Barcelona Sporting Club

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Barcelona
Barcelona SC
Full name Barcelona Sporting Club
Nickname(s) "Toreros", "Canarios",
"El Ídolo del Astillero", "El Idolo del Ecuador"
Founded 1925-05-01
Ground Estadio Monumental
Isidro Romero Carbo
,
Guayaquil, Ecuador
Capacity 89,932
Chairman Ecuadorian Eco. Galo Roggiero
Manager Uruguayan Luis Cubilla
League Campeonato Ecuatoriano de Fútbol
2007-08 1st Stage, 5th position
Team colours Team colours Team colours
Team colours
Team colours
 
Home colours
Team colours Team colours Team colours
Team colours
Team colours
 
Away colours

The Barcelona Sporting Club is a soccer team in Ecuador located in the country's most populous city of Guayaquil. The organization should not be confused with the original Futbol Club Barcelona, one of the world's largest, most successful, and most famous soccer clubs. The actual F.C. Barça is from the European city of Barcelona, in Spain's autonomous region of Catalunya.

Barcelona S.C. is the team with the largest fan base nationwide in Ecuador, and arguably the country's only team with followers in every province. Their main rivals are the Club Sport Emelec, also from Guayaquil, and El Nacional from Quito.

Together with El Nacional, BSC is the team with the greatest number of National Championships (13) and is the Ecuadorian team with the most appearances and most success at the Copa Libertadores, being the runner up twice, in the years of 1990 and 1998.

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] Foundation

The club was founded May 1, 1925, by a Spanish immigrant from Barcelona, Catalunya, Eutimio Pérez, and named after Spain's F.C. Barcelona. It was during the 1940’s when the ascension and popularity of Barcelona S.C. within Ecuador started to grow, in part thanks to their marvelous games against Deportivo Cali and especially Millonarios of Colombia. At the time, Millonarios was considered one of the best teams in the world, during a period known as El Dorado. The game took Place in the Guayaquil in front of 30,000 fans, and in an intensely disputed contest Barcelona beat Millonarios 3-2.

  • First Match: 15 June, 1925 vs C.S. Ayacucho (1-0)
  • First International Match: 19 March, 1931 vs Deportivo Cali SSD (4-4)

[edit] The 1970s

Barcelona had already established as Ecuador’s most popular team, winning several local championships, but had still failed to make an impact in the South American Club Tournament, the Libertadores Cup, usually exiting in the first rounds. But in 1971 it was different, with a new young and visionary club president, they managed to hire a few key international players. Among them were former Brazilian international Jose "Pepe" Paes, former Peruvian International, World Cup player Pedro "Perico" Leon, and now Ecuadorian legend Alberto Spencer. Alberto Spencer had played the last 10 years for Peñarol of Uruguay, winning several local and international titles, and is also the all time Goal scorer of the Libertadores Cup with 54 goals, even above Pelé). With this team, they managed to reach the semifinals and achieved perhaps their most famous victory in the club history when they beat the 3 time Libertadores Cup Champion, Argentine team Estudiantes de la Plata in their own soil 1-0. What made this victory more amazing was the fact that in the last 3 tournaments the Argentine team had never lost a home game. Another curious fact was that the player that scored the winning goal for Barcelona was a Spanish Catholic Priest that played football as a hobby, named Juan Manuel "El Cura" Bazurco. In the End, they would fail to reach the finals, but had already made their mark on the continental level.

The following year, in 1972, they kept the same base of players and once again reached the semifinal stage.

After 2 great years, Barcelona suddenly fell under a dry spell, that would last 10 years, in which they failed to win a local tournament or qualify for the Libertadores Cup.

[edit] The 1980s

The 80s was rich in local championships for Barcelona, winning their most amount of local titles in those 10 years and reaching the Libertadores Cup Semifinals two more times in 1986 and 1987. In 1987, they would finally finish construction of their new stadium with a capacity for 55.000 people (seated), named Estadio Monumental.

