Despite living in the shadow of Chivas, Atlas has always been a historic and traditional club in Guadalajara and in Mexico as a whole. In 1951 the club was crowned national champion for the first time bringing its' millions of fans immeasurable joy.
In 1954, during the 3 year anniversary of that title, a representative of the city of Guadalajara gifted the club a bottle of Ballentine's Whiskey and made the club promise it wouldn't open the bottle until the club won the championship again. The instructions were even written in pen on the front of the box the bottle came in.
Over the years what was meant to be a gift became a curse and the second title never seemed to arrive. Decades of mediocre results would follow, always underachieving and disappointing expectations. In 1999 they had finally reached the final again, but lost in penalties against Toluca. 22 years after that, in 2021, Atlas had finally reached another final.
This time the opponent was Leon and it ended in a dramatic fashion with a penalty shoot-out win after a 3-3 draw. The curse of the whiskey was finally broken and the bottle could finally be enjoyed. There was an entire ceremony for the moment, the drink was poured and served amongst the top directors and others who had served the club during the 70 year drought.
To make a statement Atlas also won the league the following season in 2022, leaving no doubt that the whiskey's curse had finally been broken.