The team was relegated to Primera A (the second tier league of Mexico) at the end of the 1999 season, but the club owners bought the franchise of the promoted team (this practice was later banned by the league). The team was relegated again at the end of the Clausura 2005 season. The team won the Primera A Apertura 2006 tournament beating Salamanca in the final; in the following tournament, Clausura 2007, they were knocked out in the semi-finals by Leon. Having won one of the tournaments of the yearly cycle, they earned the right to compete for the promotion against the winners of the other tournament. On 26 May 2007, Puebla was promoted again by defeating Dorados de Sinaloa in the promotion game, in an overcrowded Cuauhtémoc Stadium with more than 45,000 fans. Celebrations all around the city of Puebla ensued, remembering the celebrations in 1983 and 1990 when the team won the league championship. Puebla spent the following years eluding relegation in the top tier league, but in the Clausura 2009 season, against the odds, they managed their way to the tournament knockout stage, reaching the semi-finals, where they were eliminated by the eventual champion, Pumas UNAM.