[edit] The glory decade: the 1990s

The team’s most brilliant era came into place in the 1990s. In 1990, under a new president, and with the firm intention of conquering the Libertadores Cup, the club acquired key international players: former Argentine international and World Cup champion in 1986 Marcelo Trobbiani, Argentine international Alberto "Beto" Acosta, and Uruguayan Marcelo Saralegui. With the inclusion of the foreign players and a batch of young as well as experienced Ecuadorian players, they played a fantastic tournament. In a dramatical semifinal home and away series, Barcelona beat River Plate of Argentina in a penalty shoot-out, to finally reach the long awaited final. Unfortunately they would come short, losing against Olimpia of (Paraguay) 2-0 in the away game, and tying 1-1 in the home game.Many considered the referee had affected the outcome in favor of the Paraguayan team. But with the runner up title, they would finally be considered among the best and most respected teams in South America.

In 1992, they put together another great team, beating the previous champions Colo Colo (Chile) and reaching the Libertadores Cup Semifinals once again, but losing against the powerful Brazilian team of São Paulo, who at the time was coached by Tele Santana. Among their stars, São Paulo had players such as Zetti, Cafu, Rai, Muller and Palinha, that same team would eventually become tournament champion and beat F.C Barcelona in the Intercontinental Cup in Tokyo.

This decade also proved to show a negative side in the team’s history. On December 25, three days after Barcelona had achieved the second place in the Ecuadorian league and earning a spot in the next Libertadores cup, Ecuadorian striker Carlos Muñoz died in a car accident at the age of 29.

After winning the Ecuadorian league title in 1997 (their last to date) with the help of such players as Bolivian international Marco "El Diablo" Etcheverry, Colombian international Anthony "El Pipa" De Avila and Ecuadorian international Agustin "Tin" Delgado (Recently played for Barcelona SC), they would go on to play the Libertadores Cup of 1998 with mostly old players that seemed to be on their way out, but against all odds, they would reach their second Libertadores Cup Final, losing both championship games against Brazilian team Vasco Da Gama, 2-0 in the away game and 2-1 in the home game. Atthe end of 1998, the world famous Spanish Football Magazine Don Balon would release their annual top 40 ranking clubs in the world, on which Barcelona S.C. ranked #10, now becoming a world class club.

Unfortunately in the coming years Barcelona S.C. would once again fall into a dry spell, but in the last 2 years with 2 second places in the Ecuadorian league, they seem to once again try to reach their former level.

[edit] Present

Barcelona have established themselves as one of the most popular teams in Ecuador,and the only Ecuadorean team to have ever reached the Libertadores Cup finals, and doing it twice. The Team Colors are yellow, black and red. The club has 97,745 registered members. Some of their rivals in Ecuador are Club Sport Emelec, Club Deportivo El Nacional and Liga Deportiva Universitaria from Quito.

Barcelona have farm teams, it is composed of the two divisions under age 18 and under age 20. The Club Atlético Guayaquil "(Barcelona SC "B")" Plays in a lower-division league known as Segunda Categoría "A". The players of the Club Atlético Guayaquil are trained by Peruvian manager Hernán Saavedra so they can later play for Barcelona's main team.

[edit] Honours

[edit] National honours

  • Ecuatorian First Division
    • Winners (13): 1960, 1963, 1966, 1970, 1971, 1980, 1981, 1985, 1987, 1989, 1991, 1995, 1997
  • Copa Guayaquil
    • Winners (8): 1950,1955,1958,1959,1961,1963,1965,1967
  • Copa Asoguayas
    • Reserves Cup (1): 2005
  • Campeonato Amateur del Guayas

[edit] International honours

[edit] Other recognitions

  • Barcelona is currently ranked as the best performing Ecuadorian team in Conmebol Championships and the 12th best performing team in the history of the Copa Libertadores de América.

