Chivas USA


Club Deportivo Chivas USA was an American professional soccer team based in Carson, California, a suburb of Los Angeles. The club played from 2005 to 2014 in Major League Soccer and was a subsidiary of Mexican club C.D. Guadalajara, sharing common ownership and branding.
The club was the eleventh MLS team upon its entry into the league in 2004. Chivas USA was intended to be seen as a "little brother" to its parent club C.D. Guadalajara, one of the most widely supported and successful teams in Mexico. Chiva is Latin American Spanish for "goat", seen as a tough and resilient animal in Mexico, and is the nickname of C.D. Guadalajara.
Chivas USA played its home games at the StubHub Center in Carson, which it shared with its rival, the LA Galaxy. The club was originally owned by Antonio Cue and Jorge Vergara, who also owns C.D. Guadalajara. In 2014, MLS purchased the club from Vergara with plans to sell to new owners.
The club ceased operations after the 2014 regular season, and is currently the most recent major professional North American sports team to fold. A new expansion franchise, named Los Angeles FC, began play in 2018.

History

Founding

Mexican businessman Jorge Vergara took ownership of the struggling Chivas de Guadalajara in 2002 and sought to use the rejuvenated club to establish an international brand. In June 2003, the league announced that the 2003 MLS All-Star Game would be played against Chivas and that Vergara was interested in purchasing an expansion team. The team, named "Chivas USA", would be affiliated with Chivas and play in either Los Angeles or San Diego beginning in the 2005 season. On August 2, 2004, Major League Soccer announced that Chivas USA would share The Home Depot Center in Carson with the Galaxy, and begin play in 2005 as the league's eleventh team.

Early success (2005–2009)

In 2005, Chivas USA kicked off its inaugural season in Major League Soccer at The Home Depot Center with a 2–0 loss to then MLS Cup Champions D.C. United on April 2, 2005, under the guidance of Chivas USA's first head coach Thomas Rongen. After a 1–8–1 start, Thomas Rongen was named Chivas USA's sporting director and assistant coach Javier Ledesma became the club's interim head coach. On June 3, 2005, Hans Westerhof was named Chivas USA's second head coach. After a disappointing season, Westerhof did not return to coach the team in 2006.
On November 23, 2005, former MLS Coach of the Year Bob Bradley became Chivas USA's third head coach, replacing Hans Westerhof. Under Bradley, the 2006 season saw a major turnaround for Chivas USA. The team finished the 2006 season with a 10–9–13 record and earned a spot in the Western Conference playoffs. Bradley was named MLS Coach of the Year, becoming the first two-time winner of the award and Chivas USA defender Jonathan Bornstein was named 2006 Gatorade Rookie of the Year. After the season ended, Coach Bradley was named interim head coach of the U.S. men's national soccer team and head coach of the U.S. men's Olympic soccer team by the U.S. Soccer Federation, and was replaced by Chivas USA's fourth head coach, Predrag "Preki" Radosavljevic.
played a major role for Chivas USA from 2006–2010
The team's third season, under Preki, was the most successful. Chivas USA goalkeeper Brad Guzan was named MLS's Goalkeeper of the Year for the 2007 season. On November 7, 2007, Preki was named MLS Coach of the Year for 2007 after the first-year manager led the Red-and-White to a 15–7–8 record and first place in Major League Soccer's Western Conference. In January 2008, Preki signed a multi-year contract with Chivas USA securing his position as head coach for the 2008 season. Chivas finished the 2007 MLS season atop of the Western Conference. However, they lost in the Conference Semifinals of the MLS Cup 2007 playoffs to the Kansas City Wizards, who were the conference's No. 4 seed under new MLS seeding rules despite being in the Eastern Conference.
In 2008 Chivas USA competed in their first official international tournament, playing Pachuca in the 2008 SuperLiga. Jonathan Bornstein and Sacha Kljestan were named to the MLS All-Star team. Goalie Brad Guzan became the first Goat to transfer to a European first division club. The Red-and-White clinched a playoff berth for the third consecutive season, losing to Real Salt Lake in the first round. Kljestan scored the U.S. Soccer Goal of the Year while playing in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. He was also named to the MLS Best XI, and was selected as U.S. Soccer's Young Male Athlete of the Year.
Jonathan Bornstein and Sacha Kljestan competed with the U.S. National Team in the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup in South Africa. Chivas USA goalkeeper Zach Thornton was named to the 2009 MLS All-Star Team. Chivas USA announced the Team Award Winners, naming Thornton the team's Most Valuable Player. Thornton was also named the MLS Goalkeeper of the Year and MLS Comeback Player of the Year, and he was nominated to the MLS Best 11.

Club struggles (2010–2013)

was named the team's head coach after serving as an assistant coach from 2005–2007. Kljestan and Bornstein were named co-captains for the 2010 season. During the World Cup break Kljestan signed a deal with Belgian club Anderlecht, leaving Chivas USA after parts of five seasons. Bornstein played in the 2010 FIFA World Cup, starting in two matches for the United States as they made it to the Round of 16. On October 27, the team released head coach Martín Vásquez from his contract. On November 2, president and CEO Shawn Hunter announced he was stepping down. On December 14 the club's vice president of soccer operations, Stephen Hamilton revealed he too, was leaving his post. After Hamilton stepped down, Jose L Domene was named Interim General Manager. On January 4, 2011, Robin Fraser became Head coach of Chivas USA.
On August 29, 2012, Vergara and his wife, Angélica Fuentes, became sole owners of the club, buying out former partners Antonio and Lorenzo Cué. On May 29, 2013 two Chivas USA youth coaches, Dan Calichman and Ted Chronopoulos, filed a discrimination lawsuit against the club, on the grounds they had been dismissed because they were not Latino. Shortly after the acquisition of the club, Vergara is alleged to have told his staff that those who did not speak Spanish would be fired. Chronopoulos claimed that Jose David, the team's new president and chief business officer, asked Chronopoulos for a list of youth players and coaches who were Mexican or Mexican American and of those that weren't.
Since the release of Preki, Chivas USA failed to stay consistent on and off the field, just like its parent club, CD Guadalajara, Chivas USA had four coaches since the start of the 2010 season; all four coaches failed to impress Jorge Vergara, and were let go. Their last coach was Colombian-born Wilmer Cabrera.

