Universitario de Deportes
| Full name | Club Universitario de Deportes | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Nickname(s) | La U Los de Odriozola Los Merengues Los Cremas |
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| Founded | August 7, 1924 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ground | Estadio Monumental (Capacity: 80,093) |
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| Chairman |  Gino Pinasco |
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| Manager |  Ricardo Gareca |
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| League | Primera División Peruana | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Clausura 2008 | 9th | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Universitario de Deportes is a Peruvian football club located in Lima. Also referred to as Universitario or La U, it is the most popular and successful football club in Peru. It was founded in 1924 as Federación Universitaria by professors and students of the National University of San Marcos but was forced to re-name in 1931. Since 1928, the club has always played in the top tier of Peruvian football, the First Peruvian Division (Primera División Peruana). Since 2000, its home games have been played at the Estadio Monumental, the largest in Peru. Universitario and Alianza Lima are involved in a derby called the Peruvian Super Classic (Superclásico Peruano), which started in 1928.
Universitario has won twenty-four first division titles, more than any other club in Peru, and was the first Peruvian club to reach the final of the Copa Libertadores. The club won its first national title in 1929, one year after its debut in the first division. Its first Bi-Championship (bicampeonato) title was won in the seasons of 1945 and 1946. Its last title, won in 2000, was also its Tri-Championship title. Universitario is known for having the largest amount of supporters in Peru.[1] Universitario's youth team is America Cochahuayco which currently participates in the Peruvian Second Division.
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History
Early years
The club was founded on August 7, 1924 as Federación Universitaria by students and professors of the National University of San Marcos such as José Rubio—the first president—and Dr. Luis Málaga—the creator of the badge. Other people present during the foundation were Plácido Galindo, Eduardo Astengo, Mario de las Casas, Alberto Denegri, Luis de Souza Ferreyra (the first peruvian to score a goal on a World Cup) and Andrés Rotta. At first, Federacion Universitaria was a small league that held tournaments between the faculty departments of the university.[2]
The National Sports Committee (El Comité Nacional de Deportes)—the highest-ranking sports committee of Peru at the time—recognized Federación Universitaria as an official league; along with other small leagues in Lima and Callao. They all joined the Peruvian Football Federation (Federación Peruana de Fútbol, FPF). Although there was no requirement to play a tournament in order to be promoted to the Peruvian First Division, the club did not play in it between 1924 and 1927 as it only played friendly matches with other teams during this period.[3]
In 1928, the FPF finally allowed the club to enter the First Division. The club surprised its own fans and others that year because they ended as runner-ups of that season. During that season, on September 23 1928, Universitario played the first superclásico with Alianza Lima (the champion of the 1927 season) and won 1-0. However, it lost to Alianza in the finals 2-0. The following year Universitario won its first tournament and was crowned as Peruvian champion, preventing Alianza Lima from winning a third consecutive title.[2]
In 1931, the rector of the university, José Antonio Encinas, forbade the club to use the name Federación Universitaria in their team name. As a result, the club changed its name to Universitario de Deportes retaining the symbolic “U” in their name.[2]
Copa Libertadores 1972
In 1971, Universitario won its fourteenth first division title and qualified for the 1972 edition of the Copa Libertadores under the Uruguayan head coach Roberto Scarone along with Alianza Lima who placed second that season. They were grouped with the Chilean teams Unión San Felipe and Universidad de Chile in Group 4. Universitario's first game was the Peruvian superclásico which it won 2-1. The following game was held in Santiago de Chile against Universidad de Chile where it lost 1-0. Universitario later tied with the other Chilean team in Santiago. Universitario returned to Lima to face Alianza Lima again where they tied 2-2. At that point Universitario and Universidad de Chile had accumulated 4 points while Alianza and Unión San Felipe had 3. Universitario won the remaining games against the Chilean teams in Lima, obtaining 8 points and qualifying for the next round.[4][5]
Universitario was grouped with the Uruguayan clubs Peñarol—a three-time winner of the Copa Libertadores—and Nacional—the previous edition's winner—in the semi-final group stage. La U started off losing their first match against Peñarol in Lima. In that match, La U did not play with five of their starting players because they were called to play for the Peru national football team. However, they won the following game against Nacional 3-0. They then visited both teams in Montevideo tieing both games, 3-3 against Nacional and 1-1 against Peñarol. Universitario had accumulated 4 points and there was only one game left between Peñarol and Nacional, which had 4 and 2 points respectively. All three teams had a chance of qualifying for the next round. Peñarol only needed a win but Nacional needed a win by 5 goals. The game ended 3-0 in favor of Nacional allowing Universitario to qualify for the final round where they would face Independiente.[4]
The first leg of the final was played in Lima where they tied 0-0. The game in Argentina ended 2-1 in favor of the Argentines; Percy Rojas scored the late goal for Universitario. This was Percy Rojas' sixth goal in the tournament. He, along with Teófilo Cubillas, Oswaldo Ramírez, and Toninho, were the top-scorers.[6] Although Universitario lost, they had achieved something a Peruvian club had never before, reach the final of the Copa Libertadores, the most prestigious international competition in South America.[4][5]
Trichampionship
By winning in 1998, 1999, and 2000, Universitario won their first Tri-Championship (Tricampeonato, or three consecutive titles). The 1998 title was won under Oswaldo Piazza and Roberto Challe led the club to the other two titles. It was the third Peruvian team to do this; the first being Alianza Lima and the second Sporting Cristal. Universitario has not won another league title since 2000. It was also during the 2000 season that they were the second Peruvian club to win an Apertura and Clausura in a single season; the first being Alianza Lima in 1997. In the Copa Libertadores, Universitario made it to the Round of 16 in 1998 only to lose to Velez Sarsfield. In 1999 and 2000 they failed to get past the group stage. Universitario also qualified for all four editions of the Copa Merconorte between 1999 and 2001 but did not have a lot of success due to being eliminated in the group stage.
Recent years
In 2002, Universitario beat Alianza Lima in the Apertura playoff but failed to finish in the top four of the 2002 Clausura and were not able to dispute the national title. With the Apertura title they qualified for the Copa Libertadores 2003 and again failed to get past the group stage. In 2005, Universitario placed first on the aggregate table and qualified for the Copa Libertadores 2006, where they won on away goals against Nacional in the preliminary round—2-2 in Paraguay and 0-0 in Peru. Despite entering the group stage with high hopes, their group-stage campaign did not go well, finishing last with 2 points.
Universitario qualified for was the Copa Sudamericana 2007 under Jorge Amado Nunes by finishing fifth on the aggregate table in the 2006 season. They came close to qualify for the Copa Libertadores 2007 by tying with Cienciano in the Clausura and losing to them in the playoff. Before the start of the 2007 season, Nunes was dismissed from the team as manager and temporarily replaced by the Colombian Edgar Ospina. However, after the newly-elected president Gino Pinasco took charge, Nunes was re-hired and dismissed again. His assistant manager Julio Gomez took over and led them in the Copa Sudamericana 2007 but were eliminated in the preliminary round by Atletico Nacional—0-1 in Peru and 1-0 in Colombia. During the 2007 season, Julio Gomez produced poor results for the club which led the club to replace him with the Argentine Ricardo Gareca. Under Gareca, Universitario once again almost came close to qualify for the Copa Libertadores but fell short one point to Coronel Bolognesi. They finished 4th on the aggregate table and qualified for the Copa Sudamericana 2008.
Ricardo Gareca continued to be the manager of Universitario in 2008 and won the Apertura tournament after 6 years. The last time they won a title was in 2002 and it was also an Apertura. They won the tournament on their twenty-second game 10 points ahead of Sporting Cristal and four games away from the end of the Apertura. They defeated Cienciano 3-1 to obtain the title and accumulated 50 points to win the title. They qualified for the Copa Libertadores 2009.
As of 2008, Universitario has twenty-four first division titles. The first seven titles won by Universitario were during the amateur era. The remaining seventeen titles were won during the professional era, the most any Peruvian club has. In 2000, Universitario became the second Peruvian club to have won an Apertura and Clausura in the same year; the first being Alianza Lima in 1997. Universitario won the 2008 Apertura and awaits to finish in the top seven to contest the championship.
Colors and badge
Universitario's colors are cream (called crema in Spanish), red, burgundy (called guinda in Spanish), and black. When playing a home game they use the crema-colored kit with black socks and when playing away they use the burgundy-colored kit with black socks.
The club's colors at first were not crema. They started out with a white kit which had the badge on the chest. During one of their early seasons, Universitario could not participate in an upcoming match because their uniforms had been sent to the laundry to be washed. The managers pleaded that they hurry with the laundry and they quickly washed them. However, when the club received the jerseys, they found that they were no longer white, but yellow. The laundry workers had forgotten to remove the badges from the jerseys and consequently the red color from the badges mixed with the white jerseys giving it a yellow tint. The club had no choice but to use the jersey to play. They managed to win that game and a few others as well and thus the club kept the new-colored kit as a good-luck charm.[7]
The badge is a red U inside a red circle drawn by Luis Malaga, one of the founders of the club.
