Sporting Cristal
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| Sporting Cristal | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Club Sporting Cristal | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nickname(s) | "Los Cerveceros", "Los Bajopontinos", "Los Rimenses" |
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| Founded | 1955 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ground | Estadio San Martín de Porres, Lima |
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| Capacity | 18,000 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chairman | Diego Rebagliatti | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Manager | Jorge Sampaoli | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| League | Primera División Peruana | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2007 | 2nd | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Sporting Cristal is a Peruvian football based in the district of Rímac, in the department of Lima. The club was founded in December 13, 1955. The teams original name was Sporting Tabaco but renamed when a beer company bought it.
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[edit] History
[edit] Foundation
In the year of 1954, the English proprietors of the beer company of Backus & Johnston from the district of Rímac, decided to sell their firms to Peruvian capitalists. Once the deal was closed and the beer company was in the hands of Peruvians, the Peruvians wished to form a football (soccer) club so that it may represent the company.
Ricardo Bentín Mujica, with the support of his wife, was the man who gave it his all to make this dream come true. However, there already was a club from Rímac who was playing in the Peruvian First Division known as Sporting Tabaco. This club had never won a national championship and they were in an economic crisis. Bentín decided to buy this club and search for a lot so that the club could develop and be able to play in the national league. The club found a lot in the neighborhood of La Florida of 137,000m2.
Everything turned out well for Bentín, until the FPF frowned upon this attempt. This problem was overcome and on December 13, 1955 the club was founded as it is known today and renamed Sporting Cristal Backus. The club from the Rímac district debuted in 1956 in the national league and won their first national title that same year. They were known, among journalists, as the club that was born champion(nació campeon).
The team managed to win more titles over the years and was known as one of the best football clubs in Peru behind Universitario de Deportes and Alianza Lima. A few years later the club eliminated the word Backus from their name to demonstrate their economic independence.
[edit] Recent Years
In 1997, the team, led by Uruguayan coach Sergio Markarián, reached the finals of the Copa Libertadores where they faced the Brazilian club Cruzeiro. The first leg was an away game where they lost 1-0 and in the second leg they ended in a scoreless draw. This is the closest a Peruvian team has reached the Copa Libertadores Final since 1972, when Universitario de Deportes had a similar fate playing against Independiente de Avellaneda.
The team was ranked second all-time among Peruvian clubs by FIFA but most recently it's the first; and the only one Peruvian team with the highest number of participations in the Copa Libertadores de América.
Cristal is often accused by its rivals of not producing its own players, and instead just use the money of the powerful beer company to buy the best players of their rival teams (often not even intending to use them as much as they are disarming the other teams) and then stack the team with foreigners and a few promising players from smaller teams. However, in the most recent years they have been able to produce stars from their own youth divisions.
Recent head coaches include Juan Carlos Oblitas and Paulo Autuori. Peruvian filmmaker Francisco Lombardi was the club's president throughout most of the successful 1990s.
There were debates among the fans who believed that the team was not properly coached. The former head coach, Jose "Chemo" Del Solar, was a former player of Universitario de Deportes and they believed it wasn't a good idea to carry this type of coach in the team. Some concerns still remain among the fans because the General Manager of Sporting Cristal, Diego Rebagliatti, played in Cristal for a short period of time but he's also linked to Universitario.
[edit] Supporters
Cristal has two ultra known as Fuerza Oriente and Extremo Celeste.
[edit] Current squad
As of January 28, 2007[1]
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[edit] Noted players
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[edit] Achievements
[edit] National
- Primera División Peruana
- Winners (15): 1956, 1961, 1968, 1970, 1972, 1979, 1980, 1983, 1988, 1991, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2002, 2005
- Runner-ups (14): 1931*, 1954*, 1962, 1963, 1967, 1973, 1977, 1989, 1992, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2004
*=includes results representing Sporting Tabaco
[edit] International
- Copa Libertadores
- Runners-up (1): 1997
[edit] External links
- Sporting Cristal Official Club Website
- SALUD CRISTAL Fan Website
[edit] Notes
- ^ Sporting Cristal Squad 2007. Conmebol.com. Retrieved on January 28, 2007.
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| Alianza Atlético | Alianza Lima | Arequipa Total | Cienciano | Coronel Bolognesi | Deportivo Municipal | FBC Melgar Sport Áncash | Sport Boys | Sporting Cristal | Universidad San Martín | Universitario de Deportes edit |
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| 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 edit | |
