At the start of the 2006 Apertura, once again they had built a plan in order for the club's promotion to the first division. The owners started off first by naming José Luis Sánchez Solá, who was not known and by some was not accepted and criticized harshly. José Luis Sánchez Solá had previously worked with the club's inferior division, with players such as Juan Carlos García, Sergio Rosas, Sergio Pérez, Rodrigo Salinas, Luis Miguel Noriega and the goalkeeper Jorge Villalpando, who he brought up to the first team and were crucial players that year. He also brought in veteran player Álvaro González, who went on to win to scoring titles in 2006 and 2007. He also brought in the unknown at the time, an amateur player Jorge Damián "El Ruso" Zamogilny who quickly became a fan favorite. In the 3rd round of the tournament, the club defeated Tampico Madero 2–0, and snapped a 15-match winless streak. The club qualified to the play-offs after finishing first in the first group, with 33 points. In the play-off, they faced Coatzacoalcos, beating them 5–3. In semi-finals, they faced Cruz Azul Hidalgo, which they ended up drawing a 2–2 tie, which Puebla would advance for better position in the tournament. In the finale Puebla faced Salamanca who was the leader in the tournament that year. The first match was a 1–1 draw, played in the Estadio Cuauhtémoc, with a little over 40,000 Puebla supporters. In the second game, the clubs once again tied, now with a score of 2–2. That finale was decided in a penalty shoot out which Puebla won, after Jorge Zamogilny scored the fifth goal and Adrián Dominguez missed Salamanca's fifth goal.