Tepatitlán

Tepatitlán de Morelos sits in the Los Altos highlands of Jalisco, cattle and agave country, which makes what its club has assembled since the turn of the decade harder to explain away. The municipality brought it home at the end of that decade, leasing the franchise back so Tepatitlán could field a team again.

What followed was a slow climb rather than a leap. The breakthrough came in the Liga Premier, where Tepatitlán won the Apertura 2017 and, the following year, added the Campeón de Campeones. Promotion should have come with the 2017-18 Ascenso Serie A final, won on penalties against Loros UdeG, but the federation withheld the step up over paperwork the club hadn't completed.

The 2021 Guardianes title, sealed against Atlético Morelia, was followed five years later by another, beaten out over two legs against Tampico Madero — 0-0 away, then a single goal at home in Clausura 2026. Each league crown carried a Campeón de Campeones with it, the second of those settled only on penalties after Tampico Madero pushed the aggregate score to 5-5.