[edit] Famous players (sorted by last name)

  • Brasilian Luís Carlos Machado (nicknamed "Escurinho")
  • Ecuadorian Luciano Macías
  • Ecuadorian Juan Madruñero
  • Ecuadorian Heráclides Marín (†)
  • Flag of Cameroon Cyril Makanaky
  • Ecuadorian Jimmy Montanero (nicknamed "El Mormón")
  • Argentinian Pedro Monzón
  • Ecuadorian Carlos Luis Morales GK
  • Argentinian Alejandro Alfaro Moreno
  • Ecuadorian Carlos Muñoz (†) (nicknamed "Frentón")
  • Ecuadorian Washington Muñoz (nicknamed "Chanfle")
  • Brasilian José Paes (nicknamed "Pepe")
  • Brasilian Janio Pinto
  • Brasilian Marcos José Rodriguez de Lucena (nicknamed "Magu")
  • Ecuadorian Hólger Quiñónez
  • Uruguayian Marcelo Saralegui
  • Colombian Elkin Soto (nicknamed "La muñeca")
  • Ecuadorian Alberto Spencer (nicknamed "Cabeza Mágica") (†)
  • Argentinian Marcelo Trobbiani
  • Ecuadorian Galo Vásquez
  • ArgentinianAngel Ramon Bernuncio

[edit] Famous coaches (sorted by last name)

[edit] Current squad

As of January 31, 2007

No. Position Player
1 Flag of Ecuador GK Geovanny Camacho
13 Flag of Ecuador DF Jairo Montaño
2 Flag of Ecuador DF Enrique Gamez
4 Flag of Ecuador DF Víctor Montoya
3 Flag of Argentina DF Marcelo Mosset
5 Flag of Ecuador MF Marlon Ayovi
16 Flag of Ecuador MF Alex Bolaños
15 Flag of Ecuador MF Mario Lastra
20 Flag of Ecuador FW Carlos Quiñonez
9 Flag of Ecuador FW Danny Vera
50 Flag of Ecuador FW Mike Rodríguez
7 Flag of Paraguay FW Javier Gonzales
No. Position Player
4 Flag of Ecuador DF Raul Noriega
6 Flag of Ecuador DF Fricson George
8 Flag of Argentina MF Patricio Gonzales
10 Flag of Ecuador MF Armando Paredes
11 Flag of Argentina FW Roberto Demus
12 Flag of Ecuador GK Edwin Villafuerte
16 Flag of Ecuador MF Leonardo Soledispa
17 Flag of Ecuador DF David García
21 Flag of Ecuador MF José García
22 Flag of Ecuador GK Paul Alarcon
25 Flag of Ecuador DF Hermen Guerrero
29 Flag of Ecuador MF Jefferson Torres
30 Flag of Ecuador DF Jose Cortez
35 Flag of Ecuador FW Nestor Rodríguez
36 Flag of Ecuador FW Manuel Cotera
51 Flag of Ecuador FW Miller Bolaños

[edit] Squad changes during 2007/08 season

In:

Out:

[edit] Famous Squads

1990 Libertadores Cup Finalist (starting line-up): Saralegui, Trobbiani, Acosta, Montanero, Morales (goalkeeper), Hurtado, Guzman, Izquierdo, Uquillas, Munoz, Quinteros.

1998 Libertadores Cup Finalist: Montanero, Capurro, Carabali, Gomez, Rosero, Quinonez, Delgado, Sotelo, Arias, Morales, Cevallos (goalkeeper), Noriega, de Avila.

[edit] Stadium information

Image:Monumentaldebarcelona.jpg
Barcelona's stadium during a match in 2005.

[edit] External links

[edit] See also

Campeonato Ecuatoriano de Fútbol 2007 Ecuador
Sporting Club Imbabura | Barcelona S.C. | Deportivo Cuenca | Deportivo Quito | Emelec
| Deportivo Azogues | Liga de Quito (L.D.U.) | Macará | Nacional | Olmedo     edit