Atlante is back! Well, it’s complicated.
Over the past two weeks, there have been rumors heating up that Queretaro would return to Mexico City and be renamed into Atlante.
Atlante F.C History:
Atlante was started as a club in 1916. Yes, that Atlante that everyone remembers from the ’90s. The successful club that won 3 Championships and was a founding member of the Liga Mx back in the 1940s. Winning their first championship in 1946 season 3 years after the first divisions finding, winning again in 1992 under Argentine coach Ricardo De La Volpe which team also included current America coach Miguel Herrera as a player, and then Atlante managed to win in 2007 after leaving Mexico City for Quintana Roo in Cancun to host matches due to poor attendance in the nation’s capital. They also won the first inaugural season of the Concacaf Champions league in 2008 beating out fellow Liga MX side Cruz Azul and were runners up in 1994 after losing 3-2 against Costa Rican side C.S. Cartaginés.
Atlante Currently:
Currently, Atlante is in the second division. There only one issue. That second division doesn’t exist anymore. They were in Ascenso, but currently, with relegation suspended for 5 years in Mexican first division and a developmental league in Liga Balompie starting up to in essence replace Ascenso that leaves them in murky waters. That’s where Queretaro comes into play, yesterday the 10th of June 2020 they announced on Twitter the sale of the team from Grupo Caliente to Gabriel Solares who also owns Atlante per @cesarhfutbol on Twitter
Queretaro has also been officially sold by Grupo Caliente. According to the league, the club is now owned by Atlante's Gabriel Solares. #LigaMXeng
— Cesar Hernandez (@cesarhfutbol) June 10, 2020
At the moment he owns a second division side in Atlante who still plays in Cancun. There has yet to be an official announcement on second-division soccer from the president of Liga MX Enrique Bonilla, so we may have to wait for further developments. Now Queretaro who rumors say is moving to Mexico City where they may be renamed into Atlante.
The managing group of Atlante is in Queretaro to take over but who is at Atlante in Cancun? It was a great point brought up by ESPN’s Tom Marshall.
A residual issue that remains unclear, at least for me, from yesterday's Liga MX owners' meeting is what happens to @Atlante? The people running the club are now at Queretaro. Does that mean they will have two clubs or is Atlante expendable? #ligamxeng
— Tom Marshall (@mexicoworldcup) June 11, 2020
For now, we will have to wait for confirmation from Liga MX if Atlante is returning to Mexico City with a first division side. They do have every tool to make it possible before Apertura 2020 but if the past month has been an indicator as the Morelia team being sold to Mazatlan, we may find out the exact same time Liga MX does.