Tijuana Xolos’ fans should have major concerns heading into 2020
Credit: EVT Sports - Francisco Velasco
2019 was not a great year for the Tijuana Xolos as the border city team narrowly made the playoffs in the 2019 Clausura and completely missed the playoffs in the 2019 Apertura. There were exciting moments throughout the calendar year with players like Miller Bolanos, Ariel Nahuelpan, and Camilo Sanvezzo on the team.
Ariel Nahuelpan, who had become a fan favorite even with the American fans, will leave the Xolos and join Queretaro. Nahuelpan is the first player that has been confirmed to be joining Queretaro from Club Tijuana, and he is not expected to be the only player to make this exact move.
Queretaro is a significant concern for Xolos’ fans in 2020 as the Xoloitzcuintles’ ownership group, Grupo Caliente, recently acquired Los Gallos Blancos. Grupo Caliente now has to worry about maintaining two Liga MX teams, an Ascenso MX team (Dorados de Sinaloa), and two women’s teams as well.
This is concerning because there has been confirmed payment issues to players within Club Tijuana in the past. There were also recent reports that stated that Grupo Caliente was struggling to pay the Xolos’ women’s team as well.
Maintaining just one Liga MX team can be a very tough task, and multi ownership is not for everyone, as demonstrated recently by the Lopez Chargoy brothers. The brothers owned Jaguares de Chiapas and Puebla but failed miserably in both projects, and their actions have had some serious consequences.
Jaguares de Chiapas relegated in the 2016/2017 season and now do not even exist, while Puebla (now with different ownership) has failed to be competitive in several years and is also rumored to leave Puebla in the near future. Grupo Caliente clearly has strong financial backing with Mexico’s biggest casino chain behind it, but the recent payment issues raise some major concerns.
There have also been cases of successful multi ownership in the Liga MX like Grupo Pachuca, who owns Pachuca and Leon. However, it is still a risk, and the Xolos’ fans are starting to see some of the consequences as fan-favorite Ariel Nahuelpan was dealt to Queretaro.
Club Tijuana has always been a selling team, but now there is that pressure to also give Queretaro some players, which may make for some unpopular decisions.
Francisco, 26, Chula Vista/Tijuana. I have been a Padres fan all my life, did most of the series previews and recaps in the Padres’ 2016 season for EVT. Now I focus more on the local soccer scene. Tijuana Xolos, San Diego Loyal, San Diego Wave.
As a xolos fan this is so lame. They take talent from one team and bring them to another team that is an immediate rival? From an ownership perspective they are just hedging their bets to have as many chances as possible to win the most money or popularity but no one wants to be associated as a second fiddle franchise so if the group is funneling all its talents to another club away from Tijuana it leaves supporters in the woods. This is a really bad look and makes groupo caliente look greedy and not commited to the team without borders. One team one ownership group.