CSD Municipal
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| Full name | Club Social y Deportivo Municipal | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Nickname(s) | Rojos (Reds) Máquina Escarlata (Scarlett Machine) Diablos Rojos (Red Devils) |
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| Founded | May 17, 1936 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ground | Estadio Mateo Flores and El Trébol, Guatemala City (Capacity 30,000) |
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| Chairman |  Gerardo Villa |
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| Manager |  Horacio Cordero |
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| League | Liga Nacional de Fútbol | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2008 Clausura | Champions | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Club Social y Deportivo Municipal, also known as Municipal or Los Rojos (the Reds), are a Guatemalan professional football club based in Guatemala City. They compete in the Liga Nacional, the top division in the nation, and play their home matches at the Estadio Mateo Flores.
The club was founded in 1936, and as of 2007, they are the team that has remained the most years at the top level in Guatemala, having done so since the inception of the national league in 1942. They are the nation's most successful team, having won the domestic league 26 times; their most recent title came in the 2008 Clausura tournament. Municipal are the only Guatemalan club ever to win the CONCACAF Champions' Cup, a title they obtained in 1974.
Municipal are considered to be the most popular club in Guatemala,[1][2][3] and are traditional arch-rivals of club Comunicaciones, who are also located in the capital city.
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[edit] History
The club was founded in May 17, 1936 by workers of the Ayuntamiento (city hall) of the Guatemala City municipality, hence the name Municipal, earning promotion to the maximum division (then called Liga Capitalina) in 1938. They finished in second place in their debut season,[4] and have since remained in the top division.
[edit] Early domestic success (1940s-1960s)
The team won its first national league title in the 1942-43 tournament, the first ever official national league championship in Guatemala. They won three of the following six tournaments, the other three being won by Tipografía Nacional, whom which they had their first known rivalry. Municipal were coached by Manuel F. Carrera, one of the original founders of the club, and whose name was later given to the stadium where the team currently practices.
During the 1940s and early 1950s, Municipal's most emblematic player was the forward Carlos "Pepino" Toledo, who wore the red shirt throughout his career. He helped the club win their first four league titles, the last of them coming at the 1954-55 tournament, which was Toledo's last year of play. He scored 129 career goals, a total which remains the fourth-highest in the history of the club, and was also one of the first nationwide-recognized players, becoming a member of the national team. Later, he became the team's coach.
At the end of the 1950s, as Comunicaciones emerged as one of the top contenders in the league – winning it three years in a row –, Municipal went 8 straight years without winning a championship, but then won three of them in the 1963-64, 1965-66, and 1969-70 seasons. These titles alternated with three titles won by Aurora FC – another club from the city – and coincided with a decline for Comunicaciones in that decade. When Tipografía Nacional faded as one of the top clubs of the nation, a fierce rivalry originated between Municipal and Comunicaciones, especially after the latter became the country's second most successful club, having won 7 of 14 league tournaments from 1956 to 1972. Both teams have been classic rivals ever since, with the matches between them usually attracting the most spectators of any local club football event.
[edit] 1970s: First international success
Starting in 1973, Municipal obtained a series of titles under Uruguayan coach Rubén Amorín, who took the team to league titles in successive years for their first time ever. Amorín managed a group of players that included defender Alberto López Oliva, midfielders Benjamín Monterroso and Emilio Mitrovich, and forward Julio César Anderson (who would become the highest goalscorer ever for the club, until surpassed in the 2000s by Juan Carlos Plata), to their first international title, winning the 1974 Copa Fraternidad. However, Municipal's greatest achievement occurred in that same year, when they won the IV CONCACAF Champions' Cup, becoming the first – and only to date – Guatemalan team to have won the confederation's top club competition. The Rojos then went on to play the Copa Interamericana against Argentina's "red team", CA Independiente, on a two-leg playoff celebrated at the Estadio Mateo Flores in Guatemala. The first leg, played November 24, 1974, was won by Independiente 1-0, on a goal by Ricardo Bochini. Two days later, Municipal, in need of a win, beat the Argentines 1-0, thanks to a goal by the Argentine-born Mitrovich in the second half. With both teams equal in points and goal difference, the match went to extra time, where there was no change in the score. The winner of the continental title was then decided on penalty kicks. After misses by Anderson and Monterroso, Independiente won the shootout 4-2, and ended Municipal's international run.
[edit] 1980s: Almost relegated
After winning another league title in 1976 and the 1977 Copa Fraternidad, the club faced their worst period, unable to win any titles and even being close to dropping from the top division, playing a relegation mini-tournament in the 1981 season – which saw Tipografía Nacional go down to the Division B. In 1982, Municipal struggled again, this time finishing ahead of the relegated team on goal differential.
[edit] Return to the top
Success came again in 1987, with the first league title in 11 years, won under Argentine coach Miguel Angel Brindisi. This time, the team won three consecutive championships for the first time ever, the first two being coached by Brindisi, and the third one by Walter Ormeño. In the 1991-92 season, almost two decades after his last title with the club, Rubén Amorín, on his second tenure, took Municipal to another league title.
Municipal were close to repeating the CONCACAF success of 1974 when the Champion's Cup finals were played in the Mateo Flores in Guatemala City in December of 1993. High expectations preceded those matches, as Municipal was in good form in the local tournament, unbeaten and at the top of the table; however, the team fell short of the title: that time, Municipal played against Mexican club León, Deportivo Saprissa of Costa Rica and SV Robinhood of Suriname in a single round-robin tournament; all matches between the former three teams ended in draws, and Saprissa, who played against the weak Robinhood in the last matchday, beat the Surinamese team 9-0 and won the title on goal differential. Still, a fifth league championship in seven years came at the end of the 1993-94 season, under Argentine coach Horacio Cordero.
