Mérida F.C.

Venados Fútbol Club Yucatán, simply known as Venados, is a Mexican professional football club based in Mérida, Yucatán. It plays in the Liga de Expansión MX, the second level division of Mexican football.
Founded in 1988 as Venados de Yucatán, the club changed its name several times throughout its history, first as Club Deportivo Atlético Yucatán (1997–2001, 2002–2003), then as Mérida Fútbol Club (2003–2011), Club de Fútbol Mérida (2011–2015) and finally changed to its current name in 2015.

History

Origins and first franchise

The club emerged in 1988 as Venados de Yucatan, when Mr. Jorge Arana Palma, acquires the franchise of the Second Division of the Alacranes de Apatzingán, and it is during this stage when the colors that would identify them to this day are defined, green, yellow and white. During this first season, they were runners-up in the Segunda División de México in the 1988-89 season.

CD Atlético Yucatán

The club was renamed as Club Deportivo Atlético Yucatán in 1997, it plays in the Primera División A de México. The franchise was dissolved in 2001, but the following year it returned.
The club won the title in the Invierno 1998 tournament, defeating Chivas Tijuana 1–0 in Mérida, and also played the Campeón de Ascenso 1999 against Unión de Curtidores but lost 7–1.

Mérida FC/CF Mérida

Atlético Yucatán was renamed as Mérida Fútbol Club in 2003 by the brothers Arturo and Mauricio Millet Reyes, who obtained the franchise of Nacional de Tijuana.

Loss of franchise in 2005 and continuation at lower levels

After the Clausura 2005 tournament, the Millet brothers announced that they would be selling the team to Irapuato FC due to economic problems, citing lackluster attendance and poor support from the local government. Nevertheless, the brothers formed a team that participated in an amateur league in Yucatán and also opened a training facility in Argentina to scout local talent. Mérida F.C. returned to the professional ranks when they participated in the Tercera División in 2006/07. During 2007, the brothers oversaw the construction of a training facility located at the Unidad Deportiva Tamanché. By the 2007/08 season Mérida was participating in the Segunda División.

Return of second level franchise with Morelia

On June 16, 2008, Arturo Millet Reyes announced that he had acquired the filial team of Morelia. Millet Reyes has stated that his intention is to maintain the team in Mérida for an extended period of time, unlike in previous years. He also received a guarantee that if the ''Venados'' were to be promoted to the Primera División that the team would remain in Mérida.

On November 11, 2008, the Federación Mexicana de Fútbol Asociación (FMF) granted the club the certification required to be promoted to the Primera División.

In the Clausura 2009 season Mérida defeated Club Tijuana 1–0 on aggregate to win the Clausura title. Mérida lost the subsequent promotion play-off for the Primera Division de Mexico, after a defeat by Querétaro FC on penalties.

Sale of franchise to Atlante

On 4 December 2010 the brothers Arturo and Mauricio Millet Reyes announced that Mérida F.C. would no longer form part of the Liga de Ascenso and that Monarcas Morelia would decide if a team would stay in the city, but that talks were also underway with Atlante F.C. regarding the creation of a link with them.

The Mérida franchise was subsequently sold to Atlante and they became that team's filial team for the Clausura 2011, whilst the original Atlante filial team (Atlante UTN) swapped franchises to become the subsidiary team for Morelia.2010/11 Liga de Ascenso (Clausura 2011) results, table and explanation of team changes at RSSSF
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Venados FC Yucatán

The Mexican Football Federation said the Apertura 2015 tournament will be 16 teams who play the Ascenso MX instead of 14, as it was in recent tournaments. In addition, two clubs change city and state to the next season.

Estudiantes de Altamira will become Cafetaleros of Tapachula, whose headquarters will be the Olympic Stadium in Tapachula, in Chiapas; while Irapuato become Murcielagos FC and will play in Los Mochis, Sinaloa at the Estadio Centenario.

In addition to these changes, there will be two new franchises, that of Cimarrones de Sonora, located in Heroes de Nacozari Stadium de Hermosillo. As the FC Juárez will use Benito Juarez Olympic Stadium.

Finally, FC Mérida now be changing logo and will be called Venados FC (keeping the venue in Mérida).

This could mean that the Venados FC team is the "rebirth" of Venados de Yucatán franchise.

Personnel

Management

Coaching staff

Players

First-team squad

Out on loan

Reserve teams

;Progreso F.C.
:Affiliate team that plays in the Liga TDP, the fourth level of the Mexican league system.

Managers

* David Patiño (2008–2010)
*  Mario García (2011)
*  Ricardo Valiño (2011–2014)
* Juan Carlos Chávez (2014–2015)
* Daniel Rossello ''(Interim)'' (2015)
*  Marcelo Michel Leaño (2016)
* José Luis Sánchez Solá (2016–2017)
*  Bruno Marioni (2017–2018)
* Joel Sánchez (2018)
* Sergio Orduña (2018–2019)
* Carlos Gutiérrez (2020–2022)
* Andrés Carevic (2022)

Honours

National

References

External links

*

Club changes

{{Liga de Expansión MX teamlist

Football clubs in Yucatán
Ascenso MX teams
2003 establishments in Mexico
Association football clubs established in 2003