Final season (2014)

On February 20, 2014, Major League Soccer purchased Chivas USA from Vergara. They announced plans to sell to a buyer dedicated to keeping the club in Los Angeles, as well as a plan to rebrand the club in time for the 2015 MLS season. ESPN reported on September 29, 2014 that the club would suspend operations at the end of the MLS regular season, according to multiple sources.
On September 30, 2014, Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated reported that a group of investors headed by Henry Nguyen, Los Angeles Dodgers investor Peter Guber and Cardiff City owner Vincent Tan agreed to purchase the club for a fee over $100 million. The sale would mean that Chivas USA would fold, with the second Los Angeles team to take the field as an expansion team with a new stadium in Downtown Los Angeles.
Chivas USA ceased operations on October 27, 2014, with its player development academy continuing to be operated by MLS until June 2015. A dispersal draft took place after the 2014 season, having the remaining players from the club dispersed to other teams in the league. The league added two teams to increase the total number of teams from nineteen to twenty, with Kansas City and Houston both shifting to the Western Conference to keep the conferences balanced. Los Angeles FC began play in 2018. They are not considered by the league to be a continuation of Chivas USA.

Colors and badge

Chivas USA's home uniform mirrored that of their parent club, Guadalajara, with a red-and-white striped shirt, blue shorts and blue socks. Chivas USA wore variations throughout its existence, and usually complemented this with a dark blue away uniform.
The club badge was also virtually identical to that of Guadalajara, featuring the coat of arms of the city, but omitting the stars around the outside of the logo that represent each league title won by Guadalajara.

Ownership

Chivas USA played its home games at StubHub Center, on the campus of California State University, Dominguez Hills in Carson, California, approximately 10 miles south of downtown Los Angeles. The venue's title sponsor is online ticket retailer StubHub. Built in 2003 as the home stadium for LA Galaxy, the "SHC" is a 27,000-seat soccer-specific stadium, the second of its kind in MLS, but has hosted other sports such as rugby and football. For its entire existence, Los Rojiblancos shared the stadium with the Galaxy, with whom they competed for the Honda SuperClasico. During their tenure, this arrangement and those of the NFL's New York Giants and New York Jets in MetLife Stadium and NBA's Los Angeles Clippers and Los Angeles Lakers in the Staples Center were the only cases in the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada of two teams of the same league sharing a venue.
Chivas USA occasionally held home games at Titan Stadium on the campus of California State University, Fullerton, and at Harder Stadium on the campus of UC Santa Barbara, such as in the US Open Cup when both they and the Galaxy had been drawn to play at home on the same day, but this was generally a rare occurrence.

Sponsorship

On May 16, 2007, Comex, Mexico's leading paint company, became Chivas USA's first presenting sponsor, with their name on the front of the jerseys. At the opening of the 2010 season, the team's jerseys were blank. On April 1, 2010, the new presenting sponsor, Extra, was finally unveiled prior to the match against rivals LA Galaxy; Extra is a Mexican convenience store chain owned by Grupo Modelo, the makers of Corona beer. The chain's logo appeared on the front of Chivas USA jerseys and training jerseys for the rest of that year. On February 16, 2011 Corona became the presenting sponsor for Chivas USA.

Broadcasting

For the 2014 season, Chivas USA non nationally televised matches were televised by KDOC in English and Time Warner Cable Deportes in Spanish. KDOC agreed to televise 10 matches while Time Warner Cable Deportes agreed to televise 16 matches. Matches not televised in Spanish on Time Warner Cable Deportes aired on the Univision family of networks.
Until 2012, FS West/Prime Ticket and KDOC televised all Chivas USA matches that were not nationally televised. In 2013, Chivas began the year with no local television partner; however, in August a deal was reached with KDOC and MundoFOX22 KWHY-TV for the remainder of the 2013 season.
KWKW-AM provided Spanish-language radio broadcasts.

Players and staff

Notable former players

Footballers who received international caps while playing for Chivas.
; MLS Supporters' Shield
; MLS Western Conference

Year-by-year

YearRegular SeasonPlayoffsU.S. Open CupCONCACAF
Champions' League
20056th, West did not qualifyFourth Rounddid not qualify
20063rd, West Lost Conference Semifinals Round of 16did not qualify
20071st, West Lost Conference Semifinals Round of 16did not qualify
20082nd, West Lost Conference Semifinals Round of 16did not qualify
20094th, West Lost Conference Semifinals Round of 16Preliminary Round
20108th, West did not qualifySemifinalsdid not qualify
20118th, West did not qualifydid not qualifydid not qualify
20129th, West did not qualifySemifinalsdid not qualify
20139th, West did not qualifyFourth Rounddid not qualify
20147th, West did not qualifyFourth Rounddid not qualify

Year-by-year stats

International tournaments

MLS regular season only, through 2014 season
regular season / playoffs