In 2000, after the league's competition format was changed to two yearly tournaments on the Apertura and Clausura fashion, Municipal won the title again after Comunicaciones had set a record by winning the previous four; Municipal surpassed that record in 2006 when they won the 2006 Apertura tournament, their fifth consecutive title, under coach Enzo Trossero. They have won 11 of the 18 titles in dispute since the current tournament's format was introduced.
[edit] Colours and crest
Initially, the team's uniform colors consisted of a red-and-black striped shirt and black shorts.[5] The colours soon changed to the current red shirt and blue shorts for home matches, and all blue for away matches, although other colors have been used for away matches.
The club's logo is based in the emblem of the Municipalidad de Guatemala, which is itself based in the original coat of arms of the city of Santiago de Los Caballeros de Guatemala, with the image of Santiago (Saint James) over the stylized scenery of the region. The team's version includes an image of the type of ball used at the time the club was founded, next to a blue and red striped canton in between the former two elements. The circular field is surrounded by the name of the team on a red background. It is not confirmed whether the team logo is copyrighted or not.
[edit] Stadium
Throughout the years, Municipal has used the Estadio Mateo Flores as their home ground, sharing it with Comunicaciones since the 1950s until 1991, and again starting in 2005. Other stadiums hosted Municipal in the beginning, namely the Estadio Autonomía. The Estadio La Pedrera has been used when the Mateo Flores has not been available. The Estadio Manuel Felipe Carrera, also known as "Estadio El Trébol", has been the training venue for the team, and it has been occasionally used for official matches by the club; Municipal had an undefeated streak of 33 official matches in this ground from July 9, 1991 until March 7, 2008, when they lost to Deportivo Petapa 1-0 for the 2008 Clausura tournament.[6]
[edit] Supporters
Municipal is believed to have the largest fan base of all Guatemalan clubs, and that their popularity have earned them nicknames like El equipo mimado de la afición (Fans' beloved team) and El equipo del pueblo (People's team). An organized group of supporters known as ultra roja (originally porra roja) has become notable since the early 1990s due to their constant chanting and their loudness; they have also been criticized due to violent confrontations with fans of other teams, especially of Comunicaciones.
[edit] Statistics and records
Municipal has set a record in Guatemalan football by being the club that has spent the most consecutive seasons at the top division, having remained in the Liga Mayor/Liga Nacional for 69 years as of 2006-07.
The 26 national league titles won by Municipal are the most ever in Guatemala, and (as of the end of the 2007-08 season) the most ever by any CONCACAF club tied with Diriangén FC (26, Nicaraguan league) and Deportivo Saprissa (26, Costa Rican league).[7]
Juan Carlos Plata is the team's all-time top goalscorer in league matches and overall. As of March 2008, Plata has scored 253 league goals and 359 goals in all competitions with Municipal,[8] the only club he has played for.
[edit] Players
[edit] Current squad
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[edit] Notable players
Former[9]
Carlos Toledo, forward, 1938-1955- Alberto López Oliva, defender, 1963-1978
- Julio César Anderson, forward, 1969-1984
José Emilio Mitrovich, midfielder, 1970s- Benjamín Monterroso, defender/midfielder, 1970-1979
- Juan Manuel Funes, midfielder, 1986-1997
- Julio Rodas, forward, 1988-1994
Ronald Gómez, forward, 1998-99- Carlos Ruiz, forward, 1999-2002
Active
- Juan Carlos Plata, forward, 1989-
- German Ruano, defender, 1993-
- Guillermo Ramírez, midfielder, 1999-
[edit] Honours
- League titles: 26 (most ever by any team)
- 1942, 1947, 1950-51, 1954-55, 1963-64, 1965-66, 1970, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1987, 1988, 1989-90, 1991-92, 1993-94, 2000 Apertura, 2000 Clausura, 2001, 2002 Clausura, 2003 Apertura, 2004 Apertura, 2005 Clausura, 2005 Apertura, 2006 Clausura, 2006 Apertura, 2008 Clausura
- Domestic Cup titles: 8
- 1960, 1967, 1969, 1994, 1995, 1998, 2003, 2004
- CONCACAF Champions' Cup: 1
- 1974
- Torneo Fraternidad/UNCAF Club Championship: 4
- 1974, 1977, 2001, 2004
[edit] Performance in CONCACAF competitions
- CONCACAF Cup Winners Cup (1 appearance)
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- 1997 - Group Stage
[edit] References and notes
- ^ MLS report - mlsnet.com, Major League Soccer, USA, 2002.
- ^ (Spanish) Team report - laprensahn.com - newspaper La Prensa, Honduras, 2000.
- ^ (Spanish) Guatemala national league news - latribunahispana.com - La Tribuna Hispana, USA, 2006.
- ^ (Spanish) Guatemala, 100 años de fútbol - Municipal. Prensa Libre. Retrieved on 2006-12-10.
- ^ (Spanish) Historia, Rojos del Municipal. Retrieved on 2006-12-10. - Note: Unable to retrieve direct link. Click on "Historia" on the main menu to access.
- ^ (Spanish) Rojos pierden el invicto en El Trébol. Prensa Libre. Retrieved on 2008-03-20.
- ^ Trivia on Winning Domestic Championships. RSSSF. Retrieved on 2008-03-10.
- ^ Source: http://www.rojos.com/~csdm/aficionados/plata/index.htm
- ^ Player years, except for Carlos Toledo's and Juan Manuel Funes', are taken from (Spanish) http://www.angelfire.com/ms/rojosoasis/page5.html
[edit] Further reading
- Guatemala, 100 años de fútbol - Municipal. Prensa Libre. Retrieved on 2006-12-10.
[edit] External links
- (Spanish) Official web site
- (Spanish)Official fan site
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