Atlante was founded on April 18, 1916, with the name Sinaloa by a group of young Mexican football enthusiasts, led by Refugio "El Vaquero" Martínez.

One of their more recalled feats was the 3–2 victory in 1931 over Bella Vista of Uruguay, which had three players from the team that won the first World Cup a year before in Montevideo.

In the 1940s, during the final years of World War II, Atlante's Horacio Casarín began being noticed for his tremendous skill and ability, which also led him to become a major figure in the Mexico national team.

Atlante's popularity, continued to grow after the team was portrayed on the big screen in many films of Mexico's golden era of cinema.

In October 1978, the Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social (IMSS) acquired the team in a 100% ownership, promising to make the largest football club in the world with 22 million associates throughout the country.

With the financial support of the governmental institution, the team experienced successful campaigns with reinforcements such as the old-time idol Horacio Casarín as head coach and the Mexican football's all-time top goalscorer Cabinho, who would become three-time champion striker with Atlante in 1980, 1981 and 1982.

Its productive campaigns led them to the 1981–82 final championship match against Tigres UANL, and after regular and extra time, Atlante became runner-up at penalty kicks.

Atlante's new legends from that championship title included: 2011 U-17 champion coach Raúl Gutiérrez, Felix Fernández, former Atlante coaches Miguel Herrera, José Guadalupe Cruz, and René Isidoro García, Pedro Massacessi, Wilson Graneolatti, Roberto Andrade, Guillermo Cantú, and feared strikers Luis Miguel Salvador and Daniel Guzmán.

By winning the title, Atlante was again able to access the Concacaf Champions Cup, which eventually was lost against Cartaginés of Costa Rica in the final match.

After winning the championship title, Atlante was eliminated for the next years from the play-off stage, even with important acquisitions such as Hugo Sánchez, Jorge Campos & Venezuelan player Gabriel Miranda, among others.

Once again, the team faced relegation issues; therefore, Grupo Televisa decided to acquire Atlante and move it back again to the Estadio Azteca.

After paying a 5 million dollar fee, Atlante was allowed to play a promotion-series' matches against the Primera A's runner-up, which turned out to be Veracruz.

Former players (now head coaches) René Isidoro García and José Guadalupe Cruz struggled to maintain the spirit, strength, and skill of this Atlante's new era.

On December 9, 2007, only 5 months after arriving at its new venue, and after a great series of matches played by goalie Federico Vilar, as well as remarkable matches of Giancarlo Maldonado, Gabriel Pereyra, Javier Muñoz, José Joel "El Chicharo" González and Clemente Ovalle (who scored the championship goal, 4 minutes before the end of the game), Atlante earned its third championship, growing back its popularity nationwide and especially at its new home city, Cancún.

Atlante won the Apertura 2007 Championship and by doing so, it qualified to the CONCACAF Champions' Cup 2008, where they were eliminated by Costa Rican Saprissa in the quarter-finals.

Along with the FIFA Club World Championship, Atlante was invited to replace Celtic at the Peace Cup in Andalucia, Spain, where it faced Málaga and Aston Villa.

Source: Liga MX Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply.