The Strongest
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| Full name | Club The Strongest | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Nickname(s) | Tigre | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Founded | April 8, 1908 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ground | Estadio Rafael Mendoza, La Paz (Capacity 15,000) |
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| Chairman |  Jorge Pacheco Franco |
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| Manager |  Bernardo Redín |
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| League | Liga de Fútbol Profesional Boliviano |
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| Clausura 2007 | 5th | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Strongest is a Bolivian football club based in La Paz founded on April 8, 1908. Their team colours are yellow and black. Although they have a home ground, the Rafael Mendoza Castellón (capacity: 15,000), they play most of their games at the Hernando Siles, Bolivia's national ground (capacity: 42,000)
The club was well represented in the Bolivian squad at the 1994 FIFA World Cup. The World Cup players from The Strongest were Marcelo Torrico, Gustavo Quinteros, Óscar Sánchez and José Melgar.
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[edit] History
The Strongest were originally known as "The Strong Football Club", before later becoming "The Strongest Football Club". Its first President and founder was Jose Leon Lopez Villamil. Its first championship was in 1911, before any of the current Bolivian teams had started participating in the league.
In 1930, The Strongest became the first and only team to win the championship with no goals scored against them. The same year, The Strongest inaugurated the "Hernando Siles" stadium, with a 4-1 victory against its classical rival (at the time), Universitario.
In 1965, The Strongest participated in its first Copa Libertadores, at a time when only national champions were entered into the tournament. The Strongest scored Bolivia's first victory outside of the country on a club level, defeating Deportivo Quito. The team finished 2nd in its group that year, second to Boca Juniors (Argentina).
The highest achievement in an international competition was in the 2005 Copa Sudamericana, when the squad led by coach Villegas eliminated its classic rivals with two 2-1 victories in La Paz, in front of a packed stadium. Later, the team went on to defeat Liga Deportiva Universitaria de Quito (Ecuador) - including a 3-0 victory in Quito, marking the most important victory outside of the country for a Bolivian squad. The Strongest was eliminated by Pumas UNAM (Mexico), who later went on to become runners-up to cup winners Boca Juniors (Argentina).
[edit] The Viloco tragedy
On September 24, 1969, a local holiday, the team was invited to participate on a special game organized by the Asociacion Cruceña de Fubol (Santa Cruz's football association). For the team, it was simply another visit to Santa Cruz. On September 14, the team had played its last official match and this game was part of a break from their local competition.
On September 26, the day the team was due to return from Santa Cruz by plane, it was announced that the aircraft carrying most of the team had disappeared, incidentally the same day that a military government was being established in Bolivia.
With no real information as to what had happened, 24 hours later the country received the news that the plane had crashed around a rural area called Viloco (between the Tres Cruces Peaks). All 69 passengers and 9 crew members were announced to have died. Upon the news, families of the victims, local authorities and a substantial number of fans went to help search for the bodies of the players and staff.
The members of the team who died that day were: Eustáquio Ortuño (Coach), José Ayllón (manager), Felipe Aguilar (staff). The 16 players that died were: Armando Angelacio, Hernán Andretta, Orlando Cáceres, Juan Iriondo, Jorge Durán, Julio Díaz, Héctor Marchetti, Angel Porta, Jorge Tapia, Ernesto Villegas, Germán Alcázar, Eduardo Arrigó, Oswaldo Franco, Raúl Farfán, Oscar Flores and Diógenes Torrico.
[edit] Achievements
[edit] National Honours
- First Division - Professional League Era:
- Champions : 7 (1977, 1976, 1989, 1993, 2003-A, 2003-C and 2004-C)
- Runners-Up : 6 (1979, 1980, 1981, 1988, 1999 and 2005-AD)
- First Division - National Federation Era:
- National Champions : 2 (1964 and 1974)
- Runners-up : 1 (1970)
- League Champions : 6 (1952, 1963, 1964, 1970, 1971 and 1974)
- First Division - Pre-National Federation Era:
- League Champions : 15 (1914 (Copa "Max de la Vega"), 1914 (Copa "Bautista Saavedra"), 1916 (Trofeo "Buque Quinteros"), 1916 (Campeonato "20 de Octubre"), 1917, 1922, 1923, 1924, 1925, 1930, 1935, 1938, 1943, 1945, y 1946)
- Copa Prefectural - Amateur Era:
- Cup Champions : 1 (1911 in its only edition, First football tournament played in Bolivia)
[edit] Performance in CONMEBOL competitions
- Copa Libertadores: 17 appearances
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- Best: Second Round in 1990, 1994
- Copa Merconorte: 2 appearances
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- 1998 - Group Stage
- 1999 - Group Stage
- Copa Sudamericana: 2 appearances
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- 2003: Quarter-Final
- 2005: Second Round
- Copa CONMEBOL: 2 appearances
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- 1995: First Round
- 1997: Preliminary Round
[edit] Current squad
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[edit] Other teams
The Strongest are the inspiration for English regional side The Strongest (Eng) who play both 11 and 5 a-side football in the Hull area.
[edit] External links
- (Spanish) Official site
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