Club de Fútbol Petroleros de Poza Rica is a team in Mexican football that plays in

Liga Premier de México Liga Premier is a professional association football league in Mexico and the third level of the Mexican football league system. Formerly known as Segunda División de México (1950–2017). It has 52 participating clubs, divided into two division ...

. At an early part of the club's history they played in

Segunda división The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commonly known as Segunda División or La Liga 2, and officially known as LaLiga HyperMotion for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spa ...

. They play at

Poza Rica Poza Rica (), formally: Poza Rica de Hidalgo is a city and its surrounding municipality in the Mexican state of Veracruz. Its name means "rich well/pond". It is often thought that the name came to be because it was a place known for its abundanc ...

Veracruz Veracruz, formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave, is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entit ...

. They are nicknamed ''Petroleros de Poza Rica''.

History

The club began in the 1950s in

, in which they were close to gaining promotion to Primera Division on three occasions. In the season 1962-63, the team was close to gaining promotion in the last week of the tournament. They would have gained promotion by becoming champions against

Orizaba Orizaba (, Otomi: ) is a city and municipality in the Mexican state of Veracruz. It is located 20 km west of its sister city Córdoba, and is adjacent to Río Blanco and Ixtaczoquitlán, on Federal Highways 180 and 190. The city had a ...

but the ended up losing the match. This loss combined with the victory of

Cruz Azul Club de Futbol Cruz Azul S.A. de C.V., commonly referred to as Cruz Azul, is a professional association football, football club based in Mexico City, Mexico. It competes in Liga MX, the top tier of Mexican football league system, Mexican footba ...

against

Real Zamora Club Deportivo Real Zamora is a Mexican football club that plays in the Liga Premier - Serie B, however, from 2019 to 2020 season, the club is on hiatus because the club is in a process to improve its facilities and aspire to a promotion to the L ...

caused the team to have to play in the promotional tournament against

Nacional Nacional, the Portuguese and Spanish word for "national", may refer to: Airlines * Nacional Transportes Aéreos, a Brazilian airline defunct in 2002 * Transportes Aéreos Nacional, a Brazilian airline defunct in 1961 Bank * Banco Nacional, a ...

, Petroleros de Ciudad Madero, and

. This promotional tournament was decided by the league in order to increase the number of teams in Primera Division. The tournament was played from January 16, 1964 through February 16, 1964. Poza Rica found themselves in last place with only one win against Ciudad Madero on January 21 by the score of 6-1. In the following season, 1963–64, the promotion was obtained by Petroleros de Ciudad Madero who was the leader of the standings and thus making them champions. The team never came close again to making it to the Primera Division and eventually were relegated to

Tercera división Tercera División () was the fourth tier of the Spanish football league system. Until 1977, it was the third tier of the Spanish football league system. Founded in 1929, it was below the ''Primera División'' (also known as La Liga), the ''Segund ...

. In Tercera division they were champion in the 1981-82 season after defeating

Celaya Celaya (; Otomi: ) is a city and its surrounding municipality in the state of Guanajuato, Mexico, located in the southeast quadrant of the state. It is the third most populous city in the state, with a 2005 census population of 310,413. The muni ...

. As a result, they were promoted to Segunda Division in which they played from the 1982-83 season through 1985-86 since the team was sold. The team now plays in

playing their games in Estadio Heriberto Jara Corona. Their rivals are Conejos de Tuxpan.

Promotional tournament

In order to increase the number of team from 14 to 16 for the 1964-65 the league made a playoff. The top 2 teams would be in Primera Division. The playoff was composed of the lowest team from Primera division and the 2nd-5th teams in the standings from Segunda Division as Cruz Azul had earned automatic promotion.

Return to Liga Premier

On May 14, 2023, Poza Rica earned promotion back to the Liga Premier after a 37 year absence by defeating C.D. Ayense in front of 7,000 fans at home despite having to wait a day due to thunderstorms. They have to beat Sultanes de Tamazunchale, Puerto Vallarta FC &

Búhos UNISON Búhos UNISON F.C., previously ''Búhos de Hermosillo'' is a Mexican football team that plays in Hermosillo in the state of Sonora. History In 2004, a group of investors (Prospero Barboza Ochoa, Martín Trujillo Camacho, Alfonso & Álvaro Santac ...

along the way to promotion.

Players

First-team squad

Honours

Campeón de Campeones Campeón de Campeones () is an association football competition in Mexico and the domestic super cup between the Liga MX champions of the ''Apertura'' and ''Clausura'' tournaments. It was initially a super cup match between the league and cup cha ...

de la

(1): 1961 * Subcampeón de la

en 1962-63, 1963–64 * Copa de la Segunda División de México (4): 1959, 1961, 1963, 1967 * Campeón de Campeones de la Segunda Division de Mexico de

: 1961

References

{{Liga Premier de México (Serie B) teamlist Football clubs in Veracruz