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Stadium
Universitario's first stadium was the Estadio Teodoro Lolo Fernandez. It had a capacity of 15,000. Its capacity was reduced to 4,000 and now serves as a soccer academy for its club members and hosts soccer games for the reserve team America Cochahuayco and youth teams in the youth divisions. It was built in honor of Teodoro “Lolo” Fernandez, Universitario's most famous player. For more important high-risk games, the club used the Estadio Nacional.
The Estadio Monumental is a stadium that was built by the Peruvian construction company GREMCO throughout the 1990s and opened in 2000, replacing the Lolo Fernandez and the Nacional. The inauguration game was between Universitario and Sporting Cristal; Universitario won 2-0. It was given to Universitario the same year it was opened and they now own the largest stadium in Peru with a capacity of 80,093. This stadium is one of the most modern stadiums of South America and the third largest.[8] Its eastern and western stands are all-seaters and its northern and southern stands have standing terraces. Exactly 1,251 luxury boxes, known as palcos, are above the stands.
The stadium was not fit to host the classic derby between Universitario and Alianza Lima between 2002 and 2007. The first time this stadium hosted the derby was on June 26, 2002—the first round of the Apertura play-off—where Universitario won 1 to 0. Alianza's fans, in the southern stand, reacted violently to the loss by vandalizing the bathrooms and breaking handrails. Once outside the stadium, the fans broke the windows of nearby houses and destroyed cars. It was reported that two people in the stadium were stabbed.[9] Consequently, La U was forced to play the clásico at the Estadio Nacional where the Instituto Peruano del Deporte installed artificial turf which is constantly criticized by the First Division players.[10] For the next five years this derby was not played at this stadium. On September 14, 2008, the derby returned to the Estadio Monumental but with a 2-1 loss for Universitario.[11]
It is interesting to note that this stadium was rejected as a venue for the Copa América 2004 because of problems with Alfredo Gonzalez, President of Universitario de Deportes, and the stadium's owners. Many saw this as a typical bullying behavior on the part of the president since this stadium would have been the perfect venue to host the 2004 Copa América intro as well as final games.[12]
Supporters
According to CPI's survey, Universitario is known for having the largest amount of supporters in Peru.[1] A total of 801 people were interviewed and both in the capital and the rest of the country, Universitario was the favorite team. 42% favored Universitario in Lima and 31% in the rest of the country. In total, 32% favored Universitario as the most popular team in Peru. Alianza Lima and Sporting Cristal followed. The main ultra supporters groups are La Trinchera Norte (The Northern Trench), also known as a barra brava, and La Barra U Oriente. The former has a reputation for the more violent and aggressive. Members of both groups regularly travel across Peru to support the club and can always be seen arriving early for each game. A founding member of La Trinchera Norte, known as “Misterio”, is well known in Peru for killing himself playing Russian roulette. A local mini-series, called Misterio, was made based on his life.
In a friendly game between Universitario and Sport Boys, on January 19, 2007, before the start of the season, the barra brava—the Trinchera Norte—attacked many supporters of Sport Boys during the second half of the game. Universitario was winning 1-0 and the referee then decided to suspend the game. Police were not present during the game as the Prefecture of Lima (Prefectura de Lima) did not authorize the game to be played and therefore did not send police forces. Many Sport Boys fans were hurt and security cameras captured many aggressive attacks. The use of the stadium for soccer games was temporarily suspended. The Peruvian press heavily criticized the former-president Fausto Miranda and directors of the club.[13]
Current squad
Primera División Peruana 2008
Peruvians teams are limited to three players without Peruvian citizenship per game. Peruvian teams must also have its U-20 players (born after 1989) accumulate at least 600 minutes of game time.
