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Corporación Deportiva Popular Junior[1], also known as Junior, and commonly known as its old name Atlético Junior, is a Colombian football team based in Barranquilla. The club was founded in 1924 Known as "Los Tiburones" (The Sharks), they have won the Colombian championship five times.
The pride of Colombia's Caribbean coast, it had a golden age in the mid-90's, when under the conduction of Carlos "El Pibe" Valderrama, it won two of its championships, in 1993 and 1995. Thereafter, the club owners focused on creating talent from within, and following years of up and downs, the club became once again national champions in December 2004, after scoring in the last minute and beating Nacional in penalty kicks. The star of that season was the Argentinian Omar Sebastian Perez, who earned the love and respect of the whole city not only for his great technique and high quality of play, but for the way he melted with the rest of the team.
They have participated several times in Conmebol's Copa Libertadores de América, where they ended up in 3rd place In 1994. One penalty kick away from reaching the final, they ended up losing against Vélez Sarsfield, who would then become the tournament's ultimate champion.
Junior's home stadium is called the Estadio Metropolitano or Roberto Meléndez Stadium, which is also home to the Colombian national football team
[edit] Current squad
- As of 1 August 2007
[edit] Team Honors
[edit] National
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- 1977, 1980, 1993, 1995, 2004-II
[edit] International
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- 1997
Atlético Junior also reached the semifinals stage in the 1994 Copa Libertadores de América, and was runner-up on 5 Mustang Cups (1948, 1970, 1983, 2000, 2003-I).
[edit] Performance in CONMEBOL competitions
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- Best: Semi-Final in 1994
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- 2004: Quarter-Final
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- 1992: First Round
[edit] Selected Former Players
[edit] References
- ^ Web oficial de DIMAYOR
[edit] External links
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Football in Colombia 
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Julio Comesaña
