Deportivo Toluca Fútbol Club S.A. de C.V., commonly known as Toluca FC, is a professional football club based in Toluca, Mexico. The club competes in Liga MX, the top division of Mexican football, and plays its home matches at Nemesio Diez Stadium. Toluca is one of the most successful clubs in Mexican football, with twelve Liga MX titles (the second-highest total in the competition's history), several cup and super-cup titles and three CONCACAF Champions Cup titles for a total of 23 titles.
Founded in 1917, Toluca was a founding member of the Segunda DivisiónMexico's second-tier divisionin 1950 before earning promotion to the top flight in 1953 (from which it has never been relegated). The club established itself in Mexican football in the 1960s, winning back-to-back league titles and their first international title. A second successful period followed in the late 1990s and early 2000s, when it won four league titles and a second international title. A third successful period was in the mid-2020s, when Toluca won multiple titles (including two consecutive league championships and two international tournaments). Toluca will compete in the 2026 FIFA Intercontinental Cup and the 2029 FIFA Club World Cup, both for the first time in club history.
Toluca is commonly known as "Diablos Rojos" (Red Devils), with their traditional scarlet home kit also earning them the nickname "Los Escarlatas" (the Scarlets). They are also known as "Los Choriceros" (the Sausage-makers), a reference to chorizo (one of the city's traditional foods). Toluca is one of the few major Mexican clubs without a derby. The club's all-time leading scorer is José Saturnino Cardozo, who played from 1995 to 2005 and scored 258 goals. Toluca also fields a women's team and maintains a reserve and youth academy whose sides have won several league titles.
History
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 . 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 , 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 in which Toluca came from three goals down; Rubén Pichardo scored twice, and added the equalizer. Toluca finished the season with 35 points, three ahead of second-place Veracruz. 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 Super Cup, Toluca lost 2–1 to league champions León.
In 1959, following the death of club president Luis Gutiérrez Dosal, Toluca experienced a period of institutional instability. Mexican president Adolfo López Mateos, a native of the State of Mexico, asked Spanish-born businessman Nemesio Diez Riega to assume control of the club. Diez, who had held management roles at Toluca and was a sponsor, agreed to try and make the club league champions.
First success and transitional period (1960s–1980s) Toluca's first major period of success came under coach Ignacio Trelles, who joined the club in October 1966. The club won its first league title in the 1966–67 season, clinching it on 19 February 1967 with a 2–0 victory over Necaxa; both goals were scored by . That season, Toluca striker Amaury Epaminondas was the league's top scorer with 21 goals. In the super cup, Toluca defeated León 1–0 for the title. Toluca retained the title in the 1967–68 season; the championship was secured on 4 January 1968 with a 3–0 victory over Pumas UNAM, who finished second in the league. The goals were an own goal by José Luis González Dávila and strikes from Dosal and Vicente Pereda. In the super cup, Toluca faced Atlas and drew 3–3 on aggregate before winning on penalties. Albino Morales converted all three penalties to secure the title.
In international competition, Toluca entered the 1968 CONCACAF Champions' Cup and advanced past the first round with a 7–3 aggregate victory over New York Greek American. Toluca were declared champions of their first international title on 19 December 1968 without a final played after the other finalists, Aurora of Guatemala and Transvaal of Suriname, were disqualified. Toluca then qualified for the inaugural Copa Interamericana against Argentina's Estudiantes de La Plata. After losing 2–1 at home and winning 2–1 away in Buenos Aires, a third play-off match was held in Montevideo; Estudiantes won 3–0 to claim the title.
Toluca won its third league championship in the 1974–75 season under Uruguayan manager . The club finished atop the league table and advanced to the playoffs, where they faced Cruz Azul, León, and Unión de Curtidores in home-and-away matches. Against Cruz Azul, Toluca lost the first leg 1–0 before winning the second 1–0. Against Curtidores, they won 3–0 away and 2–1 at home. The title was sealed on 26 June 1975 in the decisive match against León, with Ítalo Estupiñán scoring the only goal for a 1–0 victory. In the 1975 Campeón de Campeones super cup, Toluca lost 1–0 against Pumas UNAM in the Estadio Olímpico Universitario. Throughout his tenure, De León implemented a defensive system inspired by the Italian catenaccio; Toluca was nicknamed Cangrejo Rojo ("Red Crab") for its defensive style of play.
Following its success, Toluca endured a period without league titles through the 1980s and into the early 1990s. It frequently finished in the bottom half of the table and qualified for the playoffs only occasionally, although the club never dropped out of the top flight. An exception was in 1989, when Toluca won the 1988–89 Copa México. The club defeated Leones Negros UdeG 3–2 on aggregate in the final, ending a 14-year wait for a title. However, the league title remained out of reach during this period.
Second dominant era (1998–2010) In August 1997, Toluca appointed Mexican coach Enrique Meza. Ahead of the Verano 1998 season, Meza took the squad on a pre-season tour of Croatia and Slovenia in December 1997, with the aim of building international experience and team cohesion. The tour yielded two wins and a draw against local sides, with Meza noting a stronger sense of unity among the players upon their return. Toluca won the Verano 1998 tournament, defeating Necaxa 6–4 on aggregate in the final to secure their fourth league title on 10 May 1998, their first in 23 years. Toluca's striker José Saturnino Cardozo, who had joined the club in 1995, finished as the tournament's top scorer with 18 goals, 13 in the regular season and five in the playoffs. The following year, Toluca won its fifth league title with the Verano 1999, topping the table before defeating Atlas on penalties after a 5–5 aggregate in the final. The match is widely regarded as one of the greatest finals in Mexican football. Cardozo again finished as the league's top scorer with 20 goals, 15 in the regular season and five in the playoffs.