As of November 2, 2008[14][15][16]
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America Cochahuayco
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Technical staff
| Position | Name |
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| Manager | Ricardo Gareca |
| Assistant Manager |  Sergio Santín |
| Assistant Manager | Eusebio Flores |
| First-team Coach | William Romero |
| Physiotherapist | Luis Sihuay |
| Physiotherapist | Luis Yupanqui |
| Goalkeeping Coach | Alfredo Honores |
| Fitness and Conditioning Coach | Néstor Bonillo |
Notable players
- See also: List of Universitario de Deportes footballers
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*Naturalized Peruvians
- Retired numbers
22 – José Luis Carranza, midfielder (1986-2004)
Noted managers
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Achievements
Honors
- Primera División Peruana:
- Winners (24): 1929, 1934, 1939, 1941, 1945, 1946, 1949, 1959, 1960, 1964, 1966, 1967, 1969, 1971, 1974, 1982, 1985, 1987, 1990, 1992, 1993, 1998, 1999, 2000.
- Runner-ups (14): 1928, 1932, 1933, 1940, 1955, 1965, 1970, 1972, 1978, 1984, 1988, 1991, 1995, 2002.
- Apertura:
- Winners (5): 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2008.
- Runner-up (1): 2005.
- Clausura:
- Winners (1): 2000.
- Runner-ups (4): 1997, 1999, 2006, 2007.
- Copa Libertadores: 25 appearances
- Runner-up (1): 1972.
- Semifinalist (3): 1967, 1971, 1975.
- Copa CONMEBOL: 2 appearances
- Semifinalist (1): 1997.
Ranking
Club Ranking for 2007-08 (Previous year rank in italics, IFFHS Club Coefficients in parentheses)[17]
- 139
(167) 
Club Deportivo Marathón (99.0) - 140
(121) 
FK Ventspils (98.0) - 141 (149) Universitario de Deportes (97.5)
- 142 (133) Sporting Cristal (97.5)
- 143 (140)
FC Unirea (97.5)
Records
- Top Strikers
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1Bold scores indicate season's top scorer.[18]
2Naturalized Peruvian
Official sponsors
Umbro - Kit provider- Grupo Santo Domingo - Primary sponsor
- Cusqueña - Secondary sponsor
- Pieers - Secondary sponsor
Hotel Ariosto - Secondary sponsor
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Compañía Peruana de Estudios de Mercado y Opinión Pública S.A.C. (CPI). "Estudio de Opinión Pública a Nivel Perú Urbano" (in spanish). Retrieved on 2008-06-05.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "History of Club Universitario de Deportes" (in spanish). dalecrema.4t.com. Retrieved on 2007-10-20.
- ↑ "History of Universitario" (in spanish). elbocon.com. Retrieved on 2007-02-21.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 "Universitario subcampeon de America 1972" (in spanish). ahunet.com. Retrieved on 2007-10-21.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Universitario finalista de la Copa Libertadores de 1972" (in spanish). futbolperuano.com. Retrieved on 2007-12-09.
- ↑ "Copa Libertadores - Topscorers". rsssf.com. Retrieved on 2007-12-09.
- ↑ "History of Club Universitario de Deportes" (in spanish). daleucampeon.4t.com. Retrieved on 2007-01-10.
- ↑ "Estadio Monumental" (in spanish). FPF.com.pe. Retrieved on 2007-06-19.
- ↑ "Autoridades enfrentadas por desmanes del partido “U” - Alianza" (in spanish). futbolperuano.com. Retrieved on 2007-10-06.
- ↑ "Vuelven las quejas por el sintético del Nacional" (in spanish). Retrieved on 2007-11-01.
- ↑ "Alianza Lima no respetó Ate y se llevó el triunfo" (in spanish). futbolperuano.com. Retrieved on 2008-09-28.
- ↑ "Monumental, Copa América 2004" (in spanish). futbolperuano.com. Retrieved on 2007-06-19.
- ↑ "La tragedia rondó en Ate" (in spanish). futbolperuano.com. Retrieved on 2007-09-07.
- ↑ "Plantel 2008" (in spanish). universitario.com.pe. Retrieved on 2008-01-25.
- ↑ "Los equipos del torneo Apertura 2008" (in spanish). elcomercioperu.com.pe. Retrieved on 2008-01-25.
- ↑ "Clausura 2008: Mercado de Fichajes" (in spanish). dechalaca.com. Retrieved on 2008-11-02.
- ↑ IFFHS Team Ranking Retrieved on 1 March 2008
- ↑ "Peru - List of First Division Topscorers". rsssf.com. Retrieved on 2008-03-18.
External links
- (Spanish) Club Universitario de Deportes Official Website
- (Spanish) AHUNET Asociación de hinchas de la U en internet
- (Spanish) Unidad Crema Club members group website
- (Spanish) Dale U Campeon Fan Website
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Football in Peru
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