa Corona (beer), Corona MX (for sponsorship reasons)) was a Mexican association football, football cup competition that was established in 1907 in association ...

(8): 1921–22, 1922–23, 1923–24, 1933–34, 1936–37, 1938–39, 1939–40, 1940–41 *

Primera División Primera may refer to * Nissan Primera, a car * Primera Air, a former airline * Primera división (disambiguation), multiple top division football leagues * Primera, Texas, a town in Cameron County, Texas * Alí Primera, Venezuelan musician, compos ...

(1): 1943–44

Goal Scorer Title

* Roberto Aballay (1944–45), (40 goals)

References

External links

Official website
{{Primera Fuerza clubs Association football clubs established in 1918 Football clubs in Mexico City 1918 establishments in Mexico Asturian diaspora 1950 disestablishments in Mexico Association football clubs disestablished in 1950 Diaspora sports clubs Primera Fuerza teams Spanish-Mexican culture