How Tigres became Liga MX titans
It is the era of the tiger in the Liga MX. Tigres obtained its seventh title after defeating Leon by an aggregate score of 1-0. The runner-up in the CONCACAF Champions League conquered its fifth league title in the last 10 years.
Tigres is the reflection of exceptional sports planning. The people in charge understood the future of the game and invested in assets that transformed the script of a team that couldn’t reach the outlined objectives.
After suffering relegation in 1996, Tigres changed its culture and took a step forward by bringing Mexican players with experience in international leagues. However, the model took shape in 2010, when coach Ricardo Ferretti signed as the new leader of the project.
At the time, Tigres invested in South American international players like Hector Mancilla and Egidio Arevalo. They brought back Mexican legend Carlos Salcido, and bought Hugo Ayala and Jorge Torres Nilo, one of the best defensive prospects in the country. The results came immediately. In 2011, Tigres ruled the league and a dynasty began.
Tigres adapted to the “Moneyball” philosophy and also escalated in the expenditures of their assets by signing players like Rafael Sobis, Guido Pizarro, Nahuel Guzman, Joffre Guerron, Eduardo Vargas and world-class striker Andre Pierre Gignac. The office of the president Alejandro Rodriguez incorporated diverse youngsters from South America and loaned them to different clubs of the Liga MX to gain experience, so they’d be ready when the right moment came to claim them back.
The cases of Julian and Luis Quiñones are the perfect example: two players who joined Tigres years back, and today are both Liga MX champions.
From 2011 to 2019, Tigres became the most prominent team of the decade. Ricardo Ferretti joined Ignacio Trelles as the most laureated coach in the history of the league — both have seven titles. In four years, Gignac emerged as the top scorer in the history of the club. Rodriguez turned into the best club president of the northern region. And they just defeated the best team in the history of the Liga MX regular tournament, Leon, which accumulated 41 points.
Tigres has come a long way in a short amount of time, and become the follow-up soccer model. A team that in 2010 had two stars on its badge, now exhibits seven. And they won’t stop, they’ll keep reinventing themselves because they grasp the keys of the game: money, potential, planning, marketing and soccer knowledge.
Follow Luis on Twitter: @LFulloa.
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